38 | donorprofile
Donor Profile WRITTEN BY
Jessica Langlois &
Members of the Atlanta Music Festival, from left: Alfred Kennedy, Jr., Barbara Prickett, G. Kimbrough Taylor; Bob Edge; Murray Wood, Ronald Hartley, and Anne Hayes.
On Oct. 28, 1901, The Metropolitan Opera extended their national tour to Atlanta and opened with a performance of Wagner’s Lohengrin. The next day saw a matinee of Romeo and Juliette and an evening performance of The Barber of Seville. Atlanta was hooked.
In 1910, a group of committed citizens took Jonathan Blalock it upon themselves to solidify the stability and COURTESY BOB EDGE vitality of the Met’s stop in Atlanta and established the Atlanta Music Festival Association (AMFA.) The group’s mission was to provide the structure, leadership, and financial support to ensure that the tour would continue. The AMFA recruited countless volunteers to support the Met’s appearance. There is one among the many, though, to earn the title of Atlanta Opera legend, Mr. Robert Edge. Since he was elected president of AMFA in 1972, Bob Edge has led the organization with a passion for the art form and a thoughtful approach to the business. “Thanks to the strong leadership of AMFA President Alfred Kennedy Sr., who preceded me as President, and the successful years that followed, we were able to develop a reserve fund of about $1.8 million by the time the Met quit touring. Most of that fund has been dedicated to The Atlanta Opera for the last 35 years, and those of us associated with the AMFA have taken great pleasure in providing this support,” said Bog Edge. Atlanta’s fiscal reliability and warm hospitality kept it a favored stop on the Met tour until 1986, the final year of the tour. With cash still in hand, the AMFA board transferred their remaining funds to The Community Foundation, releasing a portion of its funds to organizations they believed would honor AMFA’s original mission, including its favored local company, The Atlanta Opera. Thanks to effective stewardship of its funds, the AMFA has faithfully supported The Atlanta Opera with an annual contribution of $70,000 or more for decades. The AMFA’s cumulative contributions to the Opera exceed $2.6 million. To learn how you can support The Atlanta Opera through an annuity or another planned gift, contact Jonathan Blalock, Associate Director of Development for Major and Planned Gifts, at jblalock@atlantaopera.org.
atlantaopera.org | @theatlantaopera
