Events and Specialist Forums

Our meetings are usually planned to be in person events in alternating member cities. Recently however, online meetings have proven to bring added value to our events offer, enabling colleagues usually less able to travel to live events to connect with a large number of peers and to react quickly to pressing issues.

 

Conferences are opportunities for all members to gather twice a year. The programmes offer constructive insights into topics and developments of current practical interest for a general audience of opera professionals as well as specialist groups, and include spaces to develop contacts for Europe-wide collaborations and innovative production formats.

 

Specialist forum meetings accommodate the need for confidential peer-to-peer discussions and sharing and developing best practises in the respective fields. There are 15 active forums (see below): Artistic Administration & Producing; Audio-visual & Digital media; Business & Finance; Chorus managers; Costume, Make-up & Wig; Dramaturgy, Education; Fundraising; Sustainability; Human Resources; Independent Producers; Marketing & Communication; Orchestra managers; Technical & Production; and Technical Managers & Set Workshops.

 

All presentations and documents shared during our meetings are made available in our document centre and each forum has its own mailing list that members can use to share information or request advice.

Upcoming Events

Past Events

Community Guidelines

We believe in the power of convening to build community, gather insights, and forge collaborative solutions. Whether in person or over digital channels, we invite you to connect with other people to ask questions, share ideas, discuss topics, debate issues, and learn new concepts about opera. The diversity of our membership makes the strength of our association. We come together in a respectful and trusting manner, accepting different points of view and fostering a safe environment. We recognise the potential of collective learning and exchange. There are things we don’t know and can learn from others. We must enter the room with curiosity. We must acknowledge the different experiences and expertise that others bring. Healthy debates are natural, but compassion is required.

The main language at our events is English. As this isn’t everybody’s mother tongue in Europe, we speak it with many accents. At our events, we respect each other’s ways of expressing ourselves and help each other to keep up an inclusive conversation.

An Opera Europa forum is a specialist group that aims at exchanging collegial advice and support through seminars and online tools. Access to forums is a benefit of the Opera Europa membership.

Forums communicate through listservs (email distribution lists), and have dedicated pages on Opera Europa’s website, with announcements about upcoming meetings and presentations from past conferences.

Forums are created from the interest expressed by members in a certain discipline, and new forums are currently in discussion. Contact Audrey Jungers if you have a theme to suggest!

Each forum has a steering group of 5 to 9 members that understands and represents the diverse interests and aims of the forum, plans future meetings, identifies members within the Opera Europa network who are able to contribute to the variety of the forum meetings.

Each forum has a coordinator within the Opera Europa executive team, who provides guidance, coordinates the forum’s plans within Opera Europa’s wider agenda, and has final responsibility in all matters regarding communicating and convening meetings.

In order to ensure continuity and representation, it is recommended to set up a healthy rotation of members on the steering committee, allowing people who have been involved for several years to make space and new contributors to join. The steering group may choose to elect a chair who is also expected to rotate.

Recruitment of new steering committee members and appointment of the chair are done in consultation with the Opera Europa coordinator.

A meeting takes place in a member’s institution by invitation only. The place has to respond to criteria such as accessibility, affordability and feasibility according to the annual agenda of Opera Europa.

The receiving institution can suggest dates that are confirmed with the steering group and the Opera Europa executive team.

The costs of the forum (tickets to performances, catering, guest speakers) are covered with the registration fee and a reasonable contribution from the host.

The programme is outlined by the steering group together with their coordinator and reflects the diversity and interests of the forum, with a careful attention to the diversification of speakers.

The approval of the place, the date, the budget, as well as the programme, is at the discretion of Opera Europa.