Central City Opera has presented a complete four-year contract to the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) for signature. According to a statement last week, Central City Opera (CCO) remains engaged in negotiations in good faith with AGMA toward a new collective bargaining agreement. These negotiations have been ongoing for the last five months.

In a video, Sam Wheeler, national executive director of AGMA, said “We have been negotiating with Central City for the past six months. We have been working tirelessly with Central City.”

On May 8, the opera released a statement that AGMA actively allowed its contract with Central City Opera to expire in August of 2022, refusing to negotiate until October, thereby leaving its members without an agreement. The company said that if AGMA chooses not to sign the contract, the two organizations will engage in Federal mediation to reach a resolution before the Summer Festival.

“Given these facts, there is no basis for AGMA’s threat of a work stoppage that would effectively deny CCO’s artists the opportunity to earn a living through the creation of live performances this summer,” the CCO spokesperson said.

Audiences can look at the collective bargaining agreement that Central City Opera has proposed at the following website: (https:// centralcityopera.org/central-cityopera presents-four-year-contract-toagma/? mc_ cid=db92a52312&mc_ eid=218fc0f112).

According to the contract, the employer (CCO) recognizes AGMA as the exclusive collective bargaining agent for all solo singers, developing artists, apprentices, speaking performers and narrators, mute performers, stage directors and assistant stage directors, stage managers and assistant stage managers, choreographers, ballet masters, ballet mistresses, and dance captains, and solo dancers, corps dancers and all chorus singers and of all the preceding hereinafter referred to collectively as “artists,” employed by the employer during the period defined as the festival dates, from about May to August of each year, while any such artist is performing on Main Stage, at the Martin Foundry located at 212 Eureka Street, Central City, CO 80427, or any other venue with at least 127 seats. All other employees or artists affiliated with the employer in any way and by any title are excluded from the unit and are not covered by the terms of the Agreement.

The Central City Opera is set to present Gounod’s Romeo & Juliet, Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate, and Rossini’s Otello this summer.

For more information, go to centralcityopera.org.