GNO LEARNING & PARTICIPATION

In the 2024/25 season, the Learning & Participation of the Greek National Opera presents a new diverse programme aimed at a wide range of audiences. It will include numerous experiential and participatory artistic learning opportunities for children, teenagers, schools, adults, individuals aged 65 and over, young people from Accommodation Facilities for Unaccompanied Minors, penitentiaries across Greece, individuals with or without disabilities, socially vulnerable groups, as well as amateur and professional artists from Athens and the rest of Greece.

Through this new programme, the GNO Learning & Participation Department focuses on cultivating an inclusive approach to artistic education, places emphasis on providing unhindered access to art for everyone, intensifies the connection with audiences across Greece, enhances the social character of its activities, advocates for the elimination of stereotypical beliefs, enables the exploration of creative endeavours within the realms of opera and dance repertoires, and expands its network of collaborations with acclaimed artists and animators as well as other cultural organizations in Greece and abroad.

• Programmes for Schools have been enhanced with two new additions. The educational performance programme for kindergartens, Travelling with Turandot, introduces children aged between 4 and 6 to the world of opera. The Cat, a mini operetta based on a fairy tale of the same name from Eastern Thrace, serves as the basis for an educational programme for primary education schools, during which students will become actively involved in the process of creating and executing a musical performance. The 3^rd Bell Opera programme for primary schools, sponsored by Piraeus Bank, continues vigorously this year too, focused on the new music theatre piece Journey to the Land of the Ugly. For secondary education students and educators, OperaBox, the Greek National Opera’s digital educational platform is always available online.

• This year, the category Programmes for the Whole Family presents Narrations, a programme that will take children, teenagers, and adults on a journey full of imaginary events and weird occurrences. The intercultural educational programme Pocket Opera & Ballet returns for a second year. Six of the opera and ballet repertoire works to be presented by the Greek National Opera this year will be transformed into a miniature format. The programme is designed to involve preschoolers and primary school students as both performers and audience members in these miniature pieces.

• A long list of selected educational programmes for both children and adults will tour throughout Greece as part of the recent two-year grant of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to enhance the GNO’s artistic outreach in Greece and abroad. These include the music and storytelling series of performances titled Narrations, the playful dance workshop Dad… Shall we dance?, and the interactive educational programme Pocket Opera & Ballet, which will run for at least 15 performances across Greece this season. At the same time, more than 600 online educational seminars will be held to train educators on effectively using OperaBOX.

• The following programmes and activities will be implemented as part of the “Greece 2.0 - National Recovery and Resilience Plan”, funded by the European Union-NextGeneration EU:
  • expanding accessibility services to a significantly larger number of performances with the ultimate goal of gradually achieving full accessibility in all performances
  • an educational programme for a mixed group of individuals with and without disabilities, titled Mia Parálogi Paralogí / An Irrational Tale, which focuses on all aspects of everyday life
  • an artistic educational programme titled Prima Volta for 65+ adults, which will start a great nostalgic celebration in the city.
  • free concerts in Care Centers for the Elderly throughout Attica
  • the intergenerational music and storytelling workshop Let Me Tell You A Fairy Tale
  • a music therapy workshop cycle titled Women’s Paths and Bridges: Exploring Women’s Experiences through Voice, Music, and Storytelling and held as part of the Ministry of Culture’s Cultural Prescription Pilot Projects to expand and bring out the psychotherapeutic qualities of the arts.  

• In the Programmes in Other Parts of Greece category, Melisma, the year-long series of artistic and educational workshops for individuals of all ages in Northern Evia, first launched in 2022 on the occasion of the catastrophic wildfires of 2021, returns in a renewed version. This time, the focus will be on the land's local traditions and history through the arts and crafts, with the ultimate goal of preparing and presenting a new music theatre piece to a wide audience. The programme is funded by the Ministry of Culture.

• Programmes Promoting Full Accessibility are further enriched to increase access to the arts and culture for increasingly more individuals.  The series of programmes All Together at the Opera, with the support of Alpha Bank, includes the continuation of the interdisciplinary educational programme Moving Soundscapes for a mixed group of Junior High School and High School students with or without visual or hearing disabilities. This series will also feature a fully accessible music theatre performance, The Loser, on  13, 17, and 19 October 2024, at the GNO Alternative Stage.

• Regarding Programmes for Young Artists, this year, the programme Latent Space will focus on Béla Bartók’s revolutionary opera Bluebeard’s Castle. Young composers and sound artists will be invited to select a text that explores the concept of space with the goal of experimenting with the creation of sound compositions. Latent Space will be implemented in collaboration with the National Library of Greece.

• Intercultural Education Programmes continue this season too. The intercultural opera hub for teenagers, Co-OPERAtive, returns for a fifth season, and its final performance, which will be co-created by the individuals participating in it, will be presented in the  Stavros Niarchos Hall. The Intercultural Orchestra and Intercultural Choir ensembles will also continue their journey through the world’s musical traditions, exploring new perspectives, further expanding their repertoire, and starting new collaborations. 

• Programmes in Penitentiaries, supported by the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, will also continue this year. These include body percussion, music, movement, and dance workshops at the Special Youth Detention Center in Volos, the Penitentiaries in Thessaloniki and Chania, and the Female Penitentiary of Eleonas in Thebes.

• A year-long training programme will officially be launched to teach inclusive artistic programming and audience reception practices for adults aged 65 and over, to trainers, caregivers, and cultural professionals. The training sessions will be held in Attica and nine other regions across Greece. GNO staff members will also participate in the training, with the goal of developing a fully inclusive approach to audience reception and ensuring inclusivity in the overall operation and organisation of the theatre.

GNO Learning and Participation Lead Donor

Sponsor of the Educational Programme 3^rd Bell Opera

Sponsor of the Series of Programmes All Together at the Opera

Donor of the Educational Programme in Penitentiaries

Cultural Prescription is a program run by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture as part of the “NextGenerationEU” programme, which is funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0.”  

The Hellenic Ministry of Culture is the funding body for the Project “SUB.1.1.6 Attracting individuals aged 65 and over and individuals with disabilities to events of the Greek National Opera”. This project is part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0.” and  is funded by the European Union -  NextGenerationEU.  

The programme Opera Interactively Into Schools was co-funded by Greece and the European Social Fund through the Operational Programme “Human Resources Development, Education, and Lifelong Learning”.   

Supporters of the GNO Learning & Participation Department