Special Reports
San Francisco Opera's ARIA Network

When Ruth Nott arrived as director of education at the San Francisco Opera in 2008, her charge was to breathe new life into the company’s education programs—to come up with a strategic, quantifiable plan that truly served, and was relevant to, the SFO’s community.

[Jefferson Elementary School’s opera creation wasThe Very Hungry Caterpillar. PHOTO: Cory Weaver]
These, along with other “wish-list” suggestions from district arts coordinators, became the basic ingredients for the ARIA (Arts Resources in Action) Network, now in 12 schools, 66 classrooms, and five school districts. The program has a waiting list, and garners high praise for its connections to the curriculum.
How it works

[Danielle de Niese teaches a master class as part of San Francisco Opera’s ARIA Network. PHOTO: Cory Weaver]
Then students create their own opera, writing the music and text, crafting the production, and performing it. (The ARIA Residency, a shorter version, focuses on one aspect of opera, with four to 12 classroom visits.)

[At El Dorado School, a student works on the set for The Gingerbread Man. PHOTO: Scott Wall]
The company’s young artists—Adler Fellows--and the children’s chorus are also resources. ARIA Network classes may have as many as 40 visits from opera professionals over the course of the school year, providing not only instruction, but first-hand contact for students with the people who make the art form.
Teacher/curriculum-driven


[West Portal Elementary School’s opera was titled The Elganator. PHOTO: Cory Weaver.]
Cost
An Aria Network project in one school, in four or five classes, for a full year, costs SFO about $20,000. The school pays $1500 at the most; supplement funding is available by need, and most of the schools receive some scholarship monies.
Results
SFO’s evaluation of the ARIA Network is ongoing. An analysis of the 2011-12 data by Larry Scripp and the Center for Music in Education detailed positive responses from students, teachers, principals, teaching artists, and parents. One survey’s conclusion was of particular interest: “one of the biggest benefits of the program is the creation of a large production as a powerful social and communal experience.”
Heidi Waleson is the opera critic for The Wall Street Journal and writes about the performing arts for a variety of national and international publications.
