Community Projects

Arts Advocacy Panel

To facilitate community engagement with Painted Sky Opera’s production of Scalia/Ginsburg, Sarah organized and led an expert panel discussion on the broad social impact of reduced funding for arts programming in the public school system in Oklahoma. Sarah was honored to interview these politicians, fundraisers, educators, and social advocates at the top of their fields and give them an opportunity to speak out about Oklahoma’s short sighted budget cuts and elimination of public arts education for children across the state.

Build Your Own Opera

For this fun and engaging performance, presented at Science Museum Oklahoma’s annual Tinkerfest, Sarah created a curriculum that allows children to “Build Their Own Opera.” This all day workshop brings the children right into the action of the stage as they rehearse and perform summarized opera plots for their friends and families. By incorporating opera arias into the performances, the children also get to experience live opera singing first hand.

The Enchanted Forest

Sarah helped to facilitate a partnership between Painted Sky Opera, Arts Council OKC, and The Metropolitan Library System. This incredible team worked together to produce a two week tour of the children’s opera, The Enchanted Forest. The tour was presented at no cost to the public and included 14 performances which reached hundreds of Oklahoma families. This program led to an ongoing children’s opera program renewed each year with a new production by Painted Sky Opera.

The Science of Singing

Sarah conceived of and organized a partnership between Painted Sky Opera and Science Museum Oklahoma to create and present an educational performance series called The Science of Singing. This fun and upbeat series presents the acoustic science and anatomy of operatic sound production. So far, this ongoing project has reached thousands of Oklahoma children and families, many of whom are hearing opera for the very first time.

Freedom City

Sarah works alongside an incredible team to write grants for Freedom City, an educational nonprofit that works to remove barriers and provide support for students and families in Oklahoma City to reach their potential through education and exposure. Sarah has written and contributed to grants that have raised hundred of thousands of dollars for children growing up in underserved public schools in North/Northeast Oklahoma City

https://www.freedomcityokc.com

Martin Luther King Jr. Neighborhood

Sarah worked with neighborhood residents to assist with their application process of the Martin Luther King Jr. Neighborhood to the Strong Neighborhoods Initiative. In January of 2023, the neighborhood was selected into the program. Funding for the project exceeds $2MM, and neighborhood efforts are scheduled to begin in July 2023.

https://www.okc.gov/departments/planning/programs/strong-neighborhoods-initiative