Velvet Beyond the Rope
Filoli Center CEO talks about engaging a more diverse audience and how the historic estate plans to stay relevant
Kara Newport joined Filoli Center as chief executive officer in 2016, shortly after a revolt among volunteers and at a time when the historic house and garden in Woodside was little known beyond the Peninsula. Under her leadership, she has increased the number of visitors at the 654-acre estate and its Gilded Age mansion by nearly 80%, expanded hours and days of operation and opened up the grounds for tech retreats and weddings, bringing in an extra $1 million a year — 15% of the budget. The house and grounds are now open, but during the coronavirus closure, she had to cut 48% of the staff.
In February, she was honored with the 2020 Innovation in Hospitality Award from the San Mateo County/silicon Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau intended for “superstars” of the industry.
The estate, built in 1917 by famed architect Willis Polk for gold mining magnate
William Bowers Bourn II and his wife, Agnes, was deeded in 1975 by its second owners, William and Lurline Roth, to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It remains one of California’s finest remaining country estates.
On an early summer morning, we sat with Newport on a bench on the upper terrace — where she personally weeded a pathway during the closure — and talked about her challenges, accomplishments and hopes for the future. Q What has been the impact of COVID-19 here at Filoli?
A During COVID-19, Filoli had really lost its soul in some ways — its energy and spirit. It’s beautiful when it’s quiet, but I think it’s better when you hear joy and can see people having a wonderful time. So, to me, having more people enjoy Filoli, that’s what it’s all about. Q When you arrived, you opened up the estate with longer hours and some evenings and allowed visitors “off the path,” so to speak. Did you encounter resistance with staff? A In the beginning, I think it was more what I would call confusion — you
know, what does this really mean? How can this work? Because Filoli was working fine before. There was nothing really wrong with the way it was being done. There was just more opportunity and more ways of reaching out. And that’s really proven true after making some, what I would consider, small changes with hours and seasons and we’re open year-round now. And our attendance went up 100,000 in three years — from about 135,000 to 239,000. A I feel like you get a greater connection to the space. You feel more like you belong — a little bit like you’re breaking rules and that feels kind of like, I’m getting away with something, you know? And isn’t that fun?
Q
In what ways have you relaxed the rules?
A
Everything that is in front that a visitor could touch, it’s kind of OK if they touch it.
Q
Like what?
A
Like chairs. So instead of having historic chairs right out front, we have replica chairs. If you need to sit down as you go through the house, instead of sitting in this ugly chair in the corner, you can actually sit in a comfortable chair. We’re also changing a room back to its original intent — the gentleman’s lounge — where the men would have played pool and poker. And so we had a poker table set up and had instructions on how to play a hand of poker so people could sit and play a hand of poker. Now with COVID-19 we can’t do that. But that was the direction that we were going in.
Q
Tell me about the “soundscapes” you’ve added to the rooms inside.
A
If you go into the dining room, it sounds like there’s a party happening — clinking glasses and there’s a speech by Ida, Mr. Bourn’s sister, so there’s a little bit of theatrics to tell the story in a different way. We want people to feel welcome and that is one of our new ways of thinking. That has been really game-changing for us.
Q
When your hours were 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., it seems like this was really a place for “ladies who lunch.” What has changed since you expanded the hours?
A
Last year, our audience was very different than I think people would have thought it was. We are 53% people of color, which is super exciting. And we are young, our primary audience is 18 to 44.
And it’s not just locals. In fact, 60% of our audience comes from more than 20 miles away. I think that some of the impetus of the tourism award — we very quickly became a regional destination.
Q
Along with the Pride Festival and Chinese New Year events you launched last year, how are you engaging that more diverse audience?
A
We talk a lot about the staff in the house. And those are relatable stories to people. So when you tell just the stories of the Bourn family and the Roth family — not everyone’s wealthy white people. But when you start telling the stories of the Japanese butler that was in an internment camp, or the Chinese chef that the Roth family helped put his children through school, it’s different stories. At any given time, there were immigrants from five, six, seven different countries. And for us that really said that we’re a place where different people can come together and have a conversation. And that’s what’s going to keep us relevant going forward. Instead of just only looking at the past, we want to honor the past and preserve the past and make it relevant and accessible. Q Before you arrived, many volunteers were quitting and taking Filoli out of their wills because they didn’t like the new requirement that they had to sign a legal waiver promising they wouldn’t sue Filoli. How did you manage the aftermath of that? The number of volunteers has dropped from more than 1,000 to about 500, including since you arrived. A It’s been a process going through this for several years, but I think we’re really on a great path right now. We implemented minimum hours. And I think that’s actually the biggest shift. We had volunteers that were working six or eight hours a year. And that’s actually really hard. Because if you only come once a year, it’s hard for you to know what changes have happened. So with minimum hours and training (about 48 hours per year now) there were volunteers who just said, “You know, I can’t commit that much.”
Q
What’s your favorite spot at the estate?
A
If you walk a different way, that changes the question, you know what I mean? You can find a favorite nook here every season, every day. I am a big fan of this upper terrace. I feel like it’s the intersection of all three things in the house. You have a house on one side, you have a formality of the garden — you can see the formal garden from lots of perspectives — and then you can see nature, which is my personal thing. I’m an outdoor girl. So having a place where those things come together I think is pretty great.