Programs in our Community
We are looking forward to continuing our work in our community as and when it is safe to do so. Our upcoming plans will be shared publicly as soon as possible.
The Kettle Society
For 40+ years, the warmth of The Kettle Society has empowered people living with mental illness, substance use, poverty and/or homelessness by compassionately providing outreach, advocacy, housing, employment, community services and enrichment programs.
Vancouver Opera is proud to have partnered with The Kettle Society over the years on a number of projects, including the Kettle Choir and Writing Guild with composer and Kettle Choir music director Lesley Sutherland, onstage productions such as 2018’s Requiem for a Lost Girl presented as part of the Vancouver Opera Festival, and March 2020’s Can You Hear Me Project: To Begin Again, which you can view now documented as a video here. Members of The Kettle Choir and Writers Guild appeared on Vancouver Opera’s Offstage audio podcast in September 2020: you can listen to that podcast interview here.
In November 2020, VO began a new project with longtime community partners, The Kettle Society. Members of the Kettle Choir were invited to join weekly virtual classes in music, movement, and visual arts, along with their long-standing weekly writing class, all taught by VO teaching artists. The groups are in the process of collaborating to create a short video documenting their work together, which will be presented in late Spring 2021. The impact of these classes has been immeasurable, as the isolation this group has experienced due to the pandemic is palpable. The sense of community prevails, as each class is filled with familiar faces, creativity and laughter. A video documenting this latest project will be released this coming summer.
