Community Opera
There is a “classist,” divide between so-called high and low art. Traditional Eurocentric art is classified by cultural gatekeepers as “high” art and everything else is “low” art.
White Snake Projects believes that this is a distinction without merit; that art made by our communities can tell compelling stories and can achieve the same production values as traditional art with proper resourcing and mentoring.
To prove this, we have embarked on an experiment partnering community groups with professional creators and production personnel to make new music theater pieces.
The first step in this process is to build trust with our community partners. We organized and produced Show Out Boston!, a dynamic series bringing together Boston’s youth performing arts groups onto a common stage to strut their stuff and network with us and with their peers.
Building upon the success of Show Out Boston!, we have partnered with 826 Boston to write the libretto (script) for a new opera. This Community Opera series brings together youth arts organizations across the city to work on new productions that center young artistic voices. We hope to produce one such opera every other year.
Our inaugural Community Opera, “To the People Like Us,” features an original story created by 12 young writers from 826 Boston’s Youth Literary Advisory Board. It tells the story of a group of teenagers dealing with issues of gentrification and development in their neighborhood and features music by composer and master educator Jorge Sosa