Research
Yo! Opera: Research
Ever since it was founded, Yo! Opera was very much aware of its pioneering role in both the Dutch artistic landscape and the international opera world. Youth opera as a genre had hardly taken shape and Yo! Opera's approach to change it was from the beginning followed by many, and with great interest. The working conferences that were organised as part of the festival were well-attended by mostly people from the opera, theatre and music sectors and these led to the first concrete contacts with researchers. In an early stage, festival producer Saskia van de Ree saw the opportunities research would offer to the sharing of knowledge and she made contacts with researchers in various fields of knowledge.
There was a lot of interest from the research areas of learning and (art) education. Peter Mak and Rineke Smilde, researchers in the field of Lifelong Learning in Music from the Hanzehogeschool in Groningen, reflected upon the work done by Yo! Opera. Also thanks to their insights, the organisation succeeded in positioning itself in a more self-conscious way within the arts, valuable contacts were made with art and music schools and education policies began to take more shape. Rineke Smilde also involved Peter Renshaw in Yo! Opera, who from then on made his expertise in the fields of learning, music education and artistic profiling available. The simple but very relevant question Peter Renshaw repeatedly asked was: 'Why do you do what you do?'. It has played a vital role in determining the course of Yo! Opera throughout its existence.
The pioneering spirit of Yo! Opera meant that almost all of its projects had research elements. Yo! Opera also emphasised its investigative nature. It set up projects in which unknown aspects played an explicit role. Reflection upon these elements was crucial and was an important part of the evaluation of each project.
From 2004, when Yo! Opera was dedicated more and more to community opera, a growing number of researchers became interested in the activities organised by it. Below is a short list of research done on Yo! Opera. The great number of theses and reports made by trainees and others are not included.
Rineke Smilde - Lectorate Life Long Learning, Hanzehogeschool Groningen
In 2005, Rineke Smilde and Ninja Kors set up a research project on the meezingbus [sing-along bus] of Opera in de Bus [Opera on the Bus]. It focused on the competencies of music professionals in a changed professional practice. The research project was closely connected to one of the most important themes for Yo! Opera: what are the competencies opera singers and composers need to connect to young audiences? And which attitude should singers and composers adopt if they want to become independent makers instead of performers only? And how artists behave in a classroom full of school children?
The research project resulted in a publication: Formal, Non-formal and Informal Learning in Music (ISBN/EAN 978-90-811273-3-2)
Eugene van Erven – Senior Lecturer in Theatre Studies, Utrecht University/Community Arts Lab (Vrede van Utrecht)
Eugene van Erven is an internationally renowned researcher who is especially active in the field of community art. Eugene was involved in De Operaflat production from 2005. He observed especially the roles of both pupils and flat-dwellers and the ways in which Yo! Opera involved them. Thanks to his active, participative role in the organisation of De Operaflat in 2009, Eugene pointed out that there were flaws in the complex project structure, and enabled Yo! Opera to respond to these timely and adequately. Together with Ivana Cerovecki, Eugene wrote an article on De Operaflat and on Yo! Opera's approach to community art. It was published in the book De goed voorbereide geest [Minds well prepared; see below] by Anna Maria Versloot. The article will eventually be part of a later publication on community art.
Nelly van der Geest - Centrum voor Interculturele Studies, Hogeschool der Kunsten Utrecht [Centre for Intercultural Studies, School of the Arts Utrecht]
Nelly van der Geest investigates intercultural processes in art. Nelly conducted research into the efforts made by Yo! Opera at Globe College in 2007 and 2008. She concentrated on the way in which teachers in lower secondary professional education (vmbo) address their pupils as potential artists. How can artists and teachers help pupils in this education level to discover their creativity and artistic talents? What is the role of terms like coownership, dynamics in the classroom, activating work forms and creative partnerships? The research project was supported by SIA RAAK, a foundation which stimulates innovative research at higher education institutes. One of the results of the project is a beautiful website: http://www.vmbokunstenaars.nl/
Nirav Christophe - Lectorate Theatrale Maakprocessen, Hogeschool der Kunsten Utrecht [Theatrical Making Processes, School of the Arts Utrecht]
Research has been conducted on De Operaflat, more specifically on the online creation environment developed especially for this project. The research was done by the lectorate Theatrale Maakprocessen [Theatrical Making Processes] and supported financially by the SIA RAAK foundation. The research focused on working processes, and on the division of roles between artists in this multidiscipline approach. Nirav Christophe has tried to find examples in De Operaflat of collaborations between composers, singers and non-professional makers. He also looked at the way the art institution handled this: if makers do not have professional backgrounds, how does that influence the way in which a project is organised? Finally, the research also dealt with the question how the outside world – including art critics – reacts to this type of 'shared artistry'. If a production is not judged for its artistic merits only, then what attitude should an art critic adopt? Part of this research was published in De goed voorbereide geest (see below). It shows many important parallels with the article on the changing role of the artist and art in society.
