Kelly Carnes couldn’t wait to start her new job.
The new executive director of the Baltimore Rock Opera Society took over Sept. 8. Perfect timing, she thought, since Carnes would be back just in time following her annual two-week trip to Nevada’s Burning Man arts festival.
Two weeks after her new career began, Carnes was fired, she said, after some volunteers with the theater group complained her temporary festival hairstyle — cornrows — was an offensive act of cultural appropriation.
Carnes, an arts public relations specialist, is white. The hairstyle traces its roots to numerous African cultures.
Her hair, she said, was braided in “a protective style” to combat Burning Man’s windy, dusty conditions in the desert. Carnes said her fellow campers, who included people of color, approved of her wearing the hairstyle.
Carnes said the termination letter did not blame her hairstyle for her firing and instead stated she was let go because it was “not a good fit.” Carnes believes she was fired because of her hair and the reaction to it within the group’s community.
“People can have different opinions about my hairstyle,” Carnes said in an email Thursday. “But someone’s personal opinion about my hairstyle is one thing. Making an employment decision based on my physical appearance is another.”
Carnes’ abrupt firing, and the spirited debates it sparked on Instagram, Reddit and The Banner’s website about the limits of cultural appropriation, comes at a time of upheaval for the city-based arts nonprofit. The group is a fixture of Baltimore’s do-it-yourself arts scene, producing original rock operas filled with fantastical characters, bright costumes and loud soundtracks since 2009.
Four of the organization’s six board members — Chair Naomi Davidoff, Treasurer Aran Keating, Secretary Dom Cerquetti and Dana Carr — are leaving at the end of 2026, according to a Baltimore Rock Opera Society email to volunteers obtained by The Banner.
The theater group’s future standing as a nonprofit organization depends on filling these positions, the email said.
“As of December 31st, we will need a Board Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer, to maintain our nonprofit status,” the email said. “For BROS to continue, There is an URGENT NEED for qualified people to step up and take these responsibilities from the current board immediately.”
Cat Litten, the Baltimore Rock Opera Society’s marketing and communications director, declined to comment or answer questions on Wednesday and Thursday.
“Our focus is internal at the moment and we are not engaging further with the press at this time,” Litten said in an email.
Multiple board members of the Baltimore Rock Opera Society did not respond to requests for comment this week.
Carnes could not have predicted such a messy breakup just months ago.
She initially saw the executive director job posting in a Baltimore Rock Opera Society newsletter. Patrick Staso had held the job for two years. Without any connections to the group, she applied, went through three rounds of interviews with board members over three months and completed a budgeting exercise, Carnes said.
On Sept. 10, Carnes, with her hair still braided from Burning Man, attended a puppet karaoke fundraiser for the group at Meander Art Bar — her first opportunity to meet a lot of the staff and community members in person.
“Nobody at the event, including staff members I met that evening, raised any concern about my hair,” she said.
Four days later, the Baltimore Rock Opera Society posted a short video featuring Carnes, whose hairstyle drew “concerns” online from the group’s community, according to a social media post from BROS after the video was removed. In response, the group held a town hall meeting Sept. 18. Carnes said the board directed her not to attend.
“Just after midnight following that meeting, I received the email terminating me as Executive Director because the position was ‘not a good fit,’” Carnes said.
The Baltimore Rock Opera Society operated with slightly negative net income from 2019 to 2023, according to tax documents. In 2024, the nonprofit’s revenue was $221,609 and expenses were $209,146, resulting in a $12,463 profit. The majority of the group’s members are volunteers, while its website currently lists five “part-time salaried members” on staff.
When Carnes took the position, she discovered “immediate financial challenges” facing the group, though she believed — and still does — in its long-term viability. She declined to provide further details about the group’s finances.
“Stabilizing the organization financially became my immediate priority,” Carnes said.
The Baltimore Rock Opera Society supports itself through ticket sales, a membership program, corporate sponsorships, donations and grants. Its most recent production was “American Vamp,” which ran from May 29 to June 20 in Baltimore.
Grant funders and partners listed on its website include the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, the T. Rowe Price Foundation and the Maryland State Arts Council.
In the 2026 fiscal year, the Maryland State Arts Council gave a grant of $15,012 to the Baltimore Rock Opera Society, according to the council’s website.
Steven Skerritt-Davis, MSAC’s executive director, confirmed on Thursday that groups must have nonprofit status or another eligible status to receive grants from the council. He declined to comment on the leadership changes at the Baltimore Rock Opera Society.
Carnes said she’s exploring the legal question of whether her firing violated Maryland’s CROWN Act, which expanded the definition of race discrimination in employment to include hairstyles. University of Baltimore law professor Nancy Modesitt said Maryland’s employment antidiscrimination law applies only to companies and groups with at least 15 employees.
The Baltimore Rock Opera Society, meanwhile, appears determined to push ahead. Its next play, “The Orb of Pondering,” is scheduled to premiere Oct. 30 at Zion Church of the City of Baltimore.
Before then, the organization will host a “State of the BROS” meeting on Oct. 9 at the group’s headquarters at 2950 Loch Raven Road in Better Waverly.
“At this meeting the board plans to share a deeper background on the current BROS Org Structure, our operating budget and immediate capital needs, our financial stance, explain how building ownership operates, and MORE,” according to the email to volunteers.
For Carnes, all she can do is ponder what could have been.
“I wish I had actually been given the opportunity to do the job BROS hired me to do,” she said.
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