About the Education Programme
The National Opera House has long aspired to establish an Education & Community Programme, aiming to create interactive, informative, and entertaining artistic events for people of all ages, from early to later years. This initiative seeks to engage individuals with the arts, offering the myriad benefits that artistic participation brings to both personal lives and communities.
The National Opera House Education & Community Programme has been years in the making and in April 2021, the National Opera House was finally able to embark on its first dedicated Education & Community Programme, thanks to the generous funding from Wexford Leader Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas. In addition, further funding was secured for specific arts projects through Wexford County Council Arts Office, Wexford County Council/Age Friendly Wexford and Wexford County Council/Creative Ireland. This enabled us to implement a cohesive programme of events which reflected our ambition to host events in the National Opera House as well as go out and work with people in their own communities across County Wexford.
We have been fortunate to attract an exceptional resource of talented musicians to facilitate these events, all who possess a great deal of experience in Arts & Education work. They include, Anita Vedres, Malachy Robinson, Síle Daly, Deirdre O’Leary, Elizabeth Drwal, Aileen Donohue, Peter McCamley, Ross Scanlon, Susan Doyle, Aura Stone and Kelli-Ann Masterson. Full details on each of the musicians are here.
Our Sponsors
The success of the Education & Community Programme is indebted to the generous support from the Wexford Leader Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas, Wexford County Council Arts Office, Wexford County Council/Age Friendly Wexford and Wexford County Council/Creative Ireland.
Thanks to this funding, between 2021 and 2022, 671 individuals across Co Wexford engaged in 57 sessions through six diverse projects designed for ages 2-95 years. These projects encompassed Music Pre-school Workshops, Singing for Health Workshops for Adults, Singing for Health Workshops for Children in Primary Schools, Arts Appreciation Talks, Musical Memories, and a six-week project for older people at St Bridget’s Day Care Centre, Wexford, as well as Early Years family workshops as part of Cruinniú na n'Óg, Ireland’s national day of free creativity for children and young people.
The National Opera House expresses gratitude to the supporters of the Education & Community Programme, recognizing their essential role in engaging existing audiences and cultivating audiences of the future. Without their support, the planning and execution of these events would not be possible.
"The children really enjoyed every minute of it. I was so impressed with Ross and Síle and the amount they were able to get from the children in such a short space of time. I really hope there will be some more similar events as the school would be very interested." Adamstown National School, Co Wexford - Singing for Health Workshops for children in Primary Schools
