Lucky Penny is going cross-country to bring you: 

“The 48 Hour Opera Project: Fernweh edition”

   [ Fernweh: From fern (“far”) +‎ Weh (“pain”) - A longing for far away people and places]

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts

Read on to learn more, or jump to the application

• The 48 Hour Opera Project - Fernweh edition  is a speed-creation event designed to reunite you with your far-flung friends to laugh, sweat, and cry for ART.
• And We’re Seeking Submissions!

Remember when you suddenly had to learn a bunch of new skills to live digitally during the pandemic? Well let’s put them to use!

Gather a team with members from at least two different cities and jump in to write, direct, design, perform, film, and edit an original digital opera - 

All in 48 hours.

WHY???  Because when there’s no time to think, magic happens! 

Best of all - We will pay you!

Described as “a feat of impossible theatre” and “unapologetically opera, unapologetically insane,” this is the speed-creation event you never knew you needed.

The Rough Details:

Dates: Friday Oct 29 - Sunday Oct 31

• Friday, Oct. 29th at 2pm PDT (6:30pm Newfoundland Time, and everything in between):
• Teams will attend “Talk One: Digital Creation Hacks” to gather inspiration and techniques for their creations. 
• Friday, Oct. 29th at 5pm PDT  
• Teams will gather online for a quick info session and QnA before going off to start work.
• Sunday, Oct. 31st at 5pm PDT
• Pencils down! Your original opera-film is due in our inbox. 
• Wednesday, Nov. 3rd at 5:30pm PDT  
• We will host a giant online viewing party where teams will compete for glory () , sweet, sweet applause. () and an Audience Choice prize of 500$ ()

So get together a composer, an accompanist (piano or otherwise) and a group of 2-5 performers and artists and make something that’ll blow our minds! 

Who should Apply:

We’re interested in hearing from everyone: From seasoned composers with their own cadre of singers, to virtual reality artists who met some classical musicians at the bar and want to try making something together.

We prefer you bring your own pre-formed team, but if you want to take part and really can’t find someone, we may be able to play matchmaker.

Our goal is to invite people to push their limits. We’ve had professional composers and groups of people who’ve never composed  or made an opera in their lives! 

We just want you to try something that you’ve never thought of before.

Footnotes

*Psst, don’t worry… There will be a technical tutorial package to help you rehearse and record your masterpiece.

** Further information including expectations and payment on the Terms of Participation page.

*** ”Talk One” will also be open to the paying public, but you will be paid to attend.

Got more questions? We bet you do. 

Read the rules, terms of participation, and accessibility options first, then feel free to email us for more info at info@luckypennyopera.com - subject line “48 Hour Help”

Ready to take the leap?

Read everything anyway then submit below by Oct. 15th @ 8pm PDT

Apply

(Submissions are now closed)

Rules

The rules were made to be broken, but here are a few we want you to consider.

It must be an original work

(Even if it’s based on something else.) We know you would never be sneaky, but just in case we’ll be sending you a prompt kit on the first evening containing a random list of props, phrases and sounds that MUST make an appearance in your opera.

Minimum 2 artists, maximum 5

Opera is multidisciplinary, so artists could be actors, dancers, composers, pianists, instrumentalists, circus performers, or whatever, but at least one must be a singer!

Between 7 and 10 minutes in length

This is the sweet spot that will make sure your piece is long enough to be engaging, but short enough to be manageable. Believe it or not, shorter is harder! Still, it’s important to keep it short so you don’t overwhelm yourself with ideas and work.

Mix it up, but know your limits

You’re a composer and a singer? An accompanist and a director? Some other combination? Great! You’re welcome to do multiple jobs. You’re also welcome to try something you’ve never done before, but make sure that you have enough time to work an rest so you don’t let your teammates down.

Scores are due October 29th at 4pm PST/7pm EST

This is just under halfway through your time. We want to give you a marker so that you have to make your decisions fast and have enough time to learn, rehearse, and film.

Manage your time

Have to work your day job or go to a party? We don’t care as long as you and your teammates can work out a schedule and make it happen by opening night.

Covid safety MUST be respected.

That means no in-person rehearsals outside your bubble. No filming in busy locations where distancing is impossible. NO KISSING STRANGERS.

We’ll help by including a rule that no artists can meet in person during the process. We know this sounds hard, but you’re plucky and enterprising. We know you’ll figure it out.

Speaking of…

In the spirit of celebrating connections over distances… at least one of your team members MUST be in a different city from you!

Don’t worry - if you’re really stuck, we might be able to help with some matchmaking. Just specify that on your application form.

Have Fun and break all the rules we haven’t mentioned.

This is SCARY. We get it. But also, the stakes couldn’t be lower, and we mean that in the best way. People want to cheer and clap and get high off watching you take a risk, and they’re gonna love you for it, whether your piece works the way you want it to or not.

