Royal Opera House: Evaluating Family Pride

To celebrate 50 years of Pride in London, Caroline Marcus Associates was asked to evaluate ROH first Pride Festival for families of all ages. The ROH wanted to open up and become more inclusive and partnered with friends at Gendered Intelligence to create the event. We trained a team of my MA students (UCL Institute of Education) to become evaluators. Families were invited to:

  • Step into the world of the ROH on the day after the Pride in London parade to continue the festivities and celebrate the triumphs of the LGBTQ+ community.
  • Discover the worlds of opera and ballet through taking part, dressing up, creating, and exploring what Pride means.

The day included performances of specially commissioned works, together with lots of singing, dancing, and making. On the day, families were invited to watch, learn, listen to and make.

Watch

  • A Midsummer Daydream– Daniel Hay-Gordon led a series of rainbow vignettes to transport families with fun, frivolity and fabulousness in a celebration of Pride.
  • Trouser Power(new commission) – Celebrating gender fluidity in opera and highlighting iconic ‘trouser roles’, this piece drew together the most famous gender-crossing excerpts from the operatic repertory to create a playful and inclusive celebration of love and magic for all the family.
  • Penguins– This dance work, choreographed by Carlos Pons Guerra and directed by Paul McEneaney, tells the story of two male penguins who fall in love at Central Park Zoo in New York City. Penguins was a co-production between the Birmingham Rep, Cahoots NI and Prime Theatre.

Learn

  • Daniel Hay-Gordon spoke about gay icons from the worlds of opera and ballet
  • A panel of experts, hosted by Gendered Intelligence, discussed careers in the arts
  • Award-winning trans activist Charlie Craggs provided dazzling manicures that also offered opportunities to ask questions about her activism, in honest, open conversations

 Listen to

  • Performances by all-female brass ensemble Bella Tromba
  • Drag Queen Story Hour: stories for children and their grown-ups read by Adam All and Apple Derrieres

Make

  • Families upcycled ballet shoes from ROH performances into Rainbow Shoes with artist Christine Harewood
  • Created headpieces inspired by The Firebirdwith prop-maker Jane Jones
  • Played a starring role in a fantastic animation with film-maker Reza Ben-Gajra

Take Part by…

  • Transforming into all manner of characters and creatures as participants tried on ROH costumes
  • Leading or following, show their moves at the ROH biggest ever, gender-neutral, family-friendly Tea Dance accompanied by a live band and led by Rachel Sparks
  • Participated in our fun, child friendly, student created evaluation

Evaluation at GEM Case Studies Live

Evaluating Queer Learning Programming: Speakers were Tali Krikler and Caroline Marcus who shared their work as evaluation consultants to the Royal Opera House’s Family Festival Programme focusing on Family Pride. This event took place for GEM on 11.02.21.