Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, Administrative History Update

Elder-Norquist, Elise

The purpose of National Park Service (NPS) administrative histories is to document the events, decisions, and challenges faced by past park managers and to provide historic context to modern decision-making. This particular study updates the 1983 Wolf Trap Farm Park Administrative History by Barry Mackintosh and provides information on issues and management decisions made thereafter. It also explores the park’s relationship with the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts (the Foundation), the nonprofit organization that cooperates with the NPS in the operation of the Filene Center.1 Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts, the only national park for the performing arts, opened to the public in July 1971 for the purpose of presenting affordable performing arts programming in a natural setting. In April 1982, the theatre—the Filene Center—was destroyed in a fire. Pursuant to Public Law 97-310, the Wolf Trap Farm Act, the Foundation received a nine-million-dollar grant and an eight-million-dollar loan to rebuild the Filene Center. The loan was to be repaid in full plus interest within no more than five years.2 Performances were held in a temporary facility, the Meadow Center, while the new theatre was under construction. Although fully equipped with professional sound and lighting equipment, annual attendance dropped from around 375,000 in 1981 to a little over 100,000 in 1983.3 On July 30, 1984, the new Filene Center opened for a five-week performing season.4 Barely six months later, on January 24, 1985, an eight-foot-long crack was identified in one of the steel queen beams supporting the Filene Center roof.5 Additional repairs were made as more design and construction flaws were identified. The loan ceiling was raised from $8 million to $9.5 million to help fund these repairs. This brought the total cost of rebuilding the Filene Center to $25.7 million.6 As required by the Wolf Trap Farm Act, the Foundation raised funds for the repayment of the loan principal. However, the funds raised (a total of $7,211,000) were diverted to cover the cost of change orders, overages, repairs, legal fees, and temporary facilities. The Foundation was not in a financial position to pay off the loan while at the same time trying to stabilize its finances and provide high-quality entertainment and educational programming, so it defaulted on the NPS’s bill of collection for $14,231,239.75 on November 23, 1988. 7 Loan repayment alternatives were explored, and on November 28, 1990, Public Law 101-636 was signed into law, forgiving all unpaid interest on the principal. The law also required the Foundation to repay the loan principal within 25 years in equal installments starting June 1, 1991. 8 It was agreed that loan repayment funds could go to park improvements, such as sound system upgrades and new house lights. It was during this time period that the Foundation began to shift its programming emphasis from classical/semiclassical to pop/rock (in 1981, 65 percent of shows were classical/semiclassical, and 35 percent pop/rock; in 1985, 53 percent were classical/semi-classical and 40 percent pop/rock; and in 1988, 38 percent were classical/semiclassical and 54 percent pop/rock). The Filene Center’s staffing levels and technical capabilities were adapted to meet the needs of these performances, which became increasingly more com-plex. Furthermore, with this shift in programming, there was record-breaking attendance (in 1985, annual attendance was approximately 275,000 and in 1991 annual attendance reached nearly 500,000). Parking and traffic, which had been an issue since the park opened in 1971, continued to be a problem. 9 Director St. Jacques was at the forefront of the Filene Center’s rise in popularity and saw the theatre through its destruction and rebuilding. However, she struggled to maintain a positive relationship with Foundation officials. Director Joseph Lawler (May 1992–September 1994) mended the strained relationship and put an end to several practices, including the practice of mass/stacked parking. Director Lawler also negotiated an agreement with the Fairfax County Police Department to reinstate parking on the shoulders of Trap Road, saw to completion the Joint Management Study (March 1993) required by Public Law 101-636, and initiated the preparation of a new General Management Plan/ Development Concept Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (GMP/DCP/EIS). Other planning documents and studies completed while Lawler was director include an Interpretive Management Plan (September 1993) and Traffic and Parking Analysis (December 1993).10 Director Richard Wilt (October 1994–March 2000) saw to the completion and implementation of the park’s GMP/DCP/EIS (1997), which presented the preferred management alternative to address Wolf Trap’s parking, traffic, pedestrian, and circulation issues. Director Wilt sought alternative funding sources for GMP projects and negotiated in-kind contributions totaling $110,000. Wilt was also responsible for the agreement with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) that formalized the practice of keeping the gates to the Dulles Toll Road access ramps open.11 Director Bill Crockett (March 2000–January 2010) saw to the completion of the last element of the GMP—the construction of the new Main Gate Facility—in 2008. The repurposing of the Hay Barn, which had previously been used for the storage of golf carts, was another project completed under Director Crockett. The new Hay Barn provides additional restrooms and office and storage space.12 Another important development that occurred during Crockett’s tenure was the renaming of the park. Senate Report 107-182 documents that this change was made “[to] alleviate public confusion about the park’s name, while recognizing the role this facility plays in the nation’s natural, cultural and educational life.”13 On August 1, 2002, the Senate passed the bill and on August 21 President Bush signed it into law (Public Law 107-219), officially renaming Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts as Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.14 It was under Superintendent Karen Pittleman (2010–15) that Wolf Trap began to focus more on promoting year-round visitation. Recreation was recognized as a means to engage the casual park visitor, and it provided an opportunity to interpret the park’s natural resources. Ranger walks and talks, both natural and historical, were initiated in the off-season, and a two-mile hiking trail interpreting the park’s natural resources was established in 2011 in cooperation with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC). Phil Goetkin, the park’s master gardener, and the Friends of Wolf Trap, the park’s Friends group, also created several gardens to support and encourage biodiversity. More than 20,000 native plants and more than 30 trees and shrubs were planted in the Dimple Garden in front of the Filene Center in 2012. This area is used in the park’s educational programming. A Woodland Shade Garden and a vegetable community garden were also planted.15

Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, Administrative History Update

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