Home to The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, the Royal Opera House (ROH) brings together world-class performers and trailblazing creative teams to share unforgettable performances with audiences near and far. Its theatres are in London’s Covent Garden, but its work is accessed and experienced across the UK and globally through streams, tours, cinema relays, radio broadcasts and TV output. 

The ROH is one of the busiest theatres in the world, delivering over 400 performances and around 1,350 learning events each year. It employs 850 permanent staff and generates a turnover of £142m, attracting 1.5m attendances in Covent Garden and in cinemas, further extended via broadcasting, digital activity and collaboration with touring companies.

Learning & Participation at ROH

The Royal Opera House’s dedicated Learning and Participation programme covers the length and breadth of the country, playing a vital role in building and diversifying the future of ballet and opera. It aims to inspire creativity and widen access to its art forms, offering a curriculum-linked national schools’ programme currently in over 900 schools; a suite of activities for families and individuals in and around its iconic Covent Garden home; an offer to nurture young talent in ballet and opera, and a number of events and performances specially designed to broaden participation  – most recently, thanking the NHS for the work its dedicated staff are continuing to do in response to the pandemic.  

The pandemic and its aftermath have highlighted the disparities in our society and, from the perspective of the arts, the lack of equity in provision of arts education in schools. Especially with the recovery curriculum’s focus on core subjects, many young people will pass through their school life with very limited access to the arts and may never encounter ballet or opera. ROH is committed to scaling up its work to make a real difference to the lives of young people and the diversity of those engaging in ballet and opera.

The Royal Opera House Learning and Participation (L&P) Committee is seeking a new member. This is an opportunity to guide and shape the future direction of its Learning and Participation programme. Members are a lively, engaged group of people with rich and varied experience and knowledge.

The L&P Committee is a Sub-committee of the Board of Trustees, and comprises at least two members of the Board and up to eight independent members. It was set up to support the development and delivery of public benefit and engagement programmes, and to help the organisation develop its thinking in this area. It monitors programmes and ensures that they reflect ROH's overall aims and priorities.

Members of the Committee act as critical friends both in and outside meetings, bringing an external perspective and guidance to the development of our programmes and overseeing the strategy in the context of the wider ROH strategies. They identify opportunities for advocacy, promotion and sponsorship of these initiatives and support evaluation of impact.

Due to a long-standing member of the Committee coming to the end of their tenure, the Board is now seeking to appoint a new L&P Committee member to support the next phase of development. ROH welcomes applications from across the UK and is looking for someone who has expertise in the following:

Community engagement: ROH has ambitious targets for its L&P work, working in schools and with communities across the UK. This person will have first-hand experience of how to engage with disadvantaged communities, and advise on how ROH can play a role in this. Ideally, they will have done this in regions outside of London and the South East.

ROH welcomes candidates who are passionate about widening access to opera and ballet; they should be deeply committed to promoting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, as well as ROH's values of respect, openness and valuing the highest standards. While applicants do not need to have held a non-executive position before, they will need to demonstrate an understanding of holding such a role in an organisation of national significance.

The Committee normally has four meetings per year, each of which lasts for two hours; three are usually held online and the fourth is held in-person at the Royal Opera House. Committee members are also expected to provide advice outside meetings, and to attend L&P events. This role is unremunerated, but reasonable, pre-agreed travel expenses will be reimbursed. Appointments are for an initial term of four years, which is renewable once at the discretion of the Board.