The “People’s Opera” May Rise Again, But It’s a Waiting Game for Buyers

Ruth McCambridge

July 8, 2014

July 7, 2014; Jewish Daily Forward

Readers will remember our coverage of the tortured closing of the New York City Opera last year. Some continue to be tortured by the aftermath.

Three months after it declared itself belly up, businessman Gene Kaufman offered to buy and save the institution dubbed “the People’s Opera,” but he is now claiming that it has been six months and the opera’s board is “stuck in neutral.” He feels that the longer it does not stage a production, the harder it will be to restart, and he wants the court to appoint an independent trustee to move the process along.

The spark for this was evidently in the opera board’s recent request for a third three-month extension of the time allotted for determining the company’s future. The board says it has three bids on the opera.

Nicole Stefanelli, an attorney representing the opera, said the extension request is not at all unusual and that the opera’s board is dealing with some complicated legal issues.—Ruth McCambridge

About the author

Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor Emerita of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

More about: Arts and Culture Board Development Board Governance Financial Management Nonprofit News Organizational culture and its drivers

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today

See comments

You might also like

Koku Gonza, an artist who received guaranteed income through the Creatives Rebuild New York’s (CRNY) Guaranteed Income for Artists program.

How Guaranteed Income Can Support the Arts—And Ourselves

Maura Cuffie-Peterson

A woman holds up a sign that reads, “Stop the silencing of pro-Palestinians Voices” at Columbia University, where student protests demanding divestment from weapons companies were shut down with police enforcement.

Gaza Solidarity Organizing: Exposing the Military–Higher...

An upward look at the corner intersection street sign showing the Avenue of Puerto Rico and a street named after Pedro Albizu Campos.

Preserving Brooklyn’s Puerto Rican Community: A...

Damaly Gonzalez