Wolf Trap CEO Arvind Manocha Speaks at Cultural Leadership Breakfast

It’s already evident that the recent crop of new cultural and art institution leaders who have taken over the reigns at the region’s biggest and most revered institutions are striking some common themes.

You could hear them from Arvind Manocha, who took over as President and CEO at the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, as he spoke at the Georgetown Media Group’s second Cultural Leadership Breakfast at the venerable George Town Club Sept. 11.

Manocha came to Wolf Trap from a long career in California at the Hollywood Bowl, the “Best Major Outdoor Venue in America,” according to the industry. Additionally, he served previously as the CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Asssociation. Over breakfast, Manocha stated his aim and desire to cooperate with other cultural institutions with regard to both the performing arts and museums.

Wolf Trap and its Filene Center—an outdoor and indoor performance center which began operations in 1971– is the brain child and amazing creation of philanthropist Catherine Filene Shouse. As a performing arts center, it has become an institution in the traditional sense of the word, providing a huge array of performing arts events and concerts, ranging from opera to symphony concerts to recitals to jazz, classic rock and pop concerts. The venue has expanded its interests and that of its audience over the years. It now features the Barns, a more intimate venue that allows Wolf Trap to be a year-round performance arts center.

“Let me tell you, living and working in Los Angeles as I did, you can feel like you’re a little spoiled,” said Manocha, who displayed both enthusiasm for the arts and a sense of humor. “Los Angeles is this huge sprawling place, and I worked at very visible institutions. But I have to say, I was amazed at what a great urban arts community this city and this area has, and we’re so glad to be a part of it.”

To Manocha, the summer programming at Wolf Trap is like a summer festival, and a unique one at that. “It functions like a festival, because it’s a festive atmosphere, and it has this ongoing celebratory nature, but no festival – not Tanglewood, Lalapalooza, the opera festival in Santa Fe – offers such a variety and scale of concerts and events. There is literally something for everybody, for every taste, and it changes every day. Nobody does this in this country on this scale, which, of course, is what we all love about Wolf Trap. It’s a challenge to put this together, to do the kind of programming we do. It never ceases to amaze me. I come from the world of music. So, some of my interests and expertise obviously lie there.”

Manocha was proud of Wolf Trap’s long-standing opera company and opera series, and the fact that it is basically comprised of young artists, who vie to perform, learn and master their craft at Wolf Trap. “The thing that we do that nobody else does is that we guarantee that people in our program will be singing lead roles, not just being a part of the chorus or smaller parts. And it has worked. You should have seen ‘Carmen.’ It was astonishing, and we used a lot of new technology there.”

“We’re also proud of our early education program, the Early Childhood Institute for the Arts, which brings children to Wolf Trap, and lets them be exposed to the arts at an early age.”

Manocha noted that the Filene Center and the Barns hold more than 200 events every year, and that each not only bring regulars back time and time again, but events also attract new audiences.

“That’s the challenge for every institution,” he said. “To bring in new audiences, to continue our regular audiences. I’ve seen and talked with a lot of people who tell me they and their friends and families have been coming here for years, and that’s what we want to continue. We’ve changed some things – there have been pop musicians that seem to come every year, they’re traditions, so sometimes we’ve tried to shift the focus just a little to newer kinds of music, more of this, less of that. We have some advantages – while you have to commit to come out there, it’s a beautiful place, there’s no other arts and cultural experience like it. Our prices are lower for one thing, what with lawn seats and all, it’s accessible. We’re proud of our educational components and you can’t find a more family friendly place anywhere.”

“ ‘Carmen’ is an opera for people who might not go to opera,” he said. “I know lots of people who brought their kids to Wolf Trap this summer, and then the kids had their first experiences with classical music or opera.”

“With ‘Carmen,’ we saw a lot of young people on the lawn, lots more than we’ve ever seen before,” he said. “That’s an encouraging sign. They’d never been there before.

“Of course, you can always spot newcomers. They’re the ones that didn’t bring blankets, wine or food. What a concept—you can picnic on the lawn.”

Manocha said that, in the end, professionals in his business, “try to make things better—our own product, but also the experience that people carry with them after a concert or an event. We want to engender love and trust. We want to have the kinds of programs where everybody—myself included—has at least one to five events at Wolf Trap per year that feel like they’ve been planned especially for them.”