Unions representing New York City Opera performers have questioned whether the company's intention to vacate its home at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is prudent. Now they are questioning whether it's legal.
Two unions, the American Guild of Musical Artists and the Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802, have asked state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office oversees charities, to investigate whether the opera breached its fiduciary duties.
City Opera will quit Lincoln Center because it no longer can cover costs there, Artistic Director George Steel said at a press conference last week. Steel said by performing at smaller venues around the city, with orchestras and choruses of various sizes, it can survive without further raiding its endowment.
The off-campus plans have provoked protests by artists who have performed at the opera and would void the most recent contracts with the singers and musicians.
The Wallace fund, the source of the $24 million, was set up in 1982 to benefit Lincoln Center’s constituent companies. The unions said that leaving Lincoln Center “flouted” the fundamental purpose of the fund.
In May, AGMA, which represents singers, stage directors and stage managers, had appealed to the National Labor Relations Board to block City Opera’s exit. AGMA Executive Director Alan Gordon said he didn’t know whether the request of the attorney general will prove effective.
“I have no idea whether they’ll do anything, but you gotta try,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Schneiderman confirmed that the office had received the letter and declined to comment. Schneiderman’s father, Irwin Schneiderman, is a former City Opera chairman.
Maggie McKeon, a City Opera spokeswoman, called the letter “another distraction from the real issue. We take strong exception to the suggestion that we have misled anyone. That accusation is ridiculous.
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