I am a Northern Irish opera director. The focus of my Fellowship is to investigate how South Africa is using opera as a tool for social intervention, resulting in a measurable social impact and an opera renaissance in the country. Opera is the ultimate inclusive art form, comprising music, drama, poetry and design. I want to understand exactly how opera is improving life in communities in South Africa and bring those learnings back to Northern Ireland, a comparable deeply divided society.

My motivation is previous experience in delivering creative engagement projects that really delivered for participants. Building on this work, I want to develop a stronger, more strategic understanding of community arts programming in post-conflict contexts. Through the Fellowship I hope to connect with an international network of socially engaged opera-makers and learn how to maximise the value of opera as a medium in participatory arts.