House of Representatives Inquiry Into Broadcasting, Online Content and Live Production to Rural and Regional Australia

House of Representatives Inquiry into broadcasting, online content and live production to rural and regional Australia

Submitted Friday, 19 February 2016

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY At Opera Australia (OA), we believe opera is for everyone. As the national opera company, we rise to the challenge of bringing opera to as many people as possible, regardless of where they live by having an on-the-ground presence in real terms. The company seeks to achieve this in a number of ways including via a dedicated Regional Tour, Schools Touring, various Community Partnership activity, including in regional indigenous communities, and via all forms of broadcast (cinemas, television, radio, digital download and streaming and via DVD and CD). OA commissions a new Australian productions to undertake an extensive national Regional Tour far beyond the traditional touring circuit. Each large-scale touring production is specifically purpose-built for OA’s Regional Tour, unlike most other touring productions, demonstrating our enduring commitment to present high calibre arts experiences for Australians living in regional Australia, as patrons attending iconic venues in capital cities enjoy. Driven by a desire to deepen the company’s connection with the communities visited, OA remains committed to generating life-long learning experiences delivered as part of OA’s community partnership program. Working in partnership with metropolitan, regional and remote Australian communities has been instrumental in developing programs which directly respond to local communities’ needs and interest in the arts. These relationships have grown over time to inspire the development of tailor-made community cultural exchange workshops in regional and remote Indigenous communities; including Tennant Creek (NT), Alice Springs (NT) and Yarrabah (Qld). Beyond presenting the touring production, OA has encouraged these communities to utilise the operatic art form to give voice to their shared experiences and common history. These collaborations have produced award-winning productions and through live streaming reached additional remote communities for the first time. Building on this activity, OA launched its Regional Student Scholarships and Regional Children’s Choruses community engagement program in 2014. Given its overwhelming success, the company remains committed to offer this program in the future. OA will continue to work in close partnership with the Presenters and Venues on its Regional Tour network to plan and refine the company’s Regional Tour programming, scheduling, education programs and outreach activities. By incorporating regional tour funding into OA’s core operational funding, the company and regional Presenters will achieve a level of stability to anchor opera into their artistic programming and establish a meaningful and long-term connection with the communities visited and continue to work closely with remote Indigenous communities. OA also undertakes extensive Primary Schools Tours travelling across metropolitan, regional and rural New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory each year. OA has established a deeply valued and long-term working relationship with the ABC to record and broadcast OA’s operatic works utilising the ABC’s multi-platform media channels. As a result, OA is able to reach metropolitan, regional and remote Australians, who may otherwise not have the opportunity to experience OA’s work first-hand. Given the House of Representatives Inquiry into broadcasting, online content and live production to rural and regional Australia, OA would like to put forward the following information for consideration.

Photo by: Georges Antoni

National Regional Touring - Opera is for Everyone, Regardless of Where You Live OA’s Regional Tour reflects the company’s commitment to having a direct and enduring presence in regional and remote Australia. 2016 marked the 21st consecutive year of national regional touring for OA; successfully trailblazing a far reaching national regional tour circuit, and connecting with communities who would otherwise not have the opportunity to enjoy a high calibre opera performance first hand. OA tours large-scale, high quality, accessible and affordable productions to regional communities.

Since 1996, OA has toured to 110 different venues, presenting 549 performances of high quality opera to 245,156 audience members. To this end, OA will have travelled 282,851km around the country – and never cancelled a single regional tour performance in 20 years. Each touring production is specifically commissioned and purpose-built for OA’s Regional Tour; ensuring Australian’s often living hundreds of kilometres away from their nearest capital city or regional centre experience the same high artistic quality that can be expected of the company’s productions performed on the mainstage of iconic venues in in our capital cities. Performed by OA’s professional singers and accompanied by a chamber orchestra; OA’s regional tour at around 30 people is the largest major performing arts touring party in Australia. During this time, we have presented The Magic Flute (1996-97), The Barber of Seville (1998-99), Rigoletto (2000-2001), La Boheme (2002-2004), Carmen (2005-2007), Madame Butterfly (2008- 2009), La Traviata (2010-2011), Don Giovanni (2012-2013), The Magic Flute (2014-2015). Each production is purpose-built to endure the demands of touring while retaining the flexibility to be performed in both purpose-built venues and unconventional spaces; in response to the limitations in size of existing venues across regional Australia. . Productions are also adapted and performed in English, removing the language barrier for new audiences, which has been reported to encourage new audiences to attend opera for the first time. In response to audience feedback and discussions with presenters indicating that there was a strong desire within regional areas to have access to high quality opera productions on a more regular basis, OA changed from a three-year touring cycle to a two-year touring cycle in 2008. OA is often the cornerstone production of a presenter’s season, and their largest.

