In mid-July 2026, I ran a participatory model-making workshop at Nests – a grassroots, DIY arts space in the centre of Leeds prioritising creativity and community. This was part of an ongoing collaboration between Northern Opera Group (NOG) and the University of Manchester, exploring what a nomadic performance space could look like – a way of bringing opera to people, wherever they are.
To set the tone for the day, a professional opera singer performed a short piece, giving participants a taste of live performance to draw inspiration from before diving into the making activity.
Participants were local community members with an interest in art and performance. They were introduced to NOG’s ambition to create a sustainable, portable performance space, and invited to imagine what this could look like and feel like through model-making, in the broadest possible sense – including abstract responses.
Alongside more conventional materials like card and paper, participants worked with pipe cleaners, cable ties, wire, and wood discs. Interestingly, many also used the workshop space itself, modelling elements of costume and demonstrating these through reenactment.
Ideas ranged widely: one participant explored the gradual unfurling of a performance space over several days, whilst others considered how an outdoor stage might respond to different weather conditions – imagining a tent-like or inflatable cover with acoustic qualities.
Costume design also became a way of thinking about audience engagement, with one participant creating long strings of flowers that would extend out into the crowd. Another idea imagined performance as a journey, with a series of bridges linking separate performance ‘stations’.
Some participants worked in groups, others individually, and everyone presented their ideas to the rest of the group at the end of the session. This workshop forms part of a wider series, and as a next step, myself, the University of Manchester and NOG are planning an online exhibition to share and build on the ideas generated.
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