A collaborative approach to exploring the interdisciplinary nature of opera within CCW Outreach

Abstract

Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon’s Outreach work includes a sixteen week programme of Saturday teaching, part of the National Art and Design Saturday Club, for students studying Art and Design at GCSE level within London schools in year 10 (14-15 years old).

In collaboration with English National Opera (ENO), the Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon’s Outreach and ENO educational teams piloted an approach to learning and teaching for this group that sought to explain the interdisciplinary nature of an operatic production.

The students designed and made wearable accessories in artist led workshops, which were worn by members of a community chorus and professional artists from ENO in “Towards Another World” a one-off site-specific performance inspired by Verdi’s opera Aida, created to accompany the V&A exhibition Opera: Passion, Power and Politics. Following this performance, the students visited the Coliseum to see the full performance of Aida.

This collaboration required a careful combination of approaches including explanations by the designers of Aida including visual presentations of design processes and outcomes. The students worked in groups to draw hieroglyphic interpretations of the narrative before using collage to identify and represent major themes as a way of understanding the story of Aida, and accessing what can be an esoteric artistic medium.

The discipline specific teaching that currently dominates secondary education can help students to understand a subject intimately, although does not necessarily represent an increasingly multidisciplinary world. This model, while complex to deliver, provides insights into alternative possibilities, viewpoints and perspectives.