Happy Campers A creative development experience for babies and their carers
21 – 24 July 2025
In the Centre for Creativity
Workshops
Ages 0 - 1 | Happy Campers is a gentle musical space where your baby’s movements create live, improvised music. Designed for pre-crawling babies and their carers, this unique experience invites you to play, connect, and make your very first music together.
| Date | Time |
|---|---|
| Monday 21 July 2025 | 11:30am, 12:15pm, 1:45pm, 2:30pm, 3:15pm |
| Tuesday 22 July 2025 | 10am, 10:45am, 11:30am, 12:15pm, 1:45pm, 2:30pm, 3:15pm |
| Wednesday 23 July 2025 | 10am, 10:45am, 11:30am, 12:15pm, 1:45pm, 2:30pm, 3:15pm |
| Thursday 24 July 2025 | 10am, 10:45am, 11:30am, 12:15pm, 1:45pm, 2:30pm, 3:15pm |
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Standard | $25 refundable deposit |
One ticket includes one baby (pre-crawling age), up to 2 carers and up to 1 sibling.
A refundable deposit will be charged at time of booking to secure your place, and will be refunded to you on the event date after you participate. This is due to the uniquely small capacity of the session and to ensure that each session has active participants for the artists to work with.
If you have booked, and are unable to attend for any reason, please contact bookings@sydneyoperahouse.com
Prices correct at the time of publication and subject to change without notice. Exact prices will be displayed with seat selection.
The only authorised ticket agency for this event is Sydney Opera House. For more information about Authorised Agencies, see the frequently asked questions below.
Sydney Opera House Insiders pre-sale
9am, Tuesday 29 April 2025
Become a Sydney Opera House Insider to receive exclusive pre-sale access
General Public tickets on-sale
9am, Wednesday 30 April 2025
Social Story
A social story provides information about what to expect when attending a venue or show. It has short descriptions with images. See the Centre for Creativity Social Story
For any special access requirements phone the Contact Centre on +61 2 9250 7777 or email bookings@sydneyoperahouse.com
Find out more about accessibility at Sydney Opera House
This is an intimate creative development workshop for babies and their carers. Happy Campers is a workshop for the artists to explore how to create real-time music that responds to babies’ movements. You and your baby are active co-contributors to the creative process!
Each session will include one family (that is, one baby of pre-crawling age), a maximum of 2 carers and up to 1 sibling. If you have more than one baby, you may participate if there is at least one carer for each child. This ensures that babies are always with their carers for the duration of the workshop.
Run time
The duration of this event is 45 minutes.
Event duration is a guide only and may be subject to change.
Age
This workshop is recommended for babies aged 0 - 1 and their families. A maximum of two carers may accompany each child. All children must be accompanied by an adult. One ticket includes one baby (pre-crawling age), up to 2 carers and up to 1 sibling.
Children aged 15 years and under must be accompanied at all times.
The Opera House is committed to the safety and wellbeing of children that visit or engage with us. Read our Child Safety Policy.
On arrival, you will be welcomed by a member of staff, who will ensure you and your baby are comfortable, and show you to a parenting room should you need it. You will then join the artists in the Centre, who will explain how the project works and ask you to sign a consent form.
When ready, you and your baby will enter a small tent with a play mat at the centre. Motion tracking software connected to a camera inside the tent will convert your baby’s movements into data. Music software will interpret this data and produce real-time music. You and your baby will hear the musical performance for 20 minutes.
During the performance, we will watch the video feed, change the software settings to adjust the real-time musical responses, and write notes on ways to improve the music-making. If you consent, we will also record the video and the music; we will later send you copies if you wish. After the workshop, you will be invited to a non-compulsory feedback discussion where we will ask you questions. Your answers will not be connected to any records of your name. You can also ask us questions.
- By providing your consent, you are agreeing to allow Happy Campers to collect information about you for the purposes of this project.
- Any information you provide us will be stored securely. We will only disclose identifiable information with your permission unless we are required by law to release information.
- If you consent, videos recorded during the performance will be stored securely on an encrypted server. These files will not contain you and your baby’s names.
- If you consent, videos may be used to secure future funding for this project.
- We will never share or post a video in a place with public access without your permission.
- If you consent, we will use the video recording to refine the motion and music software later.
- We plan to publish the workshop findings. These publications will not identify you or your baby.
Music made by babies
Happy Campers is an interactive sound installation that transforms babies’ movements into music, creating a playful, sensory experience for our tiniest audiences and their grown-ups. Guided by artist-researchers Matt Kelly and Andrew Callaghan, babies and their caregivers will step into a soft, welcoming pod where emergent music technology turns every wriggle, stretch, or bounce into live, improvised sound, offering a rare opportunity for kids to become both performer and composer.
We’re inviting just one family at a time to participate in a 45-minute play-testing workshop, with plenty of time built in for settling and getting comfortable. We will create some music for 20 minutes, followed by a relaxed Q&A session with the artists.
