By William H. Kelly III
(JACKSON, Miss.) – The Department of Music at Jackson State University has secured $25,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA) Grants for Arts Projects (GAP). The funding will support the week-long S.O.S. (Summer Opera/South) Boot Camp in 2025, offering undergraduate and graduate students an integral opera training experience.
“The boot camp will be a way to bridge the gap so that we can collectively provide a higher quality of instruction for students, introduce them to industry professionals, and give them real-world, hands-on opportunities to learn about what it takes to have a professional career in opera and musical theater in some respects,” said Phyllis Lewis-Hale, DMA, assistant professor of music and the director of opera and musical theater at JSU. “We want this to be an eye-opening experience for our students and one that will compel them to continue to pursue their dreams in the classical arts.”
Hale created the concept of the S.O.S. Boot Camp with the hopes of increasing the frequency of Black and HBCU-trained opera professionals in the field while further establishing HBCUs as a foundational and supplemental resource for aspiring musical artists.
The program is geared to expose students, faculty and staff participants to networking opportunities, mentorships, and fundamental knowledge that will enhance their ability to compete in the field of opera and explore culturally responsive operatic works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) composers and arrangers. There will be master classes, mini-recitals, and a final collaborative concert available for the community to attend for free.
“These projects exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are telling their stories, creating connection, and responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities—all through the arts,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, Ph.D. “So many aspects of our communities, such as cultural vitality, health and well-being, infrastructure, and the economy, are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and this funding at the local, state, and regional levels demonstrates the National Endowment for the Arts’ commitment to ensuring people across the country benefit.”
The camp will be a collaborative effort, hosted by JSU’s Department of Music, home of the Opera/South Company, in partnership with neighboring HBCU’s, such as Alcorn State University and Xavier University of Louisiana. This inclusive approach ensures that the entire community can benefit from this unique opportunity.
About Opera/South: The legacy of the historic Opera/South Company of Jackson has been kept alive over the years via the Jackson State University Opera-Musical Theater Ensemble and Opera/South Guild. It was founded by Sister Mary Elise Sisson, a retired music director of Xavier University of New Orleans, in the early 1970s via a collaboration with Jackson State University, Tougaloo College, and Utica Junior College. Actors Ossie Davis and Sydney Poitier were among its first board members, as well as Margaret Walker Alexander, who was on the Jackson State University faculty at the time. The Rockefeller Foundation financially supported the program. Opera/South is recognized as the foundation for many careers of Black opera singers and performers nationwide.
The Opera/South Company of Jackson seeks to instill young African-American artists pursuing a career in opera with career development training opportunities while providing underserved communities across the southern region with its unique services.
About GAP: GAP provides expansive funding opportunities to strengthen the nation’s arts and cultural ecosystem and is the NEA’s largest grants program for organizations. These include opportunities for public engagement with the arts and arts education, the integration of the arts with strategies that promote the health and well-being of people and communities, and the improvement of overall capacity and capabilities within the arts sector, including the efforts of nationwide and field-specific service organizations.
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