The Baltimore Rock Opera Society, known to its community as BROS, has named Kelly Carnes as its new Executive Director, effective September 8, 2026.
Carnes brings more than 21 years of experience in arts leadership, nonprofit strategy, communications, fundraising, operations, and creative community building. She joins BROS at a pivotal moment as the organization continues developing its first permanent headquarters at 2950 Loch Raven Road and strengthening the infrastructure needed to support its next chapter.
Founded in 2007, BROS creates original live rock theater through a collaborative, volunteer-powered model that brings together musicians, performers, writers, designers, builders, technicians, crafters, and artists from across the Baltimore region. As Executive Director, Carnes will work with the Board of Directors, staff, Artistic Council, volunteers, funders, and community partners to advance the organization’s long-term sustainability while preserving the unique, eclectic energy that powers the BROS team and community.
“BROS is an organization with a rare creative engine: generous, inventive, deeply collaborative, and unlike anything else in the region,” said Naomi Davidoff, Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim Executive Director. “After an extensive search for a leader with the right combination of moxie and grit, we’re thrilled to have someone with Kelly’s experience and spirit taking the helm at such an important moment in its evolution.”
Carnes’s background includes leadership and communications work with major cultural institutions such as the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center, Planet Word, and Dupont Underground, and she currently serves as Executive Director of the arts nonprofit Heard. She specializes in nonprofit arts organizations, public relations, leadership, and creative event production. She is also an entrepreneur and the founder of Carnes&Co., a communications agency that has served more than 50 clients across the arts, culture, nonprofit, public affairs, and mission-driven sectors. Her experience includes fundraising strategy, media relations, donor communications, public speaking, event production, board development, operational planning, and building systems that help creative organizations grow without losing their identity.
“BROS is wonderfully weird in the best possible way,” Carnes said. “It is a place where people build monsters, bands, worlds, friendships, stories, skills, and impossible ideas. My job is not to tame that, but unleash it. That means building sustainable systems, diversifying revenue, strengthening communications, expanding support, and making sure the infrastructure beneath this extraordinary creative community is bold enough to match its energy and secure its future.”
In her new role, Carnes will focus on fundraising, oversee programs, communications, organizational systems, HQ development, earned revenue opportunities, and expanded partnerships. Her early priorities will include supporting BROS’s capital needs, strengthening donor and funder relationships, increasing public visibility, and helping the organization build the operational foundation required for a sustainable future.
“BROS has already proven that Baltimore and beyond will show up for bold, original, innovative art,” Carnes said. “The next chapter is about building the capacity to keep saying yes to that ambition: loudly, safely, sustainably, and with the same creative heart that brought this community together.”
The Baltimore Rock Opera Society is a Baltimore-based nonprofit performing arts organization dedicated to creating original live rock theater through a collaborative, volunteer-driven model. Since 2007, BROS has brought together artists, musicians, writers, designers, builders, performers, technicians, crafters, and volunteers to create large-scale original productions, concerts, workshops, and community events unlike anything else in the region.
For more information, visit www.baltimorerockopera.org.
Cat Litten
Marketing and Communications Director
cat@baltimorerockopera.org
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