OA works in close partnership with the presenters and venues on its regional tour network. Over two decades, the company has forged long-term relationships with these stakeholders and worked in partnership to plan and refine the company’s Regional Tour programming, scheduling, education programs and outreach activities. Over the years, audience demand has driven the production choice, which is selected by the OA’s Artistic Director, and feedback from Regional Tour Presenters and audience surveys. To date these have been produced by a number of all-Australian, award winning directors, designers

and performers, in an endeavour to not only meet but exceed our audiences expectations. OA prides itself on the calibre of artists, designers, directors and musicians it attracts to the regional tour each year. Since 1996 the regional tour will have seen over 612 people presenting OA in the touring party, more than 32 people as part of the creative team and hundreds more as principal artists. Directors such as Michael Gow (Don Giovanni 2012-2013, The Magic Flute 2014-15), John Bell (Madame Butterfly 2008-2009), Adam Cook (Carmen 2005-2007, La boheme 2002-2004), Lindy Hume (The Barber of Seville 1998-1999) and Roger Hodgman, having directed a new version of Rigoletto for the OA mainstage in 2014, directed our 2000-2001 regional tour of the same opera. Designers include Robert Kemp (Don Giovanni 2012-2013, The Magic Flute 2014-15), Stephen Curtis (Carmen 2005-2007, La boheme 2002-2004) and lighting designer Matt Scott (Madama Butterfly 2008-2009, Don Giovanni 2012-2013, The Magic Flute 2014-15). Musically, many of OA’s best known singers have performed on the Regional Tour, including Emma Matthews, winner of nine Helpmann Awards, more than any other individual; Roxane Hislop and Brad Daley, who recently starred in OA’s Melbourne Ring Cycle; Andrew Jones, currently starring as Papageno in The Magic Flute at the Sydney Opera House; Hyeseoung Kwon, played the title role in Madama Butterfly at Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. Conductors Paul Kildae, Richard Gill, Simon Kenway and Vanessa Scammell have all held the baton for OA Regional Tour performances. OA’s touring productions have been nominated for multiple Green Room Awards over the years; including in recent years Best Direction (Michael Gow); Best Male Lead (Andrew Moran – Papageno) and Best Design (Robert Kemp (design) and Matt Scott (lighting) for OA’s 2014/2015 regional touring production of The Magic Flute. Undertaking extensive national touring to regional and remote communities, has allowed the company to take advantage of its presence on the ground and respond to individual communities needs in a sensitive and timely way, which would not have been able to be envisaged at the time of planning the tour. As a result, these experiences have become significant achievements OA is proud to have been involved in. These include: performing in Marysville in 2012 in the wake of the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 (VIC); staging a free fundraising Gala Concert for the families of Chinchilla (QLD) following the devastating floods in 2011; and working in partnership with Barkly Regional Arts to undertake a cultural exchange with the local Indigenous community in Tennant Creek (NT) in 2013 and 2015.

Outreach & Touring – 20 Years of Expertise Since 1996, OA has had an internal producing unit, specialising in Regional Touring, Primary Schools Touring and Community Engagement. This department remains under the Artistic Direction of Lyndon Terracini, and is led by Executive Producer, Sandra Willis. The Touring & Outreach department consists of five staff: four full-time staff members, and one part-time position. This team successfully manages over 60 weeks of touring each year across the country, overseeing 80 singers, musicians and crew members in addition to developing and producing new touring works, including the four time Helpmann Award-winning production of The Rabbits by composer and performer Kate Miller-Heidke and librettist Lally Katz.

