Cultural Content – Guest post: Opera North
Behind the scenes on the award winning "Couch to Chorus" online choir series
Morning Cultural Content 👋,
Today’s post is all about Opera North’s “From Couch to Chorus” online choir.
This is possibly my favourite case study of an online content or service that i) reached and engaged new audiences, ii) made sense in terms of the organisational aims and expertise, iii) made money (£140k!), iv) provided a tangible wellbeing benefit to more vulnerable audiences and/or those with additional needs.
With us today to talk us through the case study is Marie Lemaire. Marie is Opera North’s Digital Education Manager, and she’s going to take us through what From Couch to Chorus is, how it worked and what results it had.
Really heart-warming and inspiring stuff. Here’s Marie to tell you more about it.
Marie Lemaire, Digital Education Manager, Opera North
👋, I’m originally from Belgium where I completed a Masters in Information and Communication. I then went on to study classical singing and moved to London in 2009 to further my training. Since then, I have spent most of my career working as a project manager, first for Cambridgeshire Music and then for the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge. In 2015, I joined the Education team at Opera North, initially managing the Youth Company. Six years later, I took on the new role of Digital Education Manager within the company, creating innovative digital education projects and content, and bridging the gap between the Opera North’s Communication, Marketing and Development teams and Education. This has been such a fantastic opportunity for me to develop digital skills and combine my interest in communications with my passion for music and education.
‘From Couch to Chorus’: Opera North’s ever-evolving online singing project
About ‘From Couch to Chorus’
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Opera North’s immediate priorities were: to stay connected to audiences, supporters, and participants; to keep making music; to focus in on how to replace lost income.
‘From Couch to Chorus’ was a unique virtual choir: a five-week series of online workshops where participants learned to sing opera choruses via Zoom. Open to singers of all ages and abilities, each edition culminated in a live-streamed interactive concert featuring the Chorus of Opera North. The project was set up as Pay As You Feel to ensure that price did not represent a barrier and that everyone could take part.
During lockdown, Opera North delivered three editions in Summer 2020, Christmas 2020 (The Festive Edition) and Spring 2021 (Sing into Spring). Since then, the project has kept evolving and two more hybrid ‘Sing into Spring’ editions took place in 2022 and 2023, with in person side-by-side rehearsal and performance with the Chorus of Opera North.
“During the live rehearsal and performance, I was surrounded by buzz, excitement, gorgeous melody, powerful bass and soprano voices, laughter, smiles, humour, and an incredible feeling of cohesion between the many including the zoom participants from around the world.” (Sing into Spring 2023)
The impact of ‘From Couch to Chorus’
Income Generation
The income generation strategy of this digital project delivered significant income to the organisation at a time when we were unable to achieve our regular, reliable means of ticket income.
Taking Gift Aid into account, ‘From Couch to Chorus’ generated over £140,000 income in the last 3 years. With a total of 6,550 donations, an average donation amount of £18 and 50% of people donating being new donors, it certainly played a key part of Opera North’s lockdown activity. Since in person activities resumed, numbers of participants and donations have significantly dropped, but the project has continued to bring in new audiences and raise Opera North’s profile.
Widening audiences
Over the last 3 years, ‘From Couch to Chorus’ has reached a considerable number of people who had not engaged with Opera North before. Even though participants’ demographic aligned pretty much with traditional opera audiences (majority of women over the age of 50 from a white background), men and women ages 21 to 90 from all over the UK, Europe, the United States, Australia, Japan and India, who wouldn’t normally be able to attend an Opera North performance or workshop, joined.
‘From Couch to Chorus’ has thus been great in cultivating a new, engaged audience. The percentage of participants new to Opera North has remained significant throughout the project with an average of 42%.
‘Loving the energy of this Couch to Chorus; it’s my first time and I’m hooked!’ (Sing into Spring 2023)
It is interesting to notice a rise in participants who consider themselves as disabled or with long-term health issues in the last two editions, and to see the very high percentage of participants interested in taking part in more editions in the future.
As it develops, ‘From Couch to Chorus’ seems to become more and more significant for those taking part who can’t physically come to performances or engage in participative activities in person. Data also clearly shows an appetite for more online editions going forward.
Great to be able to engage with this. Have had to give up choir as have an immunocompromised OH so need to avoid crowded face to face activities due to infection risk.[…] (Sing into Spring 2023)
Creating a sense of wellbeing and encouraging people to learn something new
From the start, we envisaged ‘From Couch to Chorus’ as a way to improve people’s physical and mental health and wellbeing, to encourage people to learn new skills and to build a sense of community.
The post event surveys confirmed that the main impact on participants seems to have been an increased sense of wellbeing and learning something new. Individual feedback from participants supports this too:
I’ve absolutely loved this course, it’s contributed to my physical and mental well-being, and it’s been the best start for my week! (First edition 2020)
I was a bit scared to try anything new, but definitely would now! (Sing into Spring 2023)
I loved having an opportunity to discover singing opera and has ignited an interest in doing more (Sing into Spring 2023)
Raising profile and brand awareness
In 2022, Opera North won the first Digital Culture Award for income generation with ‘From Couch to Chorus’, raising its profile on a national level. The project has been important in terms of brand awareness and the post event surveys indicated that participants felt much closer to Opera North as a company and were much more likely to book with us in future.
‘Absolutely loving the workshops. I’ve only ever sung at football matches and don’t think I will be starring on the stage any time soon, but really enjoying the experience. […] I’ve also never been to an opera but now have every intention once we are able to get out again. Thank you for opening a whole new world up to me.’ (Sing into Spring 2021)
Opera North has made me realise I actually enjoy operas! (Sing into Spring 2023)
Going forward
Even though we see a clear appetite for future editions of ‘From Couch to Chorus’, there are certainly questions and challenges to address going forward. Amongst those:
How to fit ‘From Couch to Chorus’ around other Opera North activity?
‘From Couch to Chorus’ was created during lockdown, at a time when less was happening in terms of production, participative work, or marketing activities and we needed to find different ways to engage audiences and support their wellbeing and creativity at home. Now that shows are back on stage and that the focus of our marketing team is on selling those shows, now that our extensive participative programme is back and running, we need to think of ways to keep adapting the project without compromising the quality of the offer.
How to diversify audiences in terms of age and ethnicity?
Engaging with younger and more diverse audiences will probably be one of the main challenges of ‘From Couch to Chorus’ going forward. This might be done through the choice of repertoire or by focusing on the wellbeing benefits of taking part.
How to keep catering for our core audience?
Despite the changes we want to make, we will need to still cater for our core audience, who have been enjoying ‘From Couch to Chorus’ in its current form for the last three years.
Got a project you’d like to talk about? Drop a comment in the field below or email me at georgina@onefurther.com – I’m always on the look out to share new stories, professionals and learning about digital content in the cultural sector 👍