Sandra Trienekens - Lectorate Burgerschap en Culturele Dynamiek, Hogeschool van Amsterdam [Citizenship and Cultural Dynamics, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences]
At the request of Yo! Opera, Sandra Trienekens investigated the way in which the art project De Zingende Stad [The City Sings] >>> encouraged the social development of pupils of the RietenDak School. Of all social effects the project could have, Yo! Opera was especially interested in pupils' identification with their environment, their creativity, empowerment, media literacy, ownership and the commitment to and involvement of parents with the school. The research conducted by Sandra Trienekens resulted in a publication at the Faculty of Law at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences: De Zingende Stad, Sociale en culturele effecten van een kunstproject [The City Sings: Social and Cultural Effects of an Art Project] (ISBN/EAN: 978-90-79071-02-9). http://www.hva.nl/kenniscentrum-dmr/publicatie/de-zingende-stad-2009/
Anna Maria Versloot - De goed voorbereide geest, maakprocessen voor de opera van morgen [Minds well prepared, Making Processes for Opera of the Future]
Anna Maria Versloot graduated in writing for performance at the School of the Arts in Utrecht. She specialised in writing for opera and music theatre. She was asked by the lectorate Theatrical Making Processes of Nirav Christophe, at the same school, to contribute as a writer to a publication on making processes applied by Yo! Opera. Nirav Christophe and Geert van Boxtel, dramatist at Yo! Opera, have in the course of years selected and described several relevant and interesting themes applied by Yo! Opera. Anna Maria Versloot collected this material and transformed it into a very readable book, thanks to her attractive style of writing. In the 'many-voiced' book De goed voorbereide geest, we read the words of not only Anna Maria Versloot herself, but also those of composers, directors, education workers, researchers and dramatists.
Anna Maria Versloot - De goed voorbereide geest (ISBN 978 90 6403 762 7)
Ever since it was founded, Yo! Opera was very much aware of its pioneering role in both the Dutch artistic landscape and the international opera world. Youth opera as a genre had hardly taken shape and Yo! Opera's approach to change it was from the beginning followed by many, and with great interest. The working conferences that were organised as part of the festival were well-attended by mostly people from the opera, theatre and music sectors and these led to the first concrete contacts with researchers. In an early stage, festival producer Saskia van de Ree saw the opportunities research would offer to the sharing of knowledge and she made contacts with researchers in various fields of knowledge.
There was a lot of interest from the research areas of learning and (art) education. Peter Mak and Rineke Smilde, researchers in the field of Lifelong Learning in Music from the Hanzehogeschool in Groningen, reflected upon the work done by Yo! Opera. Also thanks to their insights, the organisation succeeded in positioning itself in a more self-conscious way within the arts, valuable contacts were made with art and music schools and education policies began to take more shape. Rineke Smilde also involved Peter Renshaw in Yo! Opera, who from then on made his expertise in the fields of learning, music education and artistic profiling available. The simple but very relevant question Peter Renshaw repeatedly asked was: 'Why do you do what you do?'. It has played a vital role in determining the course of Yo! Opera throughout its existence.
The pioneering spirit of Yo! Opera meant that almost all of its projects had research elements. Yo! Opera also emphasised its investigative nature. It set up projects in which unknown aspects played an explicit role. Reflection upon these elements was crucial and was an important part of the evaluation of each project.
From 2004, when Yo! Opera was dedicated more and more to community opera, a growing number of researchers became interested in the activities organised by it. Below is a short list of research done on Yo! Opera. The great number of theses and reports made by trainees and others are not included.
Rineke Smilde - Lectorate Life Long Learning, Hanzehogeschool Groningen
In 2005, Rineke Smilde and Ninja Kors set up a research project on the meezingbus [sing-along bus] of Opera in de Bus [Opera on the Bus]. It focused on the competencies of music professionals in a changed professional practice. The research project was closely connected to one of the most important themes for Yo! Opera: what are the competencies opera singers and composers need to connect to young audiences? And which attitude should singers and composers adopt if they want to become independent makers instead of performers only? And how artists behave in a classroom full of school children?