National Regional Touring Itinerary OA’s national Regional Tour is presented over a two-year cycle. Made up of a ‘hot’ tour (Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia) and ‘cold’ tour (New South Wales, Victoria, Canberra and Tasmania) over this time. Since its inception the Regional Tour has travelled to each State and Territory; although has not secured a presentation venue in South Australia due to the timing and limited availability of venues since 2013.

All the locations Opera Australia has toured to

Community Partnerships While OA remains committed to presenting formal education programs, as part of the Regional Tour and Schools Tour, we also acknowledge the value of life-long learning experiences have when delivered as part of a community partnership program. Working in partnership with metropolitan, regional and remote Australian communities has been instrumental in developing programs which directly respond to local communities’ needs and interest in the arts.

Until recently Education Workshops and Masterclasses were the key opportunities the company could directly engage with the local communities beyond the theatre. While these experiences continue to be in demand, the company recognised the opportunity to significantly build on these experiences and foster deeper connections in the communities visited by responding to their individual self-identified needs and interest in the arts, developing programs that reflect the diversity of the local community. These may include certain productions, professional development opportunities, intimate pre-performance talks or an opportunity to perform on stage alongside OA’s star performers.

Fostering relationships that have grown over time, OA has worked with a number of regional and remote Indigenous communities to inspire the development of tailor-made community cultural exchange workshops resulting in the creation of original Indigenous operatic and musical artworks performed with and for the communities they were created in; including pre-show performances in Tennant Creek (NT) and two large scale original works: Bungalow Song in Alice Springs (NT) and Yarrabah! The Musical in Yarrabah (Qld). Participants were encouraged to give voice to their shared experiences and common history to generate multi-generational collaboration and social regeneration, with these collaborations creating an award-winning production (Yarrabah! The Musical was awarded the Community Event of the Year award at the Australian Event Awards in 2012). In 2014, the company launched two new community partnership initiatives being the Regional Children’s Choruses and Regional Student Scholarship Program. The Regional Children’s Choruses engage children in each town the Regional Tour visits. This provides training and development opportunities for these children to perform onstage alongside professional singers, orchestra and crew. This is not only a participatory exercise, but also an exercise in artistic excellence as we develop regional artists over time. Since its inception in 2014, the inaugural Regional Children’s Chorus program has featured 758 children across the country perform alongside Opera Australia’s professional singers, in their own towns, seen by their family and friends. A local Choir Leader was selected in each participating town, who then either created a new choir, or worked with an existing one, learning the music of The Magic Flute. 45 local Choir Leaders have participated to date. Moving forward, this community engagement program will provide OA with the opportunity to re- engage with local Choir Leaders and Children’s Choruses. By providing regular opportunities for the company to collaborate with these local choruses, OA aims to deepen the company’s community engagement and ensure that the experience, training and skills for the local community through interaction with the national opera company, is ongoing and permanent. Working in partnership with venues and presenters on the ground, OA has built a living legacy in coordinating training for local choir leaders, by offering free weekend intensive train-the-trainer sessions, in Sydney and Melbourne in 2014, and Brisbane and Perth in 2015. Sessions included learning the touring production’s music, conducting techniques, and created a network of Choir Leaders across the country. Following the Sydney session, two Choir Leaders initiated a tour and exchange between their two choirs, enabling the children to continue to meet and work together. OA also continued to support them on their return to their local communities to coordinate the Children’s Choruses on the ground to prepare them to perform onstage alongside the national opera company in their home town. These skills will then be able to be utilised well into the future in the community, an important exercise in capacity building within regional communities. To nurture the children’s love of music, OA created extensive learning materials, including a synopsis of the show; set and costume design images; sheet music; backing CDs; general information about opera and about The Magic Flute in particular. These materials have provided an insight into the art form, fostering a deeper level of understanding and appreciation of the opera; which has rippled through the community and cultivated new audiences. Since the 2014 tour of The Magic Flute, two members of our Children’s Chorus, one from Bendigo and one from Armidale, successfully auditioned for OA’s mainstage seasons of Tosca, and performed at the Arts Centre Melbourne and at the Sydney Opera House. Demonstrating how the Regional Children’s Chorus truly is a wonderful opportunity and training ground for the next generation of artists and arts lovers. This program is set to continue as part of the 2016/2017 national tour of The Marriage of Figaro, with many of the choirs from the tour of The Magic Flute keen to return and work with OA again. While OA’s community engagement programs as part of the Regional Tour have mainly been aimed at children and young people in 2014 and 2015, we believe this program can be developed to engage with other demographics in the future. Our current model allows for incredibly efficient delivery, with only one additional OA member of staff on the road, thereby having lower costs, and allows for the company to be working with three different towns a week. The feedback from parents, presenters and choir leaders has also been overwhelmingly positive, some of which is attached.

