JAMES WILLIAM WRIGHT

Joined 1985
Rejoined 1990, 1998

Jim

Performance Arts, Opera

Opera Carolina
345 N. College St. (28202)
332-7177 Ext.313
FAX 332-6448

     James W. (Jim) Wright has served as the chief operating officer of Opera Carolina since January 1989, and assumed the title of president in 1991. Previously he worked at Anchorage Opera for six years, the last three as general manager. Prior to moving to Anchorage, Wright worked with the opera companies of Tulsa and Kansas City.
     In his position with Opera Carolina, Jim holds ultimate staff responsibility for all areas of company management, program development, artistic direction, funding support, marketing, planning and administration. Under Jim's leadership the company has doubled its budget and built an accumulated surplus of approximately $800,000, initiated a program to address the needs of underserved and minority youth in Charlotte, initiated a statewide opera producer's conference, and undertaken a three-year artistic collaboration with Piedmont Opera Theatre in Winston-Salem.
     Jim is a member of the board of directors and executive and planning committees of OPERA America (the national service organization for professional opera), and chairs its education and production/ technical committees. He is the arts moderator for the Charlotte Chamber Leadership School. Jim recently completed a four-year tenure on the board of directors of Arts North Carolina, a statewide service organization, and has served on numerous national opera committees and as a grant panelist and on-site reporter for the National Endowment for the Arts.
     In July 1996 Jim was one of twelve North American opera producers to attend the first OPERA America European meeting in Paris. He is a regular participant in the Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations' opera management seminars held at Case Western University. In Anchorage, Wright served on the boards of the public radio station and the Alaska Arts Alliance, and was a member of the Alaska Performing Arts Center Mayor's Advisory Committee.
     Jim received his B.F.A. from the University of Illinois. He is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Charlotte. His interests include birding, horseback riding, literature, cooking and wine.