You’re completely on your own.

Just kidding! You’ll never be completely on your own.

There will be a seminar on October 29th with three incredible digital artist speakers to help inspire you and help you on your opera film making journey.

We have hired a digital dramaturg to be present during the creation weekend to help you with your storytelling jams, your technical snafus and your blank pages.

We’re also always only an email, text, or phone call away. Plus, we’ll provide a tech guide with suggestions for rehearsing music on Zoom, recording and editing how-tos, and a list of excellent free tools that will allow you to store or share files too big to send over email.

And don’t forget to check out our Accessibility guide for other ways we can support your art-making during this whirlwind weekend!

Payment and Terms of Participation

Terms of Participation

Contracts:

• Teams and individuals will be notified by Monday, October 17th if they have been chosen to participate. 
• Once selections have been made, we will send out contracts and request the following:

• Contact information including phone, email, social handles and mailing addresses for each team member.
• A primary contact or “team lead” if one hasn’t already been selected.
• A headshot and bio for each team member.
• A short 3 sentence blurb about what made you join or why you’re destined for 48 Hour greatness.
• The area / city / territory where each member is creating.
• The ancestral name of the lands upon which team member is creating.
• A team name.
• All contracts and information are due on Monday, October 25th. Failure to provide this information may result in disqualification.

Compensation:

• There will be an $825 honorarium per person.

This covers: 

• Two days of creation
• Attendance at “Talk One: Three Digital Artists”
• Us hosting your content on our website
• Payments will be released to the team leader in a lump sum within 48 hours of the receipt of all deliverables at the end of the creation weekend. The team leader is responsible for distributing payment to other members, though LPO will provide a breakdown.
• Each team will be given a production budget of $100 to assist in production elements used during their creation weekend. This will be sent to the team leader at the beginning of the weekend. 

Deliverables:

Each team will be required to provide the following as part of their participation:

• One 7-10 minute original opera on film, playable in Quicktime, due at end of weekend.
• The typed libretto of your opera in a .doc format
• “Behind the scenes” photos, video and/or quotes.
• A team photo (you’ll have to be creative about this one!)
• A brief, creative, first person account of how the weekend went for you, how you’re feeling, and anything particular challenging, crazy or interesting that happened. This can be shot by each member individually, or all together as a team. (max 2 minutes long, due Nov 1st. LPO will edit this footage for style and length, to be included in the viewing party.)
• Please Note: All creations will be hosted on the Lucky Penny website for six months following the viewing party.  (The rights to your video are in no way exclusive to LPO during this time, and we encourage you to share yours as much as you want. We just ask you mention us, the project and our website.)

Subtitles:

• Lucky Penny will create subtitles for each video, unless otherwise requested by the teams for specific artistic reasons.

Accessibility:

• Lucky Penny is a small company with limited resources, but we will make every effort within our capacity to provide support to those needing specific accommodations. The earlier we know about your needs, the more likely we are to be able to accommodate them.
• Please click here for more information, or to submit a request or start a conversation.

Important:

It is the responsibility of each team to clear their participation or engage in any agreements with their associated unions as necessary. Lucky Penny Opera is commissioning groups to create pieces, and is not responsible for any associated producing responsibilities incurred by the groups.

Accessibility

We’re tiny, but mighty!

And we want to try to give you what you need to make art with us.

Read through the sections below for information about some of the supports we can offer. But most importantly, please start a conversation with us! 

If there’s something you need that we haven’t thought of, let us know and we can talk about what to do. 

Please note that anything you share is confidential and will in no way affect whether you are chosen to participate. 

We just want to start a conversation to find out how best to support you.

All funds are limited and will be distributed based on need, and according to our capacity.

Cultural

Compensation for traditional knowledge or emotional labour

If you are telling a story about your culture and want to bring in an outside voice to consult with or offer knowledge or time, we have a small fund to compensate them for their offering.

Situational

Assistance with short term barriers like childcare or basic equipment

We’re all in different situations, but we don’t want that to be a barrier to sharing your story with the world. We have a small fund available to offer supports like childcare and access to basic equipment such as laptops, headphones, microphones and the like. 

Please note that these are supports that help meet your basic needs, and are not to be used for production costs or specialized equipment.

Permanent

Supports for long-term disabilities, both visible and invisible

While we can’t promise to offer solution for every situation, we really want to hear how we can give you the supports you need to create with your unique body and brain. 

We are already committed to working with wheelchair accessible venues, providing alt text on our website, ensuring there are captions or subtitles available at our events and ensuring that our application and registration processes are clear and easy to understand.

If there is something else we can provide to you that is within our means, please let us know and we will do everything we can to make it happen.