Trailblazing Fort Worth Opera Director Resigns After 2 Years

The woman who wanted to build Fort Worth Opera into The People's Company will leave after just two years on the job.

Afton Battle announced her resignation on Tuesday.

"It is with profound sadness that, after two impactful - and in many ways life-changing - years with Fort Worth Opera, I announce my formal resignation as General and Artistic Director," Battle wrote in a letter posted on the opera's website. "I am starting a new chapter in my career that will be announced soon."

The board hired the Texas native and former opera performer in October 2020 after a six-month international search. She was the company's eighth general director and was immediately tasked with planning the FWO's 75th anniversary season celebrated in 2021.

“We are thrilled to announce that Afton will be our new General Director," said Fort Worth Opera Board Chair Nelson E. Claytor, Ph.D. at the time of her hiring as general and artistic director. "Her warmth, energy, focus, and fresh perspectives on our beloved art form make her ideally suited to lead us into Fort Worth Opera’s 75th anniversary and beyond."

In that same news release, Battle explained her vision for FWO.

“The core values that are rooted in my very being will guide me as I lead FWO in eradicating inequities, celebrating our differences in diversity and promoting racial justice by offering thought-provoking opera that transcends the boundaries of language and cultural backgrounds," she said. "By incubating and nourishing the talent of singers, composers, librettists, and directors of all races, orientations, and ethnicities, we will create an organization where diversity and inclusivity are woven into our DNA."

“I have been chosen to steer this amazing company, and together we will focus on expanding our reach and engagement into communities that have been historically marginalized (Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, LGBTQIA) by forging relationships with community leaders and stakeholders."

Her goal was to "become the People’s Opera Company.”

In an interview with NBC5, Battle talked about the seeds that planted her big vision.

"It's through my own fight and own struggle as a Black woman, as a Black woman who is an artist who has been part of a performing institution such as opera that is known as an elitist type of performing art," she said. "And it comes from wanting our industry of opera to be more than just inclusive. We have to be equitable, and equitable means that everyone's seat at the table is the same height. Everyone's microphone at the table is on at the same frequency level. We not only have a voice but our voices are heard. And our voices and what we have to say are taken more than just in consideration, but they are part of the conversation. And that goes for everything from what stories we tell on stage, who is telling those stories to who sits in leadership positions to who works on the staff to who sits on our board. And so eradicating these inequities is first and foremost, most important to me personally. And it is important that our industry, that the art form of opera, looks down this barrel of almost a lifetime of this art form that has cut off the accessibility to so many just by price points of tickets, and where the performing theater is and who they market to and who they engage, that we eliminate all of that. And the elimination of those barriers is what starts to create equity."

In her resignation letter, Battle expressed confidence that her goal had been achieved.

"We have increased and diversified our audiences, our board, our donors, our funders, our external partners and, most importantly, we have built a company that is truly reflective of the community we serve," she wrote. "A company every Fort Worthian can be proud of. Fort Worth Opera is now, more than ever, The People’s Company."

Battle was one of the few Black women to ever run a U.S. opera company. Her last day will be November 23.

RESIGNATION STATEMENT