Overview
Opera has a very unique diversity challenge as it is perceived as elitist and inaccessible.
Approach
Creative Access delivered a tiered training programme to equip staff with the confidence to navigate diversity and inclusion, working with Opera North’s board, senior management and entire team. We worked with the Opera North team to advance their wellbeing agenda, delivering workshops including managing work-life balance. Creative Access also created bespoke training for the Opera North education team to help peripatetic teachers better support the children from disadvantaged schools in which they were working.
Impact
Creative Access partnered with Opera North to shift the way the team thinks about the diversity and inclusion agenda. We helped devise a new approach tailored to their specific challenges, leading to substantive changes in programming and recruitment. We also enabled them to widen the funnel of applicants from under-represented communities applying for roles at Opera North. This contributed to a change in the perception of opera as being inaccessible to those not from a privileged background.
About Opera North
Opera North is a national opera company based in Leeds, and is a leading UK arts organisation. They create award-winning work that tours theatres and concert halls across the UK. You can find out more here.