This project is an experiment and we don’t know yet what sounds and music will be the final result. This work-in-progress experience is a unique opportunity to be part of the early development of a brand-new work for pre-crawling babies—one we hope will be welcoming, beautiful, and a gentle first step toward a lifelong love of the arts. If you like, we will record a video with music you can receive a copy of later.
Presented by Sydney Opera House
Meet the creatives
Dr Andrew Callaghan
Dr Andrew Callaghan is a composer, sound designer, researcher and educator who Lectures in Composition for Creative Industries and film music history at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Preferring to work collaboratively, his creative output explores roles for professionalized musicians, and seeking new ways to share music in community contexts. For him, Happy Campers is a chance for ‘experts’ to truly collaborate with a wide cross-section of society, breaking down the audience/performer relationship into something more open-ended.
Matt Kelly
Matt Kelly is a director, writer and performer who has been creating original work for children and families for over 25 years. Beginning his career as a science educator, he has developed a reputation as an inventive theatre-maker with a strong interest in how technology can foster meaningful connections. While best known as one half of award-winning comedy duo The Listies, Matt’s independent work includes Best.Party.Ever (Threshold), a digital theatre experience connecting kids with their grandparents, and The Invisible Orchestra (Arts Centre Melbourne), an interactive sound installation using children’s live data to generate music. His practice spans theatre, sound, and interactive installation, and is grounded in play, participation and joy.
Plan your visit
Venue information
Our foyers will be open 90 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and two hours pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Refreshments will be available for purchase from our theatre bars.
All Sydney Opera House foyers are pram accessible, with lifts to the main and western foyers. The public lift to all foyers is accessible from the corridor near the escalators on the Lower Concourse and also in the Western Foyer via the corridor on the Ground Level (at the top of the escalators). Pram parking will be available outside the theatres in the Western Foyer.
Getting here
The Sydney Opera House Car Park, operated by Wilson Parking, is open and available to use. Wilson Parking offer discounted parking if you book ahead. Please see the Wilson Parking website for details.
Please check the Transport NSW website for the latest advice and information on travel. You can catch public transport (bus, train, ferry) to Circular Quay and enjoy a six minute walk to the Opera House.
Frequently asked questions
Ticket purchases and collection at our Box Office is discouraged and eTicket or postal delivery methods should be used, wherever possible. However, if you are collecting your tickets from the Box Office, we recommend doing this at least 60 minutes before the event starts. If you have already received your tickets, the venue doors will be open 45 minutes pre-show for Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 30 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Please take your seats as soon as you arrive.
If you are late, we will seat you as soon as we can and, where possible, in your allocated seat. However, to reduce movement in the venue as well as minimise disruption to the performance and other patrons, ticketholders may be seated in an allocated latecomer’s seat. Please be aware that some events have lock-out periods. In these cases, latecomers will be admitted at a suitable break in the performance. On occasions, this may not be until the interval, or at all where there is no interval.
Details of our right to refuse admission can be found in our General Terms and Conditions for Tickets and Events.
In accordance with our venue security procedures, Opera House security will be scanning and checking bags under the Monumental Stairs, prior to entering the building. Bags will be scanned by an x-ray machine, and staff will wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) when handling your belongings, such as gloves. Cloaking facilities will be open 60 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 60 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. However it is strongly encouraged that you travel lightly to minimise contact and queuing. Any bags larger than an A4 piece of paper will need to be checked into the Cloak Room.
Children aged 15 years and under must be accompanied at all times. Babies aged 0-2 years old at the time of a performance may be seated on an adult’s lap. Children 2 years and older will need to hold a standard ticket.
The authorised agency for this event is the Sydney Opera House.
Only tickets purchased by authorised agencies should be considered reliable. If you purchase tickets from a non-authorised agency such as Ticketmaster Resale, Viagogo, Ticketbis, eBay, Gumtree, Tickets Australia or any other unauthorised seller, you risk that these tickets are fake, void or have previously been cancelled. RESALE RESTRICTION APPLIES. For more details, please refer to our General Terms and Conditions for Tickets and Attendance at Events.
Please contact Box Office on 9250 7777 as soon as possible to advise if you can no longer attend.
Foyers will be open 90 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and two hours pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Refreshments will be available for purchase from our theatre bars.
The venue doors will be open 45 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 30 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances.
Please bring a credit or debit card for any on site purchases to enable contactless payment. You’re welcome to bring your own water bottle but no other food and drinks are permitted inside our venues. Opera Bar, Opera Kitchen and Portside are also available for you to enjoy.
All Sydney Opera House foyers are pram accessible, with lifts to the main and Western Foyers. The public lift to the foyers is accessible from the corridor near the escalators on the Lower Concourse and also in the Western Foyer via the corridor on the Ground Level (at the top of the escalators). Pram parking will be available outside the theatres.
The Opera House is committed to the safety and wellbeing of children that visit or engage with us. Read our Child Safety Policy.
The Opera House has also developed a Child-friendly Code of Conduct to engage with our youngest visitors.
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