Our Mission
Little Opera is on a mission to build a vibrant creative community – through the creation and performance of original opera – that transcends differences and transforms the lives of children, families, and artists.
Why Opera? By it’s very nature, Opera is multidisciplinary; it cannot exist until many people come together around a single vision and put their diverse skill sets toward the creation of something entirely unique. As the space where theatre, music, literature, dance, and design meet, Opera is the ideal platform for a deeply collaborative arts education program where children are given the freedom to explore all facets of the creative process.
At Little Opera, learning isn’t limited to the techniques of great singing. It’s also abut the costume design, the challenges of libretto writing, the theories of directing, the physical discipline of dancing, the motivations behind choreography, the vision of set designing, and the methodologies of composing.
Little Opera allows children the autonomy to explore their full artistic potential, and will play a part in shaping the next generation of empathetic, collaborative, and resourceful young people.
Our Values
Diversity: Art is, by it’s very nature, transcendent. We use music to bring a diverse community of people together within a space that cultivates tolerance, community, and self expression.
Imagination: Creativity and innovation are critical components for both personal happiness and professional success, which is why we work hard to expand every student’s imagination.
Ambition: Creating opera is the perfect platform for an interdisciplinary, ambitiously comprehensive arts education. We create projects where writing, composing, singing, acting, dancing, and design all work together to tell a single, brand new story.
Transparency: We share everything – our processes, strategies, beliefs, and outcomes. If you need information and can’t find it, just ask!
Flexibility: Everything is always changing, and so are we. Adaptability is the name of the game.
Collaboration: Many perspectives are always better than one.
Passion: We do what we do because we see our work making a difference. (And besides that, it’s really, really fun!)
Commitment to Racial Equity
The San Francisco Bay Area has a long history of systemic racism and discrimination. Government policies such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and the redlining of neighborhoods of color have had lasting effects on San Francisco’s communities of color. Modern-day consequences of historic racism tragically include violent attacks against Asian Americans and the deadly police violence against African Americans.
Additionally, while San Francisco is one of the more diverse cities in the U.S., our schools do not always reflect this — 30% of public school students in San Francisco attend a school dominated by a single race or ethnic group. Given the trend of politicization of race relations in our country, students must have opportunities to develop cultural and racial awareness. Studies show that integrated educational experiences promote cross-racial understanding and reduce prejudice.
Arts education, in particular, has been shown to enhance a child’s appreciation of diversity in people and ideas. Yet, systemic racial inequality has led to the under-resourcing of arts programming in communities of color and the lack of access to affordable arts education programs for youth of color. Little Opera aims to close this gap in access and provide equitable arts education programming for all students.
To address racial equity in our organization, Little Opera has committed to:
1) Continue educating ourselves on issues of racism and bias.
2) Identifying and addressing the impact of systemic racism in our work.
3) Developing practices and programming through a racial equity lens.
