The Sydney Opera House 'talks' in a brand new podcast for kids

Sydney NSW, Australia—The Sydney Opera House has today released a brand new season of Arty Farty, a podcast made especially for kids. Released just in time for the school holidays to help keep inquisitive young minds entertained, House Call is the third season of Arty Farty and includes 15 episodes jam-packed full of interesting stories from the people who make magic happen behind-the-scenes at the Sydney Opera House.

In House Call, questions that were submitted by kids to a telephone hotline during May 2020 are answered by Sydney Opera House staff and creative collaborators. The first episodes feature Head of First Nations programming Rhoda Roberts answering “What was there before the Opera House?”, opera singer and physicist Jacqui Dark responds to “How big is the world?” while John Lavery, who’s been a set maker for many years, grapples with “Have you ever had to make huge robot animals that were too big for the stage”? Forthcoming episodes answer a range of quirky questions all about the big white house; including how the Opera House ‘floats’ on the water and who the biggest celebrities are that have visited its soaring sails. The episodes, which are five to seven minutes in length, reverse the spotlight and profile a range of unique creatives and staff who keep the Opera House humming and help bring the magic of performance to life.

Sydney Opera House Head of Children, Families and Creative Learning, Tamara Harrison says: “House Call gives children a direct line to one of the world’s most inspiring and admired buildings. The Sydney Opera House has never been able to ‘speak’ before and within its hallowed halls is an astonishing wealth of knowledge that stretches across the disciplines of science, music, history and culture. Kids also ask the best questions – we’ve been so impressed by the ingenuity and curiosity of their enquiries!”

Designed to help curious young minds learn more about the world behind the curtains at the Opera House, House Call follows Arty Farty’s first season This Kid Life, which puts little thinkers behind the mic to grapple with big ideas like resilience, diversity and education. The second season, Creative Conversations, uncovers how some of the world’s best artists and authors are inspired and turn their thoughts into art.

Every Tuesday, over five weeks, three new episodes of Arty Farty House Call will be released. Listen via iTunes, Spotify or SoundCloud.

Children, Families and Creative Learning

The Sydney Opera House Presents’ Children, Families & Creative Learning program engages more than 190,000 people annually with a suite of programs that playfully encourage creativity and nurture life-long learning. At the Opera House, diverse performances from the best Australian and international theatre-makers are programmed for children, families and caregivers, and accompanied by free creative play workshops in the school holidays. Schools programming continues throughout the year and is aligned to contemporary learning outcomes including communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. The main initiatives are: Digital Creative Learning – including live streamed performances, interactive workshops and digital tours that are delivered online into classroom and home-school settings; Creative Learning – rich on-site learning and performance experiences and; Creative Leadership in Learning – a tailored, immersive, three-year program for school leaders to embed creativity in the heart of their school.

Digital Programming

Since its inception nearly a decade ago, the Opera House’s digital program has engaged tens of millions of people around the world through livestreams, podcast series, short films and original digital events. Providing a meeting place online for audiences to escape and connect, the From Our House to Yours digital program was created in response to COVID-19 to uplift and inspire audiences while the Opera House is temporarily closed to the public. The weekly program features full-length performances and talks, unreleased recordings and never-before-seen footage, as well as new and live-streamed performances from the Joan Sutherland Theatre stage. Since launch, the program been enthusiastically received with more than 3.7 million views and downloads and has been vital to maintain the shared experience of attending art and cultural events for online audiences and communities.