kosmos: creative community projects
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Aim
Seasoned opera singers step into community spaces to give back by making opera not just for the community but with the community.
Communities are the DNA of our daily lives. They promote connection, support and a powerful voice when we speak out as one.
kosmos is about giving back to our community, encouraging its value at a time when so many of us are feeling increasingly isolated.
kosmos brings artists from around the world, but it isn’t a gig — it’s a gift.
We ask seasoned opera singers to step off the big stage and into common spaces to lift their voices and make opera not just for the community but with the community. kosmos believes great art-making is for everyone. And that the creative process is a unifying, uplifting experience to be shared.
We are invested in the affordability and accessibility of high art, and in making the creative process tangible. We engage the unique talents of the community to deliver magic, onstage and off, by realising a grand story told by passionate voices.
Let's make common, intimate spaces grand. Let's be reminded that the better we work together, the better our world.
Our first performance is Gian Carlo Menotti's heartwarming opera, 'Amahl and the Night Visitors', performed right here in Edinburgh. We’re raising £8,000 to unberth this ambitious initiative and assist with baseline operating costs and to support bringing the artists here during the holiday season — the season of giving.
Here's how:
- World-class, seasoned opera artists step off large stages into community spaces.
- Instrumentalists donate their musical gifts.
- Community members lend their unique talents by constructing sets and costumes, donating materials, handling sound and light, or welcoming visiting artists into their homes.
Every performer and kosmos community member collaborating on our opera will be freely donating their gifts and time.
We blend professionals with local collaborators — students from Edinburgh's universities, colleges and schools; creatives living in our community; florists; shopkeepers; and local spaces — into a living cultural ecosystem. Where the community is the celebrity, and the performance is a shared gift.
I believe in miracles. Do you?
🎄 The Winter '26 Pilot Event: The Miracle of the Crutch
We are launching this initiative right here in Marchmont, Edinburgh, with a site-specific holiday masterpiece: 'Amahl and the Night Visitors', written by a true people's composer who lived in Edinburgh for thirty-five years — Gian Carlo Menotti. Our opera will be set inside the beautiful German Church (Laudate Haus).
💰 Why We Need Your Support
Our target is £8,000 for immediate needs, and this crowdfunding initiative will run through December '26 to fully secure our pilot launch. While kosmos focuses on an exchange of talent and services as our lifeblood, there are baseline costs to secure our mission:
Roundtrip transatlantic flights for performers (Urgently needed for December '26 travel): Honouring the artists giving of their talent and time without charge is something kosmos is deeply invested in. Flights sit at the top of our budget because we engage opera singers from around the world.
Venue hire costs: Securing our intimate performance space.
Materials required: We exist on a donation basis, and although troubleshooting often creates unanticipated magic in theatre, there are physical production costs.
⏳ Our Deadline
Our immediate need is the subsidisation of flights for December 2026 travel. However, this initiative will extend into the second week of the New Year to help launch our proposed 2027 season in the event our immediate needs aren't met.
🚀 What happens if we exceed our £8,000 goal?
Every extra penny will be directly invested into launching our upcoming Spring Season.
kosmos means harmonious arrangement. We engage our community to co-create art right alongside world-class opera singers.
Help us share meaningful stories with powerful voices performing just a foot away. Invest in creative generosity and join kosmos in celebrating what makes us — Us.
kosmos is an ethos, not a project. Our efforts in Edinburgh exist as a how-to guide for activating that ethos. We endow our visiting artists from around the world with an opportunity to give back, arming them with a toolkit to create a kosmos production in their own home communities. kosmos is engagement on all sorts of levels, able to address all sorts of things. It's ambitious, but that's art, isn't it?
(kosmos has not yet earned its nonprofit badge but we our mission is all about not-for-profit. Every member is giving back.)
Jessica Schneiderman
The Mother
Muesop Kim
Melchior
Thomas Michael Allen
Kaspar
Patrick Blackwell
Kaspar
Stephanie Vlahos
kosmos Creator
For more information on kosmos, please visit our site:
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 3rd January 2027 at 12:00am