Seattle Opera’s Alex Minami Discusses the Power of Community Partnerships with Alicia Crank
When most people think of opera, they envision a rigid, highbrow tradition confined strictly to the auditorium. However, Alex Minami, Co-Director of Programs and Partnerships at the Seattle Opera, is on a mission to challenge those stereotypes. Minami recently sat down on The Day With Trae with guest host Alicia Crank to pull back the curtain on how the Seattle Opera is utilizing partnerships to serve and celebrate underrepresented communities.
For Minami, who has been with the company for eight years, the job is about establishing genuine connections.
“My job as the community engagement person is to go and get in touch with all of the different groups that have followings around them and just open the conversation, seeing how we can work together,” he said.
Driving Impact Through Meaningful Partnerships
Minami’s department is built entirely on co-creating programming with local community organizations. Rather than forcing an agenda, the objective is to lift up the existing work of local advocates.
“We find these really creative ways for the opera to serve the community and support the good work that's being done by our community partner organizations,” he said.
This collaborative philosophy has sparked highly impactful initiatives in recent seasons:
The Afghan Culture Showcase: The opera collaborated with the Refugee Artisan Initiative. Local Afghan refugee women, many of whom learned to sew as their primary means of expression, embroidered an entire custom dress that was displayed to celebrate the beauty of Afghan culture.
The Black Artist Market: To honor the legacy of Malcolm X during the run of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, the opera teamed up with ARTE NOIR, Wa Na Wari, and Intentionalist. Together, they launched an annual holiday market at the opera center celebrating Black entrepreneurship, which is slated to return for its fourth year on December 5th, 2026.
Furry Night: A dedicated Furry Night at the Opera was a viral sensation. Minami noted that creating an inclusive night out for the furry community is just another example of finding unexpected threads of intersection.
A Look Ahead: The Upcoming Mainstage Season
Minami teased an expansive slate of community programming built around the four mainstage productions of the upcoming season:
Salome (Opening October 17, 2026)
The season kicks off with Oscar Wilde's intense drama. Alongside specialized deep-dive learning seminars, the opera is partnering with the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) to screen a film adaptation of the original play. Additionally, they are collaborating with the Irish Heritage Club of Seattle for a themed "Irish Night" to honor Wilde's heritage.
Frida y Diego (January 2027)
The opera is planning extensive programming around the iconic Frida Kahlo. They are currently holding self-portrait painting workshops with local Latin organizations like Entre Hermanos, Casa Latina, El Centro de la Raza, and Centro Cultural Mexicano. The final pieces will be exhibited in the lobby of McCaw Hall.
Lakmé (March 2027)
Recognizing that the historical 19th-century opera contains orientalist themes, Minami is proactively working with the local South Asian film organization Tasveer. The goal is to screen films that tell a similar cross-cultural love story, but explicitly frame the narrative from a Hindu perspective.
La Bohème (May 2027)
To round out the season, the opera is exploring the timeless story of struggling artists. Minami is in talks with SIFF to host a collaborative screening of Rent (which is modernly adapted from La Bohème) to highlight the ongoing local and national conversations surrounding economic affordability for creatives.
Welcome to the Seattle Opera Center Open House
For community members wanting an entry point into this world, Minami highly recommends the annual Seattle Opera Center Open House on Saturday, September 26th from 1 to 4 p.m.. The entirely free, family-friendly event allows the public to tour costume and prop shops, participate in a community sing-along, watch live rehearsals, and tour the recording studios of Classical KING, who shares the building.
Ultimately, Minami views opera as the ultimate convener of humanity.
“One of the things I really love about opera is that it's a synthesis of so many different things," he said. "There's always something to opera that I think people can connect with."
To learn more about community events, standard classes, or mainstage tickets, visit the official website atseattleopera.org.
Catch “The Day With Trae” Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 11 a.m. on all Converge streaming platforms.
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