Saturday, May 6
12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
In Person -OR- Online
Location
50 Kent Ave, Kitchener, Ontario
Virtual Attendance Available By Zoom
Non-NATS Members Welcome
Join for an incredible afternoon of learning with Métis Maker, Creative Coach, and Storyteller Rebecca Hass. Rebecca is an opera singer, music theatre performer, actor, writer, teacher and mentor to emerging artists, CBC host and radio documentary maker, podcast creator and host, life coach for creatives, gin/scotch/craft beer enthusiast, cigar and pipe smoker, Bodhisattva and Buddhist, and Director of Engagement Programs and Partnerhsips for Pacific Opera, as well as a wife, mom to two kids with a rescue pooch named Rye Rye. Learn more about Rebecca at http://www.creativeliving.ca.
Workshop – Singing: The Craft of Inclusion
As mentors/teachers we have an opportunity to bring our whole selves into our work, and to invite the student/mentee to do the same. In doing this, we create an environment to foster the creative and expressive spirit that empowers and lifts up those we work with, and ourselves. The technical tools we share or a means to lift up the vision the artist carries, and to create confidence in the sharing of their voices in this effort. We do this by embracing the whole of the person, bringing all of it to play in the creative sandbox of the lesson. In this workshop, I will share specific tools that facilitate a whole self approach, ways of nurturing the artist through grounding in creative process, and new and powerful ways you can support through identifying the energy style in the room. I hope to walk with you on a path that includes the totality of the stories you carry, in service of the stories your students carry, as they discover their voice as a tool for expression and embrace the freedom of this gift.
A Note From Rebecca
“This is a class about how everything about you, and everything about your students, belongs in the work you do.
Your life experience, the paths you have walked, the land that you have lived on and that has shaped you, your experiences, the good and the bad, your natural energy traits, and the neurotic ones too, your training, sure, but you are so much more than your training. For the craft of singing and music making to be available without barrier to all the diverse people in our society, it will require that those of us who teach and mentor, are able to embrace all of what makes us artists. And it invites us to demonstrate in our walk , the way we work, that we will embrace the totality of the students who enter our spaces.
The craft of inclusion is my whole artist approach to nurturing students, and ourselves, as the mentors. I’m going to share with you ways of nurturing your students through grounding in creative process, and the powerful way you can support them through identifying the energy style in the room. Whether you are 10 years old or 70 years old, the tools I’m going to share are basically the same. You can take this learning to all parts of your art making and your life.”
In our workshop we are going to answer the questions:
How do I stay inspired? And how do I help others do the same?
How do I work with impactfully with different kinds of people and their energies?
What are new ways of thinking about the classic ‘goal’ achieved that serves the diverse people I work with?
I can’t wait to take you through my workshop exercises and give you a chance to learn more about lighting a fire for yourself, your work, and how to take these tools to your studios.”
About Rebecca
Rebecca Hass is the grateful inaugural winner of the 2022 Nada Ristich Changemaker Ruby Award from Opera Canada. A graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University with an Honours Bachelor in Music and Voice Performance, she has enjoyed an over 30-year career as a mezzo-sopranoperforming across Canada with almost every opera company and orchestra as a soloist and lead performer. A creator of several cabarets, one woman shows, she was a swing in the Toronto cast of The Phantom of the Opera. Active as a vocal teacher and acting coach, she has given classes and taught at the Universities of Toronto, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ottawa, Victoria, The Canadian College of Performing Arts, Opera Nuova and adjudicated at many music festivals.
A Certified Life Coach, she mentors artists at all stages as a Creative Living Coach, delivering workshops and one on one work with the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble, Opera Nuova and many other elite training and Universityprograms. Rebecca spent time as a radio broadcaster and documentary maker for CBC, and has been heard on The Current, Tapestry, The Doc Project and guest hosted for several years for the national broadcasts of Saturday Afternoon at the Opera and In Concert. Currently she is the producer and host of the podcast ‘What’s Up with Opera’.
In 2018 she accepted the position of Director of Community Engagement for Pacific Opera where she has created and shared many innovative programs, most notably the Civic Engagement Artist Residency for singers with a community practice. Her work with Pacific Opera now involves new work residencies, artist training and engaging with diverse communities locally and internationally through in person and online programming. The winner of the 2021 Creative Builder Award and the 2019 Arts and Culture Award in the city of Victoria, Rebecca maintains an active artistic practice as well, and is currently creating a musical filled with stories and songs that celebrate her Metis ancestry. She makes her home on Lekwungen Territory, now known as Victoria British Columbia, with her family and rescue pooch, RyeRye.
Fee Structure and Registration
- Regular NATS Ontario Members: $100 – Register Here
- Regular NATS Ontario NON-Members: $125 – Register Here
- Regular NATS Ontario SNATS Members: $40 – Register Here
- Regular NATS Ontario SNATS NON-Members: $45 – Register Here
Recording
Not available on Saturday, May 6? No problem! Register to attend the event online in real time or watch the private recording later at your convenience for up to 7 days after the event.
Bursary
The NATS Ontario Chapter is pleased to announce that they will be providing bursaries for up to four (4) Ontario Student/SNATS members and two (2) NATS Ontario members (full, emeritus, associate, affiliate) to attend and cover the full fee of the May Professional Development Day – May 6, 2023. All applications are confidential and information provided will only be used for assessment by the bursary committee.
NATS Ontario Chapter 