Fort Worth Opera announces FWO Arts-In-Place

Fort Worth Opera (FWO) has created FWO Arts-In-Place, an extension of the company’s forward-thinking educational program, the opera said in a news release.

The program is an online curriculum is designed for North Texas music students who are currently on hiatus from their regular class schedules during the widespread COVID-19 outbreak.

Each FWO Arts-In-Place digital packet will include links for students and their families to download comprehensive study guides and entertaining videos (not all produced by FWO) of Puccini’s La Bohème and Strauss II’s Revenge of the Bat (Die Fledermaus).

Fort Worth Opera is also giving students a sneak peek of Héctor Armienta’s thrilling new opera Zorro (and other Zorro-inspired performances), plus a live performance of the company’s recent world premiere family opera Frida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the World, by FWO Artistic Director Joe Illick and Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist Mark Campbell.

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The opera said the FWO Arts-In-Place packets provide students with detailed information about each opera, the historical context surrounding them, the creative teams within each show, fun opera facts, and age-appropriate activities that utilize household items.

“As we brave the difficult and uncertain weeks ahead, we realize that people are making provisions in many ways to maintain some semblance of normalcy. The world has taken to social media and the internet for everything from entertainment to connectivity to others,” says FWO Manager of Education and Community Engagement, Sheran Goodspeed Keyton.

“While the students in North Texas are prohibited from returning to their regular class schedules, school districts have done an amazing job of providing online learning tools for them. However, many of those tools are limited to academic disciplines. The education department of Fort Worth Opera would like to offer some creative and artistic additions to your at-home curriculum,” Keyton said.

Fort Worth Opera has distributed these digital FWO-Arts-In-Place packets to a list comprised of teachers, administrators, PTA leaders, homeschool groups, and college students. Each of them falls under a group that FWO would have served between March 15 and May 31, if it were not for the COVID-19 crisis.

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The teachers, leaders, and administrators were advised to forward to their students. Many of the PTA leaders are also moms with children, so they are distributing it out amongst parents as well.

The opera said its education department needs to be able to communicate with the teachers, students, and parents if they have any questions, and track the downloads and interest the FWO-Arts-In-Place curriculum.

To receive this digital curriculum, contact Sheran Goodspeed Keyton at 817-288-1207 or email Sheran@fwopera.org.

The public can also request packets by visiting https://www.fwopera.org/childrens-opera-theatre and clicking the button that says, “Request Your FREE Packet.” That opens an email link to education@fwopera.org

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Founded in 1946, Fort Worth Opera is the oldest continually performing opera company in Texas, and one of the 14 oldest opera companies in the United States.