(L-R) Rehearsals in Katherine, NT: Photo by Victoria Hope, Alex Hargreaves as Papageno with Children’s Chorus in Cairns, QLD.

The Regional Student Scholarship is a once-in a lifetime opportunity for emerging regional performers. Over 130 students have auditioned for OA in their home towns during the 2014/2015 Regional Tour, receiving invaluable audition experience and feedback on their performance, equivalent to a masterclass. Ultimately eight senior secondary students have been selected and invited to come to Sydney and spend a week with the company. Under the guidance of OA artistic staff, they’ve participated in masterclasses with leading directors, singers, vocal coaches, language coaches and observed professional rehearsals and performances. As a result, successful students have had insider access to the largest arts organisation in Australia, and made connections that will prove invaluable as they progress in their education and careers. Of the eight Regional Student Scholarship recipients to date, one is attending the Sydney Conservatorium (Chloe Robbins), while another has just been accepted (Katherine Allen). Another two have been accepted into the Queensland Conservatorium; one for Opera performance (Nina Wildman), and Jazz vocals (Gabriella Sabaddin). The remaining students are currently completing high school. In the future, OA plans to further develop this program, and open it up to orchestral musicians and students in regional Australia sinterested in theatrical production. The OA Regional Children’s Choruses connect with the heart of the communities, to transcend the traditional educational program model to a participatory learning experience. Whereas, working with presenters to coordinate and implement the Regional Student Scholarship audition process, demonstrates the OA’s commitment to nurturing the talent of emerging Australian artists from regional areas and establishing meaningful career pathways in the arts. Both of these initiatives enables access to the company’s expertise, artists working at the height of their professions and reaches far beyond the experience of attending a production. By bridging the opera education gap for children in regional Australia, we hope to foster a life-long love of the arts and create opportunities for learning that may not be otherwise possible outside the capital cities.

Regional Tour Cultural Exchange Workshops and Live Stream Broadcasts In the year or so leading up to the 2013 Regional Tour, OA deepened its relationship with Barkly Regional Arts and returned to the very remote town of Tennant Creek in the centre of the Northern Territory. Tennant Creek has a population of approximately 3,500 people of which 50% identify as Indigenous Australians.

OA has been enthusiastically received by Tennant Creek audiences in the past; however one of the things noted over time was the low number of Indigenous audience members attending performances, whereas the secondary students attending education workshops were almost 100% Indigenous. As a result, OA sought to bridge this gap by engaging with the community on a deeper level in partnership with Barkly Regional Arts.

In partnership, OA and Barkly Regional Arts created a new cultural exchange between local Indigenous musicians (The Winanjjikari Music Centre All Stars {WMC All Stars}) and the OA touring chamber orchestra. Using new technologies, the WMC All Stars’ music was charted and

