From Opera Education to Institutional Partnerships: Exploring Educational Programmes and Models of Collaboration Between Lyric-Symphonic Foundations and Cultural Associations

This research analyses different models of collaboration between lyric-symphonic foundations and cultural associations for the production of opera education programmes addressed to children. Starting from the critical accessibility gap between opera institutions and younger generations, and from the limited presence of opera in public schools curricula, the research frames opera education as a pedagogical and managerial tool. The study adopts a qualitative research methodology, analysing and comparing three case studies of collaborative educational programmes, and relies on resources including interviews with representatives from the various institutions and official reports and documents. Findings highlight the organisational complexity of participatory opera education programmes, and show how inter-organisational collaboration contributes to the success of the programme through the complementary assets, resources, and expertise of the involved institutions. The thesis identifies recurring challenges, good practices in partner selection and project management, and impact evaluation criteria that can be used to assess the success of the programmes. The results demonstrate that collaboration is a strategic asset for lyric-symphonic foundations and cultural associations, as it contributes to efficient design and delivery of the programmes, while maintaining a focus on the pedagogical, artistic, and strategic goals of the programmes.