Public lectures and events
Saturday Forum | Nights (and Days) at the Vancouver Opera
Running a major regional opera company on North America’s west coast poses huge challenges and offers numerous rewards. Now a company with a 50-year history, Vancouver Opera has run the gauntlet, passed through several baptisms of fire, and arrived at an enviable position as a dynamic company serving the many cultural aspirations and various constituencies of its home city and surrounding region.
Join us for this fascinating retrospective glimpse of opera in the making as James W. Wright, the general director, looks back on his tenure with Vancouver Opera and forward to the company’s future.
Lecturer
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James W. Wright, the general director of Vancouver Opera since 1999, has 35 years of experience in opera management. He is responsible for the company’s programming and its artistic and administrative functions, including strategic and artistic planning, fund development, and government relations. Before joining Vancouver Opera, he held the top management positions with Opera Carolina in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Anchorage Opera in Alaska.
During Wright’s tenure, Vancouver Opera initiated a highly successful series of “Community Forums” and “Opera Speaks” programs, which demonstrate the relevancy of opera to British Columbians through seminars, panel discussions, and other activities related to the company’s productions.
James Wright serves on the board of directors of OPERA America, and has previously served on the board of Opera.ca, and on the national board of Imagine Canada. He is a past member of the Vancouver Foundation’s Advisory Panel for Arts and Culture and a past member of the Vancouver City Planning Commission. He has also served as a panelist for the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, and in the US for the National Endowment for the Arts. He is a 2008 graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors – Directors Education Program.
Sponsors
The Free Saturday Forums are sponsored by SFU Seniors Lifelong Learners Society.
Questions?
Email: csreg@sfu.ca
Phone: 778-782-8000