From September 2023, Project Butterfly has entered into its “Sustainability and Opera Workshops in Schools”, marking the beginning of the workshop with three schools High School Francesco Selmi, High School no.6, and Otaniemi High School, respectively in Modena, Gdańsk and Espoo.This collaboration with schools is unique because the students will take part in writing the story for the Opera, which will be composed by our selected composers. Their story will be built around an element: earth for Italy, water for Poland and air for Finland, which the students learned about during the workshops during the last months. These formative and educational meetings were possible thanks to the work of our Opera Partners Teatro Comunale di Modena, Opera Baltycka, and Opera Box, and AESS, a non-profit organisation from Italy that is an expert in sustainable practices.
Reaching the end of the year, we want to present an update on our work with schools, analysing the work done and its current situation.
On September 20 the students from High School Francesco Selmi’s class 3S were for the first time introduced to the world of Opera, thanks to Alessandro Roveri. The project coordinator taught students about the historical significance of Opera and its production system. After his speech, the students also had the chance to witness the dress rehearsal of an opera. This first meeting was necessary for the students to understand what Opera is and what they contribute to creating.
The first meeting, held on October 17, revolved around the current environmental situation and its future, making the students realise the severity of the environmental crisis and understand the importance of green activities.
The second meeting, held on October 25, delved on themes like climate changes and team building with the collaboration of Giacomo Zattini, ambassador for FridaysForFuture.
On November 7, the third meeting involved a visit around the city of Modena, visiting the University Museum of Gemma and Historical Archive of Modena to inform students about the land changes happened from the birth of the world and those that are happening right now.
The last meeting, held on November 23, saw the participations of Gianluca Bergianti and Simona Zerbinati of “Terrevive” who talked about healthy diet and how earth, if well-treated, produces healthy food.
The workshop in Gdańsk started on September 22, when Aleksandra Filipek, representing Opera Baltycka, visited the high school and informed the students about Project Butterfly and their role in the process. The meeting did not stop at only the explanation, but it continued towards a visit to the Kazimierz Reservoir, thanks to the Gdańsk Water Foundation, where the students were able to acquire further knowledge about the water element.
On October 16, the high schoolers from Gdańsk went on a 3-day trip visiting several city like Łączyn, Kartuzy and Borucin where they had intensive study sessions and tours to better understand the importance of water and how fundamental it is to protect it.
The first meeting between the school and our opera partner, Opera Box, was held on the September 11, when Ville Salonen visited the students and informed them about Project Butterfly and how important their collaboration is.
In November, there was another meeting where more than 300 students joined Opera Box’s Environmental Day learning about Circul Economy and Carbon-Neutral Theater. Thanks to lectures from MyStash and Ville Salonen, the importance of art and culture for a sustainable future was understood by the students.
The students from these high schools had an ulterior meeting during the month of November where they were asked to select the winner among the two finalists for the Open Call, shaping the future of our Opera production.
These months were very informative for the students that have learned more about sustainability and about the element they were assigned to. Next year, they will have to put the theory in practice and write the story for the opera, which will be accompanied by the composition produced by our composers, Marco Attura, Beniamin Baczewski and Paavo Korpijaakko. We are looking forward to seeing the results of this original collaboration.
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