Directors may not be able to shut down the San Diego Opera

Dear fans of inewsource,

The board of directors, which voted to close the 49-year-old company by the end of the month, may not have that power after all.

California corporations law and the San Diego Opera’s bylaws say the board has to consult its much larger membership — some 850 paying members — before it can sell the opera’s $15 million in assets and close the doors.

In a brief story on radio and a much more detailed explanation on the web , inewsource and KPBS reporter Angela Carone quote the law and talk to three nonprofit legal experts — who are independent and have no connection to the opera.

They all say the law requires a vote of the membership to take such a momentous step. Hundreds of people pay to support the opera and become members at various levels. They are detailed on the opera’s “support” page.

We hope this story will inform discussion at the next opera board meeting tomorrow.

If this kind of reporting is important to you, consider visiting the inewsource website and forwarding this email to a friend.

–Lorie Hearn, Executive Director
loriehearn@inewsource.org