The Washington National Opera (WNO) is considering moving from the Kennedy Center, the company’s home since the National Arts Center opened in 1971.
The possibility was forced on the company as a result of the “Toverover” in the center of Donald Trump, according to the artistic director of WNO, Francesca Zambello. The President declared himself the chair of the institution in February, sacking and changing the board and leadership.
Leaving the Kennedy Center is a possible scenario after the box office collapse and “broken” donor confidence in Trump’s takeover.
“We want to make it our home at the Kennedy Center,” he said. “But if we can’t raise enough money, or sell enough tickets there, we have to think about other options.
“The two things that support a company financially, because of the takeover, are severely compromised,” he said.
Ticket sales are up about 40% compared to before Trump announced his seat, Zambello said. Many have decided to boycott the center. Every day he receives messages of protest from once-loyal audience members, he said.
“They said things like: ‘I will not step there until the “orange menace” is gone.’ Or: ‘Don’t you know history? Don’t you know what Hitler did? I refuse to give you a penny,’ “he said.
“People take me back to their brochure era shredding an envelope and saying: ‘No, no, I’ll be back: while he has power.'”
Before the February coup, opera performances were running at 80%-90% of capacity. Now, Zamboblo said, they are at 60%, at times in the form of full houses made to distribute complete tickets.
The company’s philanthropic giving — a key source of its funding — has disappeared, he said. “Donor trust is broken because a lot of people feel: ‘If I give to the Kennedy Center, I’m supporting Donald Trump,'” he said.
“The building was damaged,” he said. It was “politicized by the current administration”.
In the past, the Board of Trustees “always had a mix of Republicans and Democrats. It didn’t matter that there was a Republican or that they were leading a big, important institution.”
He said that the new management of the institution “has no experience in the arts”. Richard Grenell, the Center’s President-designate, previously served in various foreign policy roles, including US Ambassador to Germany.
In addition, staff in key areas such as sales and development have been laid off, both in terms of experience and numbers, he said. “There was a promise from the new administration to help them find new donors, increase contributions – which they did not do for our benefit,” he said.
The center’s new management did not veto any of Zambello’s programming choices, but “they suggested that we do more popular operas”, he said. “This season, we’re doing The Marriage of Figaro, Aida and West Side Story … I don’t see how we can get more popular than that.”
Zambebello explained that when he joined the company in 2012, he was guilty of 50% non-white weaving.
“The management questioned some of its parts, and we explained it the best people for the roles,” said a different part of this country on our stage. “
They also asked, he said, the singers’ pay: “They said: ‘Can we consider less expensive artists?’ We are a cooling ground for bigger companies in this country. That’s why we’ve got people who are developing and whose payments will get more expensive later. “
Grenell has, Zambello said, issued a decree requiring all performances to be “net neutral”, that is, with costs fully covered by box-office contributions. But, he said, “We are here now that we cannot present a neutral budget without an epic amount of external funding, or knowing that our patrons will return.”
The drop in ticket sales was seen across the board at the center, including concert and theater seasons, according to an analysis. Published in the Washington Post Last week, which showed the box office by 40% compared to a 2018 baseline.
According to Zambobello, the numbers in the box-informet have now stopped with the internal participation of the creative teams in the center of the standards of the daily reports of the daily daily reports of the daily daily reports of the daily reports of the daily reports of the daily daily reports of the daily reports of the daily daily reports of the daily daily reports in daily daily reports.
The President announced his intention to become the chair of the institution on 7 February, firing the Bipartisan Board of Trustees. He replaced them with his own choice; They elected him unanimously in the position days later. The president of the center was removed and replaced by granell.
The moves are widely condemned. Weeks later, when Jd Vance and the second lady, dressed in the Center of the Kennedy Center by Trumpstra in March, Patrons were proud of them.
Usha Country is a Trustee of WNA, with an independent board and its own endowment. “She was a supporting member of the Board when she was a senator’s wife, and she was a supporting member of the board as the second woman, and we are grateful to have her patronage,” Zambello said.
“I believe he is a person who is an equalizer,” he said. “We can’t avoid half of this country. We have to find a way for everyone to talk and develop together. I don’t believe in ‘US’.”
Artists have and many remain loyal to WNO, Zambello said. However, in March, the creative team behind the opera Traveling companionsa love story set between Gay Eisenhower employees from Federal jobs in the 1950s, isolated their work from the program.
The show was replaced by an Opera production by Robert Ward The crossan adaptation of Arthur Miller’s allegory of the anti-communist Britons of McCarthyism.
WNY is an independent company, but has an affiliation agreement with the Kennedy Center, which means it agrees to do a number of shows in the building; engaged in back office functions such as marketing and development; and receives a subsidy from the center of about $2m-$3m per year.
the Wisdom Agreement Created in 2011, before Zambello became artistic director, to keep the company’s finances going. It was changed before Trump appeared in his own seat at the Kennedy Center.
WNO is understood to be looking at alternative DC venues for the upcoming season, which runs from October 2026 to May of next year. Theaters of the scale needed to produce main-stage opera were lacking, although the auditoriums used by the city’s Shakespeare Company Company could be obtained from time to time for smaller productions.
In a statement given by the Cenedy Center, Chaird of the WNO BOARD, said: “The WNO has no plans to leave the Cultural Center of America, which entered the 70 period.”
Quick Guide
Contact us about this story
show
The best public interest journalism that relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.
If you have something to share on this topic, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods.
Secure messaging with the Guardian app
The Guardian App has a tool to send tips about stories. The messages are the end of the encryption and are hidden within the routine activity performed by each guardian of the mobile app. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are talking to us, let alone what is being said.
If you don’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select ‘Secure Messaging’.
Securedrops, instant messengers, email, phone and post
If you can safely use the Tor Network without being observed or monitored, you can send messages and documents to the Guardian through our secure area.
Finally, our guide at Tiguardian.com/tips lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.