Opera in the Classroom: A Study of Opera Integrated School Programs

Abstract

Arts integration is a concept that has been prevalent in education for many years and has been shown to improve student learning, transference, and engagement. Opera guilds (organizations that supports an opera company, usually in a fundraising and educational capacity) with their educational missions and artistic knowledge, are positioned to be great facilitators for schools looking to integrate arts into their curriculum. Despite the prevalence of school programs offered by opera guilds, no research exists on how they are using the concept and practice of integration in their school programs, what the benefits of this model are, and whether the integration model is preferred over an arts exposure model. The outcome of this qualitative, casestudy research is a master’s project.