Each season Manitoba Opera donates hundreds of tickets to a wide range of social service agencies in order to enable community members who may not have otherwise been able to experience live opera, to attend a performance.
Hundreds of people are able to attend opera performances with tickets received through social services agencies like the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the Imigrant Centre, Urban Circle Training Centre, Canadian Muslim Women’s Institute, and Winnipeg School Division’s EAL program. Dozens of tickets are also provided to the Winnipeg military community and their families.
Tickets are also donated to various provincial fundraising activities.
2016 Welcome Refugees Initiative
Over 100 Syrian refugees and other new Canadians had their first taste of opera at Falstaff in 2016, thanks to funding from the Canadian Council for the Arts and Sun Life Financial, Manitoba Opera was one of just 75 arts organizations in Canada awarded this funding through a new initiative that was created to welcome Syrian refugees to Canada and connect these newest members of our communities to arts organizations.
Tickets were distributed with the help of the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council Inc., Acceuil Francophone, and the Winnipeg School Division Adult EAL Program. An additional 66 tickets were also given to non-Syrian newcomers and chaperones. Winnipeg Opera provided a “What to Expect at the Opera” information sheet and opera synopsis translated into Arabic.
