Blank Donates $27M to New Atlanta Opera Center
Gift will go toward building the Molly Blank Center for Opera, which honors his mother’s memory.
Arthur Blank, whose philanthropic gifts this year included a $200 million contribution to the recently opened Children’s Hospital of Atlanta building on North Druid Hills Road, is closing out 2024 with millions more for a new building complex for the Atlanta Opera. He is donating $25 million for the construction of a concert hall and offices that will honor the memory of his mother, Molly Blank, who died almost 10 years ago at the age of 99.
The building project, which has a budget of $45 million, will transform the Bobby Jones Golf Course Clubhouse on Woodward Way, just off Northside Drive. It was originally built nearly 84 years ago.
In addition to providing administrative offices for the opera’s staff, the new complex will include a 200-seat recital hall, rehearsal studios, and a landscaped garden. The facility will be known as the Molly Blank Center for Opera.
Blank is also donating an additional $2.5 million for the continuation of the Molly Blank Discoveries Series, which presents opera in non-traditional spaces. This fall, the Atlanta Opera presented a modern staging of Puccini’s opera, “La Boheme,” in repertory with the Broadway musical “Rent,” which is said to have been inspired by the Italian work. Both were presented at Pullman Yards, a converted industrial facility that was once used for the reconditioning of Pullman rail cars.
When his father died when Arthur was 15, it was his mother who quickly stepped in to successfully run the family mail order pharmacy business. Although money was tight, her son affectionately remembered her dedication to art.
Despite his mother’s busy schedule as a business owner, she frequently found the time to take the subway from Flushing in New York City’s borough of Queens into Manhattan for an afternoon of theater or musical comedy.
“My mother, an artist herself, believed in the power of the arts to bring joy and healing. As a sculptor and dancer, she loved attending concerts, theater, and opera in Atlanta and New York,” Blank said. “My brother, Michael, and I are proud to carry on her passion for the arts, and we know she would be honored to see her name alongside one of the country’s top opera companies. We’re excited to support the new multi-disciplinary center on the Atlanta BeltLine and the Molly Blank Discoveries Series, bringing opera to new audiences. I can’t think of a more perfect way to honor her legacy.”
The gift comes at the start of a three-year, $110 million capital campaign for the Opera, which will allow the company to continue its main stage performances at the Cobb Energy Center and expand its outreach programs such as the 96 Hour Opera Festival.
Over the past decade, General and Artistic Manager, the Israeli-born, Tomer Zvulun, has developed a considerable talent for guiding the company’s development program. He has initiated important sponsorship programs with The Home Depot, Coca-Cola and the Kia Automotive Corporation.
Performances in the first half of 2025 include stagings of “Macbeth” in March, Wagner’s “Siegfried” in April and May, and Handel’s opera from the 18th century, “Semele,” in June.
“Few leaders have left as large an imprint on Atlanta as Arthur Blank,” Zvulun said. “I personally admire his vision and am profoundly grateful for his generosity. It brings me great joy that our new Opera headquarters will be named after his mother, Molly Blank, who adored opera. Her legacy of courage, compassion, community service, and much-loved sense of humor will inspire all we create and accomplish in the new facility.”
The Atlanta Opera is recognized as one of the leading opera companies in the United States, known, particularly for its artistic excellence, dynamic programming, and dedication to community service.
Hailed by The New York Times as “Bringing Opera Back from the Brink,” the Atlanta Opera claims as its mission to break the boundaries of opera to create exceptional experiences for audiences everywhere
The Opera also presents critically acclaimed productions and concerts streamed in HD on the newly created streaming platform, Atlanta Opera Film Studio, which continues to allow The Atlanta Opera to reach a global audience.
Construction is scheduled to be completed on the Molly Blank Center for Opera in summer 2027.
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