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House Swap

Sydney Opera House Artist in Schools Exchange Program

House Swap is a program for primary and secondary learners that brings artists from the Sydney Opera House to your school, and your school to the Sydney Opera House for a transformative, creative exchange!

It’s a way for us to support a close connection between your school community and the Sydney Opera House, so everyone can share in the benefits of getting creative.

This immersive program uses ‘place’ and ‘identity’ as catalysts for creativity, with the best of the Sydney Opera House’s creative capabilities matched with what is meaningful to your students and their communities.

Developed in a co-design framework, students, teachers and artists work together across the Sydney Opera House and the school classroom to develop a collaborative creative project. On the way they will be inspired by Sydney Opera House performances, tours and  workshops, to present a unique outcome at the Sydney Opera House or in your school.

The program includes:

  • A visit to the Sydney Opera House on Tubogowle. View one of our world class performances and be taken on an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour, providing inspiration for your student’s own creative journey. 
  • A series of creative sessions in your school built around an agreed process and outcome. Developed and led by our House Swap artists, these sessions are grounded in the values of play, storytelling, place, space, embodied and multidisciplinary approaches to learning. 
  • A unique creative outcome, developed collaboratively with the artists, teachers and students. This outcome is shared with your school community, taking place either at the Sydney Opera House or within your school. 
  • Optional teacher professional learning for your school to build capacity to use creativity in the classroom to support student engagement and learning.
  • The House Swap program requires commitment to a minimum amount of artist-led sessions. These sessions can be scheduled to suit your school timetable as regular weekly occurrences, or in a condensed block. Sessions occur within your school or in the Sydney Opera House Centre for Creativity, or, you can swap between both! 

To find out more about House Swap for your school, please contact us via email:

I think every school should do this program!

Berlinda Cook, Principal Campsie Public School

Useful information:

About our House Swap artists for 2025

Frequently asked questions

Artists – want to work in the Creative Learning program?

We invite professional Creative Learning artists and facilitators to be considered for our talent register for upcoming freelance and contract opportunities across our programs.

Find out more

Be inspired by previous Artist in Schools projects with Sydney Opera House

Lansvale Public School: Planet Home

What does home mean to you? In lieu of singing, students from Lansvale Public School came together and signed in Auslan the words to their original song, Planet Home.

  • On-demand

Casula High School: Concealer

Concealer is a deep dive into the impacts of beauty on Australian young people today. Artist, Film maker and theatre maker Curly Fernandez worked with Year 9 drama students from Casula High as they responded to Rethinking Beauty, a talk from the All About Women festival in March 2020.

  • On-demand

Kensington Public School: Flying Foxes

Musician and bandleader of the Vegetable Plot Luke Escombe worked with drama teacher Emma Fredman from Kensington Public school to write, record and put together this gorgeous video of three classes of students across 2021.

  • On-demand

Lansvale Public school: The Hatch, The Children and The Paper Girl

Theatre Artist Alice Osborne and Composer and Film maker James Brown collaborated with Class 4/5L and classroom teacher Ana Langi from Lansvale Public school to create this spectacular film about friendship, adventure and the imagination.

  • On-demand

Katoomba North Public School: The Mystery of the Mythical Creatures

Sophie Kelly, Performer, Theatre Director and Film Director, collaborated with Katoomba North Stage 2 Grevillias to create one of the highlights of 2020.

  • On-demand

Lansvale Public School: Creative Ties

See how Creative Leadership in Learning benefits not only students, but also the wider school community.

  • On-demand

Campsie Public School: Spooky Airport

Watch Year 3 kids from Campsie Public School take part in the immersive puppetry installation they co-created with artist Kay Yasugi as part of the three-year Creative Leadership in Learning program.

  • On-demand

Liverpool Boys High reimagines the school curriculum with Sydney Opera House

What happens when the roles are reversed, and children are put in charge of their own education? The Sydney Opera House took over Liverpool Boys High in a radical three week program where regular lessons were replaced with workshops, mentoring and performances.

  • On-demand

School kids write migrant family stories into song

Students from Lansvale Public tell history and humour with musician Luke Escombe

Liverpool Boys High rewrites the school curriculum with creativity

Principal Mike Saxon and his students are changing the way we learn.

Two boys studying a skeleton.

Magicast: A Podcast Burwood Public School

This is what happens when you merge a magic show and podcast. Voice over artist and performer Kate Murphy worked with Teacher Trevor O’Neil and his year 5/6 class from Burwood Public School to create MagicCast! Kate and class responded to the theatre show The Great Illusionist, exploring magic, maths, performance, writing and so much more! Have a listen to this lovely and at times profound rumination on all things magic.

Two men performing with a soft toy.