Teaching Artists
Playground Opera
About Our Organization
Playground Opera is a 2021 Infymaker Award-winning STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) interdisciplinary program that emphasizes music and media concepts with life and career skills. The cornerstone of this popular Opera on Tap program is the National Education Foundation’s “Four Cs”: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity–and prioritizes active learning in order to create a participatory, interactive experience for a broad and diverse student community. Every Playground Opera curriculum culminates in a “red-carpet event” where students get to perform, for their communities, alongside professional opera singers on the big screen. Designed specifically for 3rd-5th grade students, Playground Opera includes an interactive digital portal that allows teachers, parents, and caregivers to equitably facilitate arts education. Our episodic curriculum is designed to immerse students in every aspect of the creation, production, and performance of an opera. By creating new children’s productions and re-imagining canonized repertoire to amplify diverse voices, we have created opportunities for a vast array of emerging and professional artists and Teaching Artists who face barriers in traditional models of opera and arts education
Job Position Summary
Opera on Tap is urgently seeking experienced Teaching Artists with a background in classical voice training to join our roster of Teaching Artists currently implementing the Playground Opera program in NY Metro Area elementary schools. We are seeking candidates particularly in or willing to commute to northern Manhattan, Queens, and White Plains. We have immediate positions open. The program serves 3rd to 5th grade students. We are accepting inquiries from all candidates, and especially would love to work with Teaching Artists who are proficient in both English and Spanish.
Teaching Artists report to the Education Director and the Assistant Education Director
We are currently looking specifically for TAs to teach in the Bronx, Queens, East Harlem and White Plains.
Pay: $65/hr for onsite work, $45/hr for remote prep and training
Roles & Responsibilities
Key Responsibilities and Requirements:
- Leading in-person sessions and digital sessions
- Lead community-building lessons with the core classroom teacher
- Reporting to the Education Director
- Experience implementing a thorough curriculum/ lesson plan
- Basic knowledge of opera, and classical music
- A singing performing artist with experience in education and vocal pedagogy
- Must complete trauma training (we will provide)
- Must be fully vaccinated
- A liability waiver must be completed for teaching in person
- Basic knowledge Google Drive
- Need your own computer
- Responsible for your own transportation when traveling to a school
- Contracted work
How to Apply
Email our Assistant Director of Education, Samantha Nahra, at samantha@operaontap.com with your resume.
Opera on Tap works to be a diverse, equitable, and inclusive company across all aspects of our administration, programming, and performances. Not only will we never tolerate exclusion for any reason, but we work to empower and amplify the voices, literally and figuratively, of those who have been historically silenced or unheard in our communities around the world. We seek to engage communities of color and communities of economic disadvantage, which have historically been excluded from the world of classical arts, through our performance projects and educational programming.