We're taking an Opera For All Voices-adjacent excursion to the realm of wiggly kiddos, innovative teachers, and fresh vocabulary words, highlighting the power of playful arts integration. 

Join Key Change co-hosts Andrea Fellows Fineberg and Anna Garcia with special guest Charles Gamble, Santa Fe Opera's Director Of School Programs, as they introduce two of Santa Fe Opera's most dynamic community engagement programs: ALTO: Active Learning Through Opera, a multi-session residency within the Santa Fe Public Schools that incorporates creative arts to make learning delightfully sticky; and NMArt Professional Learning Workshops For Educators, professional development workshops that elevate culturally responsive, student-centered teaching and learning via arts-integrated strategies.  

We've all had that one teacher who coaxed us out of our comfort zone and into the world of possibility. That teacher was Miss Moretti of the third grade for a shy, socially awkward Charles. She gave him permission to engage with his artistic passions and live more fearlessly. "It was transformative," he explains. "Those experiences with remarkable teachers helped me find my place alongside the other theater and chorus kids." 

We're grateful to that long line of encouraging adults. Without them, Charles may never have found a creative home at SFO. As Director of School Programs, Charles is tirelessly pursuing opportunities to make learning accessible and more operatic. 

"Opera has it all. Poetry and dance, theater, media, arts, music. It's all there," he marvels. "There's an understanding that as human beings, we're naturally curious. By drawing the arts into the classroom, we're tapping into that natural curiosity and deepening the engagement that students––and their teachers!––have with whatever else they're learning in school."

To Learn More About Becoming a Teaching Artist: https://www.santafeopera.org/alto-faqs/

For more information, please contact:

Charles Gamble Director of School Programs [email protected]

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

ALTO: Active Learning Through Opera | Santa Fe Opera

NMArt Professional Learning Workshops For Educators | Santa Fe Opera

RELATED EPISODES

Destination Santa Fe Opera: Life Skills, Music Making, and Billy Bad the Billionaire: Youth Opera Programs with Amy Owens and Charles Gamble

Key Change: Telling Hard Truths

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Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices.

Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios

Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg & Anna Garcia

Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

Production Support from Alex Riegler

Show Notes by Lisa Widder

Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello

Cover art by Dylan Crouch

This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Hankins Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an Opera America Innovation Grant supported by the Anne & Gordon Getty Foundation.  

To learn more about Opera For All Voices, visit SantaFeOpera.org. And for more Key Change, visit SantaFeOpera.org/KeyChange.