Spoleto Festival USA
The 2013 festival opened on May 24, 2013, with a ceremony at Charleston's City Hall
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| Duration | 17 days |
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| Date | late spring |
| Location | Charleston, South Carolina |
| Theme | performing arts festival |
Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of America's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi (The Festival of Two Worlds) in Spoleto, Italy.
When Italian organizers planned an American festival, they searched for a city that would offer the charm of Spoleto, Italy, and also its wealth of theaters, churches, and other performance spaces. Charleston was selected as an ideal location, with Menotti saying of Charleston:
The annual 17-day late-spring event showcases both established and emerging artists in more than 150 performances of opera, dance, theater, classical music, and jazz.
The festival experienced financial problems from its outset which produced a quick turnover in leadership. On September 27, 1976, Theodore "Ted" Stern, the president of the College of Charleston at that time, was named as the new chairman of the Charleston Coordinating Committee after the departure of Hugh Lane. Personality disputes also arose involving Menotti. Menotti, who had served as the artistic director for the festival since its founding, claimed in 1991 that he was not interested in renewing his three-year contract when it ended in 1992 over artistic differences. The board did not officially accept his resignation immediately, but Menotti stood by his intentions, blaming artistic differences with the board and lack of personal control: "I no longer feel it is my festival, and this has been my life for 15 years. I feel a bit lonely among them. I'm treated like a clerk."
Most significantly, Menotti had a poor relationship with the festival's general manager, Nigel Redden, who challenged programming decisions, expense accounts for Menotti, and administrative decisions by Menotti. Two camps developed on the board, splitting support between those backing Redden and those who supported Menotti (including Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr.). Mayor Riley supported Menotti so strongly that he threatened to withdraw city support for the festival if Menotti were pushed out. Eventually, in May 1991, Menotti issued an ultimatum that either Redden and his supporters resign or Menotti would. In August 1991, Redden resigned, as did 19 of the 46 board members the next month.
The tumult affected the scope of the festival the following year; the budget for 1992's festival was $4.6 million, down about $1 million from 1991, and covering about 20 percent fewer presentations (103 in 1992 compared with over 120 in 1991). In 1990 and 1991, the festival had raised about 44% of its budget (about $2.4 million) from private donations, but in 1992, the festival raised only $1.2 million from such donations, about 33% of its $3.6 million budget that year.
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