Washington National Opera Negotiates Kennedy Center Exit & Endowment Ownership

Washington National Opera’s planned separation from the Kennedy Center is moving into a complex legal stage, with negotiations underway over assets, facilities, and the future of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, according to reporting by Washingtonian.

The opera company is seeking control of its estimated $30 million endowment, access to patron data, and leases for its rehearsal and storage facilities, including a 50,000-square-foot studio and costume space in Takoma Park. Artistic Director Francesca Zambello told Washingtonian, "We are seeking, basically, our data, the leases to the buildings where we work and the return of our endowment."

Zambello said discussions over physical assets and leases are progressing. "That will become our main home," she said of the Takoma Park facility. "That’s all working out." She added that separating the endowment after more than a decade under an affiliation agreement with the Kennedy Center will require extensive legal work, saying, "It is rightly ours," and noting, "We have a very large legal team."

Washington National Opera announced earlier this month that it will relocate two March productions to George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium. Zambello said the decision followed declining ticket sales and new programming requirements at the Kennedy Center, including a policy requiring productions to be "revenue neutral." "We knew we had to do something," she said. "I don’t want our company to go down because of unreasonable demands."

The transition has raised uncertainty for the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, whose members have historically worked under contracts covering both opera and Kennedy Center programming. "It’s a complicated situation," said Edward Malaga, president of American Federation of Musicians Local 161-710. "I do not know of any other situation in America that is analogous to the situation at the Kennedy Center."