Incorporate Regional Touring Funding Into Core Funding At present, OA relies on annual project funding applications supported by the Federal Government’s regional touring initiative Playing Australia to subsidise the company’s Regional Touring costs. The Australia Council’s National Touring Status program limitations prohibits OA seeking multi-year funding due to the funding request cap amount. By having annual confirmed funding, OA will be able to work with venues to anchor opera into their artistic programming, providing an opportunity to consolidate these relationships and create a genuine opportunity to identify and meet regional community’s needs more intimately and over a longer period. This is a particular strength when connecting with disenfranchised or minority groups within the community. The operatic art form is of a large scale and OA has committed and dedicated audiences in some of Australia’s most isolated and remote locations. Another advantage of having major performing arts performances locked into their planning schedules well in advance, is that OA and venues will have an opportunity to leverage this guarantee to secure corporate sponsorship and philanthropic support. By consolidating OA’s existing relationships with long standing regional Presenters and brokering relationships with new venues over time, we will be well placed to deliver against the company’s aim to engage with contemporary audiences in as many venues as possible, while broadening the reach and relevance of the national opera company.

The Joy of Opera for Young People – Primary Schools Touring, Education Programs and Disability Access Young people remain a priority for OA. We acknowledge the importance to encourage and nurture a love of music and appreciation for the arts in the next generation; it is vital to the longevity of the art form. In response to this, we undertake the most extensive Primary Schools Tours, with the largest touring party of professional performers, across NSW and Victoria reaching over 70,000 students each year across urban, outer-metropolitan and regional areas; and has been seen by more than has been seen by more than 1.2 million since its inception in 1998. Productions have been commissioned and designed for primary school audiences in mind, and are complimented with comprehensive education kits, including audio resources, which allow students to learn more about music and the arts, addressing an important part of the curriculum. The Primary Schools Tour repertoire includes 50-minute productions performed in English, and include: The Barber of Seville, The Magic Flute, Cinderella (based on Rossini’s La Cenerentola), and Hansel and Gretel; with new adaptations currently in development for future years. The Primary Schools Tours present high quality performances to children in-schools, community centres and hospitals; showcasing the OA’s established and emerging performers, which also contributes to their professional development. Performers are primarily sourced from both NSW and Victoria. The Schools Company is the largest major performing arts schools touring party of its kind. Feedback for the Primary Schools Tour is consistently positive and remain in high demand, with most schools booking a return visit every year. Bookings are highly sought after and are sold out many months in advance. Increasing accessibility to the Primary Schools Tour has also resulted in developing the innovative and award-winning Auslan shadow interpreting program. Pioneered in Victoria and now rolled out in NSW, it is a first of its kind in Australia.

Launched in 2010, this award-winning program provides accessible arts to many children who have never been exposed to music before, and has proven to be beneficial for both Deaf and hard of hearing students, as well as their hearing counterparts, who have new understanding and appreciation for the language of Auslan. Again, with the Auslan Shadow Interpreting program, demand far outstrips supply, and each year more and more schools are asking to have their performances interpreted. Since the program’s inception in Victoria in 2010, it has reached over 20,000 people, with the NSW program

commencing in 2014. Opera Australia’s Auslan Shadow Interpreting program won the Creative Partnerships Australia Victorian Arts Access Award in 2013, and was a Finalist in the 2014 National Disability Awards, presented by Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield at an event at Parliament House in Canberra. Based on its proven successful track record, the NSW Schools Tour has secured ongoing core funding support from the NSW State Government, through Arts NSW.

ABC Collaboration and Distribution Across Multi-platform Channels OA has established a deeply valued and long-term working relationship with the ABC to record and broadcast the company’s operatic works utilising the ABC’s multi-platform media channels. As a result, OA is able to reach metropolitan, regional and remote Australians, who may otherwise not have the opportunity to experience the performance first-hand; as is the case for Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. Without this essential support, audiences would not have the opportunity to relive and share in extraordinary performances caught at special moments in time.

In 2014, ABC TV broadcast three OA productions including: A Masked Ball; Don Pasquale; and Tosca, reaching a combined audience of approximately 151,900 viewers. In the same year, ABC Radio also broadcast The Golem, reaching a further 80,000 listeners. In 2016, OA will be working closely with various departments across the ABC to bring more locally produced operatic work to all Australian’s. This will include multiple radio broadcasts on Classic FM, multiple television broadcasts, including the free-to-air premiere of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour – Aida, as well as various recordings released commercially via ABC Music including a soundtrack recording of The Rabbits, a new Australian work of great cultural significance.

