Special Projects

Discovering Voices: Career Paths in the Arts (Workforce Program)

(Grades 11 and 12, College and young Graduates) (Formerly known as Path of Contribution Project)

Designed to open doors to a more inclusive future in the arts by empowering young alumni from the Words and Music program. Our goal is to foster equity by supporting these talented individuals, ages 16 to 24, as they navigate and shape their own unique contributions to both the local arts community and the wider world. Through regular gatherings, participants will not only explore various career paths within the arts but also collaborate to create and perform original works and “passion projects” using music and theater to share their personal stories and advocate for societal change.

Drawing from dynamic programs like those at Logan Memorial Educational Campus, Lincoln High School, La Maestra Foundation’s Center for Youth Advancement as well as other higher learning institutions and organization in San Diego County, this cohort will be a vibrant space for discovery, creativity, and transformation.

Additional resources will include a 5-part inspiring career-development workshop that will cover different subjects focused in career exploration in the arts.

Discovering Voices: Career Development Workshops

This series of workshops is designed to provide young artists with a comprehensive introduction to various career paths in the arts. Each session focuses on a specific aspect of professional development, offering practical advice and guidance from experienced industry professionals. These workshops aim to equip participants with the tools, knowledge, and skills necessary to explore and pursue careers in the arts, both on and off the stage.  Topics discussed include:

• The Art of Auditioning: Polishing Your Performative Skills – This workshop focuses on developing essential audition skills. SD Opera’s Howard Young Voices Program recipients will be required to attend. Participants will engage in a mock audition format where professionals, including San Diego Opera’s Learning and Engagement Director, Artistic Administration staff, and Teaching Artists, provide constructive feedback. Topics include headshots, resumes, attire, acting objectives, vocal technique, and physical motivation.

• Artistic Career Management: Be Your Own Agent – Participants will learn the fundamentals of creating professional materials, such as an Electronic Press Kit (EPK) and a personal website. This workshop also covers best practices for recording and submitting audition materials, marketing strategies, and identifying resources to help young artists find and secure work opportunities and build connections in the arts industry.

• Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Ignite Your Passion Project – This session offers guidance on turning creative ideas into actionable projects. Participants will gain insights into basic business and communication skills, entrepreneurship, financial planning, and fundraising. The workshop is designed to help artists develop innovative approaches to advancing their careers and creating their own opportunities.

• Behind the Curtain: Exploring Technical Careers in the Arts – This workshop highlights the various technical roles that support performances, such as stage management, carpentry, lighting and electrical, props, costumes, wigs, and makeup. Industry professionals will explain the responsibilities associated with each role, share tips on networking, and provide advice on navigating the job market in theatre, opera, film, and other related fields.

• Beyond the Spotlight: Exploring Other Artistic Disciplines – This session introduces participants to careers in areas such as directing, dance and choreography, visual arts, lighting design, and the use of technology in the arts, including film and digital media. Presenters will discuss the skills and knowledge required for success in these fields and provide insights into potential successful career pathways.

These workshops are designed to offer practical guidance and valuable insights into the many opportunities available in the arts, helping participants make informed decisions about their future career paths.

Opera and Transformational Healing

During the fall and winter of 2020 and 2021, San Diego Opera Chorister Humberto Borboa and SDO Education Partner Norman Paraiso of La Maestra Foundation led an online weekly workshop for transformational healing using indigenous practices and a restorative arts approach, supported by the California Arts Council. An intergenerational community was formed during some of the toughest days and nights of the pandemic. Tenor Humberto Borboa composed and performed three songs as a culminating celebration of the experience. This project was a collaboration between San Diego Opera, La Maestra Foundation Center for Youth Advancement, and Casa Familiar.

Building a Costume

A participant in a recent San Diego Opera artist-residency worked with SDO’s resident costume designer to build a costume that her great-grandmother would have worn in the late 19th century as a resident of a small town near Acapulco, Mexico. Both San Diego Opera and the program participant learned a great deal from this exchange. In an evaluation of the project, entitled San Diego Opera Costume Project Pilot: Learning How to Maintain the Generative Form and Honor Lived Experiences, a professional arts education program evaluator notes that, “Expressing oneself through the arts can awaken inspiration, stimulate curiosity, and connect individuals to a timeless stream of human creativity while simultaneously placing them within that lineage. For participants in this project, this was no different. They shared how seeing their artifacts come to life was deeply fulfilling and aroused a hunger to learn more about the art form as well as how their personal experiences shape their artistic perspective.” Read the full report.

Words and Music Online

In the fall of 2020, San Diego Opera Education teaching artists connected with students and families from Logan Heights, Lincoln Park, and City Heights to create and share a personal artistic artifacts to document the pandemic experience. A music education scholar and consultant joined this project as well, and you can read the report he wrote about it titled Equity, Creativity, and Artifacts: Building Community Online During COVID-19.

Stepping Into My Big Girl Shoes

This 15-minute audio drama offers five short plays written and performed by Words and Music students. Each piece explores key coming-of-age moments young women experience as they step into adulthood. This project is the culmination of a 12-week virtual residency designed for high school students facilitated by San Diego Opera teaching artists Shayla James and Jessica Cortez.

San Diego Civic Concourse Mural

A Community Participatory Artwork and Permanent Mural in the Civic Center of San Diego

by Artist MR Barnadas in Collaboration with the Local Public

MR (Melinda) Barnadas is a multidisciplinary artist with focus on producing art for the public domain. She was commissioned by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture to create a site-specific mural for the Civic Center in 2020. After two years of development, the final production and installation is happening now in collaboration with the San Diego Opera Education Department and the San Diego Opera Scenic Studio. Through the direct partnership with San Diego Opera, the mural is presently being fabricated and installed both by San Diego Opera Scenic Studio artists and by local artists and art students from the San Diego region.

The artist chose to make every aspect of this permanent mural in the symbolic and municipal heart of our city a local collaboration. The mural’s imagery and transcribed archive of local memories were collected and inspired during her time as the City of San Diego Civic Center Artist-in-Residence during the summer of 2021. The mural’s paint-by-number style and futuristic qualities were inspired through a San Diego youth workshop and through ongoing collaboration with the art teacher and students at King Chavez Community High School. This project used an innovative process whereby the mural could be painted off-site in many panels, then installed for permanent adherence on-site all at once. Additional fabrication collaborators and supporters include: artists and current students of the Mesa College Museum Studies Program, local artist Omar Lopex, the La Jolla Playhouse, and San Diego Theatres.

Lincoln High School students create visual art for SDO’s 2022-2023 season

In a partnership with San Diego Opera, students created artwork for San Diego Opera’s Gala and for its 2022-2023 Season. To learn more, read the San Diego Unified School District newsletter article.