In three of the last federal tax filings, the Newport Performing Arts Center (NPAC) reported net income losses while it continues to try and raise millions of dollars to renovate and reopen the former majestic opera house on Newport’s Washington Square.
What’sUpNewp (WUN) reviewed all 990 forms filed by the Arts Center since 2002. The Newport Performing Arts Center non-profit was formed in early 2000 and officially bought the building in 2001. It has been tax-exempt since March 2001.
WUN looked at 990 reports through the 2024 fiscal year. While the form covering the fiscal year 2025 has not yet been filed, Melissa Caldwell Quinn, the center’s managing director, said the theater raised $104,000 in 2025.
A 990 report is an annual form filed by tax-exempt organizations, reporting financial data.
NPAC reported net income losses on its 990 reports in 2024 of $154,433, in 2023 of $21,656, and in 2020 of $108,052. In 2022, the 990 reports show net income of $15,918, and in 2021 net income of $23.062.
The opera house project has been ongoing for some 25 years, with ambitious plans to restore the theater to its original grandeur, but with 700 seats. The original theater, which opened in the winter of 1867, had 1,217 seats.
The review of the 990 reports is part of an ongoing WUN series of stories looking at the project that has been stalled since 2018.
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Newport’s Opera House has been under renovation for 25 years. It’s still not open.
We were able to look at all 990 reports, except for 2005, which we could not find on a variety of sites that publish 990 reports from non-profits.
We also tried to track any government funding, besides the $4.2 million the Performing Arts Center received from the statewide cultural arts bond in 2014. It required matching funds, and Todd Trebour, executive director of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, said NPAC met the requirement.
Reports on government funding are hard to track on the 990 reports, although a few have a line item identifying government grants. Thode reported by NPAC over the years have been small, including — $13,000 in 2010; $10,000 in 2007; $10,000 in 2006; $25,000 in 2014. It is unclear whether there were other government grants or funding of any sort and unclear the source of the government grants that were reported.
Trebour also said “NPAC applied for an additional RISCA grant in 2021. $50,000 was awarded, but they were unable to move the project forward and declined the grant.”
Since 2002 contributions to NPAC have totaled some $12 million, well short of the $26 million that had been projected to complete the project, a figure that has increased because of inflation. Quinn said recently that NPAC needs to raise about $10.1 million to renovate the building to the point of when it could reopen, without completing certain aspects, such as an annex building.
