It Takes A Village. 2026

From June to August 2026, as a Teaching Artist in residence, I had the priviliege to work with the village that runs behind the scene at Glyndebourne Opera House. This consisted of having 3 months to access watching various opera (never having seen one before), meet various creative teams, and spend many hours in the gardens. The only guidance I had was to create a piece of work of art in response to what I witness at Glyndbeourne. But what stuck out for me, and what came to life during my back stage observation, was the sheer teamwork and community needed to enable all magic of Glyndebourne to happen. Plus, that every professional, no matter if they were an opera singer, prop organiser, stage director, everyone was still a playful child at heart, giggling back stage and getting excited about the outcomes together. From that moment, I knew I wanted to include the employees stories into my work and put them into the spotlight.

As a result, I hosted 3 different lunchtime workshops to invite employees to come along for a conversation and design a patch for a wall hanging to be displayed in the Green Room, the staff secret hide out room.

Created over these workshops, staff designed a patch that represented their role at Glydnebourne and their favourite part of their diverse roles. Gathered like a family at dinner time, we had gardeners, costume designers, prop designers, the education team, marketing team, as well as finance team and youth opera, came together to shared their stories as they sewed. They discussed current deadline challenges, reminisced about upside-down sheep in the fields, and debated about how to visually represent the various hats they wear. Together, these patches form a collection of stories that only scratches the surface of everything they do at Glyndebourne.

My role as an artist, like a Stage Director reflected on, was to play a role similar to being a stage director. I listened to everyone’s stories, and facilitated the space for that community connection, and to then brought their stories together through the power of stitch.

The final wall hanging which now proudly hands in the Green Room at Glydnebourne, a staff hide out, is just a small glimpse into what an everyday role at Glyndbourne entails, but also a huge celebration of the sheer team work and village nature that runs behind the scenes. I hope it will hang in their shared space for years to come, to remind them of everything they do and can achieve together.