Napa Valley Opera House Announces Partnership with City Winery

The Napa Valley Opera House (NVOH) is poised to enter a new era of service to the community which will enable the historic venue to fully realize the vision of its founders. The first step in this transformation incorporates a collaborative partnership with New York City-based City Winery, the latest venture by Michael Dorf, Founder of the legendary Knitting Factory. City Winery will sub-lease the historic Opera House opening their third location, following New York and Chicago, to produce at least 225 shows annually. NVOH will produce 75 shows a year featuring genres not covered by City Winery with a focus on partnering with community groups and local non-profit organizations. This partnership also includes a 2.3 million dollar upgrade to the Margrit Biever Mondavi Theatre, improving the sound system as well as returning it to its original form with flat flooring. The MBM Theatre will also feature banquet seating to enable development of in-theater dining. These upgrades extend to the downstairs Café Theatre, which will be repurposed as a restaurant that will be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. The City Winery plans to add 50 full and part time jobs to the local Napa economy.

Napa Valley Opera House Board Chairman, Bob Almeida spoke of the partnership saying "today's announcement represents a significant step forward on the path to implementing our strategic plan. Four years ago we presented 75 shows annually; serving 21,000 patrons and contributing $2.4 million to the local economy. Our partnership with City Winery will increase each of those measures to between three to four times those totals and represents a true windfall for our community." NVOH Executive & Artistic Director, Peter Williams shared his excitement, adding "I've known about City Winery for years. In fact, when I was interviewed to work at the Opera House, I mentioned City Winery as a great model for us to follow. Everything they do, they do well - from the talent to the food, to the patron experience. I think they'll be a great fit in downtown Napa."

This partnership will secure the self-sustainability of NVOH and provide the financial resiliency to implement three exciting new programs that touch all corners of Napa's diverse community. The first program will preserve and significantly expand upon the core of the NVOH community programming mission; to bring diverse, quality performing arts to Napa. The NVOH community programming is designed to complement that of the City Winery and will include a number of genre - specific series focused on classical, jazz, and world music, film, theatre, dance, and local bookings. The second community initiative will be the launch of a comprehensive educational program that will send performing artists into the schools, where students and teachers can engage directly with them in creative ways while interconnecting with the school curriculum and project based learning activities in the classroom. Lastly, an endowment will be created, from the revenue stream created by the City Winery partnership, to permanenly ensure the preservation of this important cultural treasure in Napa. "The opportunity to build a significant endowment ensures our "jewel box" theater will be preserved for generations to come," Almeida noted.

The Napa Valley Opera House has been one of Napa's most important cultural icons since 1880, and now, through partnering with other non-profit organizations, arts groups, and schools, the organization continues to be a resource and cultural center for the entire community, bringing programming that is as diverse and accessible as the surrounding area.

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