The research project resulted in a publication: Formal, Non-formal and Informal Learning in Music (ISBN/EAN 978-90-811273-3-2)
Eugene van Erven – Senior Lecturer in Theatre Studies, Utrecht University/Community Arts Lab (Vrede van Utrecht)
Eugene van Erven is an internationally renowned researcher who is especially active in the field of community art. Eugene was involved in De Operaflat production from 2005. He observed especially the roles of both pupils and flat-dwellers and the ways in which Yo! Opera involved them. Thanks to his active, participative role in the organisation of De Operaflat in 2009, Eugene pointed out that there were flaws in the complex project structure, and enabled Yo! Opera to respond to these timely and adequately. Together with Ivana Cerovecki, Eugene wrote an article on De Operaflat and on Yo! Opera's approach to community art. It was published in the book De goed voorbereide geest [Minds well prepared; see below] by Anna Maria Versloot. The article will eventually be part of a later publication on community art.
Nelly van der Geest - Centrum voor Interculturele Studies, Hogeschool der Kunsten Utrecht [Centre for Intercultural Studies, School of the Arts Utrecht]
Nelly van der Geest investigates intercultural processes in art. Nelly conducted research into the efforts made by Yo! Opera at Globe College in 2007 and 2008. She concentrated on the way in which teachers in lower secondary professional education (vmbo) address their pupils as potential artists. How can artists and teachers help pupils in this education level to discover their creativity and artistic talents? What is the role of terms like coownership, dynamics in the classroom, activating work forms and creative partnerships? The research project was supported by SIA RAAK, a foundation which stimulates innovative research at higher education institutes. One of the results of the project is a beautiful website: http://www.vmbokunstenaars.nl/
Nirav Christophe - Lectorate Theatrale Maakprocessen, Hogeschool der Kunsten Utrecht [Theatrical Making Processes, School of the Arts Utrecht]
Research has been conducted on De Operaflat, more specifically on the online creation environment developed especially for this project. The research was done by the lectorate Theatrale Maakprocessen [Theatrical Making Processes] and supported financially by the SIA RAAK foundation. The research focused on working processes, and on the division of roles between artists in this multidiscipline approach. Nirav Christophe has tried to find examples in De Operaflat of collaborations between composers, singers and non-professional makers. He also looked at the way the art institution handled this: if makers do not have professional backgrounds, how does that influence the way in which a project is organised? Finally, the research also dealt with the question how the outside world – including art critics – reacts to this type of 'shared artistry'. If a production is not judged for its artistic merits only, then what attitude should an art critic adopt? Part of this research was published in De goed voorbereide geest (see below). It shows many important parallels with the article on the changing role of the artist and art in society.
Sandra Trienekens - Lectorate Burgerschap en Culturele Dynamiek, Hogeschool van Amsterdam [Citizenship and Cultural Dynamics, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences]
At the request of Yo! Opera, Sandra Trienekens investigated the way in which the art project De Zingende Stad [The City Sings] >>> encouraged the social development of pupils of the RietenDak School. Of all social effects the project could have, Yo! Opera was especially interested in pupils' identification with their environment, their creativity, empowerment, media literacy, ownership and the commitment to and involvement of parents with the school. The research conducted by Sandra Trienekens resulted in a publication at the Faculty of Law at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences: De Zingende Stad, Sociale en culturele effecten van een kunstproject [The City Sings: Social and Cultural Effects of an Art Project] (ISBN/EAN: 978-90-79071-02-9). http://www.hva.nl/kenniscentrum-dmr/publicatie/de-zingende-stad-2009/
Anna Maria Versloot - De goed voorbereide geest, maakprocessen voor de opera van morgen [Minds well prepared, Making Processes for Opera of the Future]
Anna Maria Versloot graduated in writing for performance at the School of the Arts in Utrecht. She specialised in writing for opera and music theatre. She was asked by the lectorate Theatrical Making Processes of Nirav Christophe, at the same school, to contribute as a writer to a publication on making processes applied by Yo! Opera. Nirav Christophe and Geert van Boxtel, dramatist at Yo! Opera, have in the course of years selected and described several relevant and interesting themes applied by Yo! Opera. Anna Maria Versloot collected this material and transformed it into a very readable book, thanks to her attractive style of writing. In the 'many-voiced' book De goed voorbereide geest, we read the words of not only Anna Maria Versloot herself, but also those of composers, directors, education workers, researchers and dramatists.
Anna Maria Versloot - De goed voorbereide geest (ISBN 978 90 6403 762 7)