Miami-Dade Cultural Passport

The Cultural Passport program helps develop a life-long appreciation for the arts among K-12 students through age-appropriate cultural field experiences. Through partnerships with local arts and cultural organizations, students will visit museums and art galleries and experience live musical, theatrical, and dance performances in the course of their education. In the 2010-2011 school year, the program will reach more than 150,000 students, doubling its reach over the previous year. Educators guide students in making meaningful connections between the arts and other core subjects while further developing literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills which research indicates improves overall academic performance
Partnering with M-DCPS Division of Life Skills, Florida Grand Opera will engage over 800 third graders from the following six schools during the 2011-2012 school year:

Lenora B. Smith
Riverside
John G. Dupuis
Edison Park
Norland
Mae Walters

Young Patronesses of the Opera

The Young Patronesses of the Opera, Inc. (YPO), a non-profit organization closely affiliated with Florida Grand Opera, follows its mission of fostering a love an appreciation of opera to the youth in our community. Since 1975, YPO has produced fully staged In-School Operas in elementary schools across Dade and Broward counties. These operas expose school children, grades K-8 to a professional live performance of a children's opera complete with set, costumes and sound effects. Each school is offered two performances: 9:00am and 9:45am so as many children as possible have a chance to attend the opera. The complexities of composition and score, the charming costumes and sets, the clever staging, the beauty of the voices, and the dramatic and comedic talents of the performers, all serve to educate and expose students to joy of opera at no cost to their teachers or their schools. Since its inception, we estimate over 500,000 children have viewed productions such as Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Papageno, and more. The 2012 tour will feature Little Red Riding Hood.

For more information, visit www.ypo-miami.org, and click on "In- School Opera".