The ABC has continued to innovate and lead the way in opening up avenues to experience and facilitate arts organisations access to audiences nationally and internationally, online and on- screen, that would otherwise not be possible for the Australian performing arts sector and creative industries more broadly. They have lead an inventive approach for arts organisations to showcase their work and programs; educational, partnership driven, and actively encourage life- long learning experiences.

The ABC has forged integral pathways to ensure Australian can access diverse creative content by establishing the ABC Arts iview channel, showcasing classic arts heavyweights alongside emerging web series and specifically commissioned critical review series in addition to featuring stand-out recordings from their exhaustive archives.

The ABC has actively fostered culturally curious audiences to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the arts.

To fully utilise these pathways to access diverse new audiences, OA in collaboration with ABC TV, Opera Conference and Princess Pictures supported by Screen Australia and Film Victoria developed a new Australian opera specifically for the screen; The Divorce.

The Divorce, a four-part contemporary comedic opera, was a unique multi-platform project that reinvented opera for television, film and online audiences across the country and the world, featuring celebrated Australian performers including Lisa McCune, Marina Prior, Hugh Sheridan, Kate Miller-Heidke, John O’May, Matthew McFarlane, Melissa Madden-Gray and Peter Cousens. They are supported by the musical and vocal expertise of the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra and OA Chorus. The music by internationally acclaimed composer Elena Kats-Chernin and the libretto by award- winning playwright Joanna Murray-Smith, were originally commissioned by The Opera Conference—the national partnership of professional opera companies, Opera Australia, The State Opera of South Australia, Opera Queensland and West Australian Opera. The Divorce is innovative, cross-platform and collaborative. It is energetic, fresh and featured Australian performers. Across the country The Divorce had a very strong viewer response when it premiered on ABC1 in 2015, with a cumulative reach of 1.1 million over the four evenings. Regional viewership cumulative reach was approx. 311,000 (4% of regional population). The regional total TV share was proportionately higher at 4.9%.

The below table provides the percentage of regional population reached.

The below table records the average viewing reach of one episode of The Divorce.

Another 126,000 views were recorded on ABC on i-view. Although the location of the viewers isn’t available, it is reasonable to assume a proportion came from regional Australia.

In summary, working closely with the national broadcaster is very important for OA as the national opera company. The access that the ABC provides whether it be via television, radio or digitally allows all Australians to experience OA’s work.

Summary As the national opera company, OA remain committed to ensuring Australians living in regional and remote Australia have the opportunity to experience the same high calibre arts experience as can be expected of the national opera company on the mainstage of our iconic venues in capital cities, proscenium arch theatres or unconventional spaces and under the stars in the outback. Incorporating regional touring funding into OA’s core funding; or lifting the current funding cap for National Touring Status funding would generate a pathway for OA to seek multi-year funding which if successful would enable the company to plan and present the national Regional Tour in partnership with regional partners with greater certainty and with greater investment the potential to extend current touring to more regional areas across the country and more extensive community partnership activities. OA also currently undertakes extensive Primary Schools Tours travelling across metropolitan, regional and rural New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory each year. The company has been fortunate to secure support from the NSW State Government towards the NSW leg of the tour, but unfortunately no other avenues are currently available for OA to secure funding towards arts education activities to refine and value add to the reach and quality of these experiences in response to the growing needs of the education sector. OA welcome the Government’s consideration of this issue. Providing access to OA’s work beyond the live experience is also extremely important to the company and utilising all forms of broadcast opportunities available. To this end OA has established a deeply valued and long-term working relationship with the ABC. As a result, OA is able to reach metropolitan, regional and remote Australians, who may otherwise not have the opportunity to experience OA’s work first-hand. OA believes the ABC has a vital role in ensuring equitable access to high calibre arts access for all Australian audiences, artists and arts workers. Both OA and the ABC nurture the increasing interconnectivity of these stakeholders and their shared passion in giving voice to distinctly Australian stories.