Restricted area accessible to the enoa partners only.

Frequently Asked Questions

Dear artists,

We tried to answer to the most frequently asked questions about enoa and its activities.

You did not find the answer to your question? Drop a message to Sophie and Lucile at info@enoa-community.com!

Who are we?

enoa is a European network of opera academies which supports and accompanies artists from the operatic sector – creative artists and performers – in developing their professional careers. After ten years of international cooperation in the field of training and creation, the network is convinced that the future of opera in Europe depends on opening the sector up to a more diverse range of artists, together with an expansion of the repertoire to include innovative operas reflecting the issues of the world today.

enoa, with the support of the Creative Europe programme, is thus renewing its commitment to artists and creation and launched in September 2020, its new programme: Empowering Opera - Breaking Boundaries for Institutions and Artists. It aims to foster, support and share innovative opera projects, conveying new narratives that are engaged with contemporary societies. Its implementation also intends to remove artistic and financial barriers as well as unconscious bias that hinder the appearance of new artistic expressions in all areas of the opera sector, from training and artist recruitment to opera production and scheduling.

Today it totals 12 partners and 9 associate partners, including Europe’s most important operatic institutions.

From 2009 to 2019, enoa has provided support to over 1 500 artists, has developed and launched European tours for 17 operatic productions, 12 of which were world premieres.

Discover our 2020-2024 programme in this 4-minute video!

Who can apply to the enoa activities?

Our activities are open to European-based artists. We will not be able to take in charge travel from outside Europe for the different activities we propose.

The age limit depends on each institutions’ internal rules.

As a European network, and in order to welcome the wider pool of artists possible, our activities are conducted in English.

What are the costs to participate to an enoa activities?

The travel and accommodation costs are covered by enoa (per-diem are optional, depending on each institution’s internal rules).

WORKSHOPS

I am interested by an enoa workshop, how can I apply?

You need to be connected to one of the 12 enoa institutions in order to apply to most of the enoa workshops. You also need to ensure that your profile correspond to the criteria: some workshops are made for performers, while some other are oriented toward creators.

If one of the workshops interests you, you must first contact your sending institution, and see if they are ready to recommend you.

What does it mean to be connected to one of the 12 enoa member institutions ?

That means that you are already in contact with one of them and they might be ready to support you for a workshop (for instance: you have taken part to their young artist program, or participated to one of their workshops, etc.)

Do you also accept application from non-supported artists?

Some enoa workshops are open to external applicants, they will be designated as such on the enoa website, with a link to directly apply on the website of the hosting institution of the workshop.

For instance, Snape Maltings and the Académie du Festival d'Aix organise workshops every year and they open a large recruitment process where all artists are welcomed to apply.

When do you open your workshops?

Our enoa partners open workshops throughout the year and we invite you to follow enoa’s social networks and to subscribe to our newsletter to be informed of the application’s dates and process.

OPERA CREATION JOURNEY

Can you tell me more about your “Opera Creation Journey” programme?

The "Opera Creation Journey" programme offers time and space to creators to develop their innovative opera project. With this programme, the network wishes to support projects with new narratives and exploring new storylines, forms and aesthetics that embody the diversity of today’s world and brought by creative teams from all artistic backgrounds made up of a diversity of artistic talents.

Two open calls will be released to select the projects that will be supported through this journey (one in January 2021, and one in 2022).

As all our activities, you must be European-based in order to apply.

The selected projects will benefit from:

> a dedicated enoa institution, who will provide support and mentorship for their team and their project development

> 1 to 3 Labs (residential research and development time hosted by one or several enoa institutions (2 to 5 days per Lab))

The final objective of this Opera Creation Journey is to allow some of these innovative projects supported by enoa to be eventually commissioned and produced by enoa members and their partners.

What is a Lab?

A Lab is an experimental workshop for creative teams, brought together for a specific project. Its aim is to offer artists the time, space, equipment and human resources needed to research, develop and test their artistic projects over several days in a comfortable and adapted environment.

It is hosted by a specific enoa institution, and usually lasts between two to five days.

I am interested to develop an opera project, can I apply to a Lab?

There is no possibility to apply directly to a Lab. In order to benefit from such opportunity, your project must be selected through the Opera Creation Journey open calls.

If you are currently developing an opera project, we recommend that you subscribe to our newsletter to be informed of our next open call.

If an institution welcome me or my creative team for a Lab, will they produce our project?

The enoa support through the Opera Creation Journey and Labs is meant to develop projects to the maximum of their possibilities. Therefore, being selected and supported does not imply an automatic commitment regarding production of your project.

Coproduction commitments will be made by the network on a case-to-case basis, depending on the development of each project through the Opera Creation Journey.

I have an opera project, but I don’t have a team yet. Can I still apply to the Opera Creation Journey?

Yes you can! The open call for Opera Creation Journey is open to solo applicants, who want to present an artistic concept to develop into an opera project.

What do you mean by “in early stages of development”?

This programme has been thought as an opportunity for artists to develop and test their artistic concepts and one of the criteria your project will be assessed on is: Clear project concept and in early stages development.

Therefore, an advanced project would not meet this criteria.

Can I submit a project rewriting a repertoire piece?

The Opera Creation Journey wishes to support projects with new narratives and exploring new storylines, forms and aesthetics that embody the diversity of today’s world.

In this perspective, if your rewriting is only a part of your project, and if this is done in a way that promotes those new narratives, we will be really happy to receive your application! We recommend that you look carefully at the criterias of the open call, these elements will help you to make sure that your project, while including a rewriting part, is innovative enough and correspond to our expectations.

How do you support creation?

The enoa network was built around the idea of supporting creation in order to encourage the renewal of the repertoire and to question traditional aesthetic and musical standards. Those beliefs are therefore central in the enoa manifesto, signed by all partners in 2019 and one of our objectives is: Supporting creation that mutually enforces diversity and excellence.

We developed throughout the years many opera projects, with 12 world premieres. You can find more about them here.

Our new programme Empowering Opera is pursuing this objective of creation, especially with our Opera Creation Journey. This support to creation is now intertwined with another objective: Supporting new narratives reflecting today’s society and music resulting from intercultural dialogue.

The enoa network wishes to support creation in the widest ways possible, in order to promote diversity in the opera sector.

RESIDENCIES

Can you explain what is the “Immersive residency” programme?

With the Immersive Residency programme, the network offers support, mentorship and mobility through a fifteen-month tailor-made residency for talented artists without opera experience. Each selected artist will be welcome as resident by an enoa institution.

Artists apply to the programme through an open call with two sessions of recruitment during the four-year programme (one in autumn 2020, one in autumn 2021).

An immersive residency is an opportunity for an artist from other artistic backgrounds than opera to:

> have access and insight into the opera world while benefiting from their host artistic and cultural networks

> benefit from sessions and coaching by an expert, an artist and/or a representative of the institution

> get a personalised support provided by a contact person in the institution to regularly identify the needs and organise all the actions and meetings

> to attend enoa activities

How long does the residency last?

The Immersive Residencies are meant to last 15 months. However, it is not a full-time residency: the planning, length and format of the residency will be built in concertation with the hosting institution, taking of course into consideration your needs and availabilities, but also programme and space of the hosting institution.

The schedule will therefore be really personalised according to the artist's needs and availabilities.

Can I apply to a residency?

Applications to residencies must be submitted through our Immersive Residencies open calls. In order to be eligible, you must be an experienced artist in any artistic field (jazz, theatre, dance, poetry, visual art, literature, etc.), but without any opera experience.