Banner Video (and below) - BOC doesn't have a separate marketing department. Where possible we spend funds on raising our profile by making work with freelance artists and volunteers. This is an exciting example of BOC's approach to engage volunteers in digital content and creation. In this film a group of volunteers make a trailer for Purcell's Dido and Aeneas #DnA  in which they will also perform as singers actors or dancers. In collaboration with Blue Monday we were able to make a digital trailer which sums up what the volunteers think the work is about for them. Together they find a shared voice and method to present Dido in a unique way. Of course, this piece is a trailer but it's also a standalone piece which was creative journey for the volunteers and a direct link to the audiences which they represent. 

CreaTech Frontiers 2025-2030

Birmingham Opera Company are excited to be a partner in the successful UKRI and AHRC CreaTech Frontiers  programme running 2025-2030. CreaTech Frontiers aims to make the West Midlands an internationally recognised location for cutting edge innovation in CreaTech, retaining and attracting exceptional talent and stimulating additional investment.

On announcing the successful bid, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said:

"Talent is everywhere but opportunity is not. That’s why we are supporting firms, artists and freelancers that are innovating, using new technology and driving growth in creative clusters across the country....

Birmingham and the West Midlands have a rich industrial history, and we are putting them at the forefront of a potential new industry developing the amazing technology that will revolutionise visual effects in film, theatre and gaming."

CreaTech Frontiers will enable BOC to progress their work with ethnically and socially diverse 16-25 year olds in supportive context. Around 4% of the population attend opera in the UK. This cohort is a predominantly older, richer and white demographic. Our work has delivered makers, performers and audiences which significantly buck this pattern and we aspire through technology to find new ways to bolster regional engagement and employment opportunities.

Richard Willacy, General Director said:

"Being a partner in the CreaTech Frontiers cluster has clear benefits in exploring how a "live art" can pursue a collaborative model of creation and engagement through technology. 

Our approach, as ever is to engage diverse potential makers and end-users in the development of the work. 

We're excited to see what creative, skill-building and employment opportunities there are for the young people of the region."

Background

Always open to experimentation BOC has delivered a Helicopter String Quartet, knowledge-transfer sessions at industry conferences such as IMZ Vienna /La Scala Milan on “opera in the age of the algorithm’, self-produced production streams broadcast on OperaVision and Sky Arts and early adoption of digital content and platforms in public crowdfunders. Regionally, BOC has  partnered with the BBC and BBC Academy,  BBC Digital City days and multiple creative media projects and during Covid we were excited to take a lead with an online festival. 

Find out more on CreaTech in the West Midlands