Our story began in 2015, when Executive Director and founder Anne Hiatt took her daughter, Emma, to the playground for their daily mother /daughter time. Anne, a soprano and producer, considered how she could use opera to serve her community. “What would it be like to put on an opera on a playground?” 

This question sparked the inspiration for Playground Opera. After years of work and planning, Magic Flute, our first Playground Opera, was performed at PS 129, in West Harlem, New York.  From this initial performance, Playground Opera and our newer Opera Maker Lab program have evolved into award winning, STEAM programs that emphasize music and the performing arts, tech and media concepts such as AI learning and paper circuiting, and life and career skills. Our interdisciplinary program highlights the National Education Foundation’s “Four C’s”: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. We prioritize active learning in order to create a participatory, interactive experience for as many students as possible. 

In order to bring high quality music education to more urban, urban fringe, and rural Title I schools, we are streamlining our structure for school engagement and using a sliding-scale pricing system. Other innovations and adaptations include prioritizing availability for both English, Spanish, and Russian speakers. We also seek to take ESOL and Neurodivergent learners into account. Our STEAM programs are designed to be accessible and relatable to the 21st-century learner.