Archive for Friday, November 21, 2008
Center stage: New LAC director takes helm
David Leamon started this week as new executive director of the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H. The arts center spent almost a year searching to fill the position.
November 21, 2008
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John Henry/Journal-World Photo.Deborah Bettinger, center in the green, positions Claire Sanner, 11, during the Kansas Nutcracker rehearsal Saturday, Oct. 25, 2008 at the Lawrence Arts Center.
David Leamon has spent much of this week looking at paperwork in his new file cabinet.
He admits there are files that he doesn’t really understand yet.
“I’m reading everything, and looking at everything — and asking questions almost endlessly,” he says.
Leamon started Monday as the new executive director of the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H. It’s been more than 11 months since a full-time director has been in charge there.
He takes over at a time of uncertainty at the center. The economy is threatening a budget that hasn’t been consistently in the black in recent years. And the newness of the current building, opened in 2001, is starting to wear off.
Arts center leaders are hoping to turn a built-from-the-ground-up organization into an efficient business that is more responsive to the needs of local and regional artists.
“Moving into that building was a giant leap for the organization for its future,” says Michael Maude, chairman of the arts center’s board of directors. “But we didn’t plan well for being in that space.”
Solid footing
A big piece of that, Maude says, is securing finances.
He says the center’s budget has been flittering between being in the black and in the red the past few years. The last fiscal year, which ended July 31, left the approximately $1.5 million budget around $72,000 in the hole.
A reserve fund has allowed the center to continue operation, but the economic downtown has added concern over the health of the budget.
The center recently hired Sandy Sanders as development director. Both Maude and Leamon have hopes Sanders can reach out to arts supporters to shore up the center’s finances.
Maude, who owns Partners in Philanthropy, a consulting business for nonprofit organizations, says he’s convinced the potential recession doesn’t have to mean cutbacks at the center.
In tough economic times, he says, “people continue to give to organizations they’re already supporting. Sometimes, they give more.”
The arts center’s building and property are owned by the city of Lawrence, and the city pays insurance and utilities. The city also pays for a maintenance position, about $25,000 in scholarships for the disadvantaged to attend classes and has provided some money for technology improvements.
The rest of the budget comes from private contributions, class tuition and ticket sales. An operational endowment of around $125,000 was formed to honor longtime director Ann Evans, who retired at the end of 2007, and Leamon is hoping to add to that amount.
He realizes the importance of fundraising. Any future program — or building — expansion will depend on it.
“I think it would be great to rekindle that excitement (of opening the building in 2001),” he says. “It’ll make the old thing look new. We’ll have new programs — but that all takes fundraising.”
Varied programs
The arts center has its hand in much of the arts spectrum.
Programs include youth and adult visual arts classes, amateur and professional dance, drama, two galleries, a preschool and a gallery store. In addition, it hosts events by outside organizations.
The center opened in 1974 in the old Carnegie Library building at Ninth and New Hampshire streets. It was under the direction of Evans, who served for 33 years.
Leamon does have a bachelor’s degree in art, but most of his career has been spent in library administration. He directed the library in San Antonio before moving to the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library in 1992. He retired from there in 2005.
Most notably in Topeka, he helped build a new facility that opened in 2002 and is widely respected as one of the best in the region. Leamon also helped re-establish a foundation for the library and helped raise around $4 million for its activities.
He’s hoping to have similar success at the Lawrence Arts Center, which he says he’s admired from afar for years.
Among his priorities in the first year will be to complete a strategic plan to hone the arts center’s programs. Maude says the result may be both an addition and reduction of programs.
“I think it’s some of both,” he says. “I think we really need to look hard at our programs.”
Rick Mitchell, gallery and special programs director, agrees that fundraising will be key to preserving and adding programs.
“There’s always room for improvement,” he says. “What we’re looking at now is working on our whole development side. That has been not what it ought to be in the past.”
Ric Averill, the drama program director and another long-term arts center staffer, says he hopes Leamon will be able to turn the center into a regional resource.
“The staff is very hopeful ... that David’s tenure will allow us to step up our marketing to the level where the entire community, state, region and even nation will see what an exceptional model the arts center can be as a gathering place for the entire community to celebrate a life in the arts,” Averill says.
For now, though, Leamon is starting with baby steps, trying to learn about the center’s operations before he makes any major decisions about its future.
He says he’s learned a lot this week by meeting with program directors. Everyone he’s talked to, he says, has told him they love their jobs.
“It’s a wonderful place to be,” Leamon says. “That’s why I’m here.”
— Entertainment editor Jon Niccum contributed to this story.
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21 November 2008
at 7:18 a.m.
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absolutelyridiculous (Anonymous) says…
This is something we CAN'T do without, especially now. The arts have a major role in keeping a civilized society…civilized.
21 November 2008
at 7:36 a.m.
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Take_a_letter_Maria (Anonymous) says…
When I read the headline, I thought Junkyard had sold the athletic clubs.
21 November 2008
at 8:14 a.m.
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Take_a_letter_Maria (Anonymous) says…
Way to change that headline and make my previous comment look stupid.
21 November 2008
at 8:16 a.m.
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wysiwyg69 (Anonymous) says…
Larry, I agree . If it cannot make let it go. I would rather have lower taxes than an arts center. if certain people think that 'they' need it let 'them'' pay for it.
21 November 2008
at 8:19 a.m.
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Ward (Anonymous) says…
How does a nonprofit consultant as chairman of the board of directors allow the institution to get to this point? That seems like a story on its own.Other arts institutions are facing similar issues:http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-mocaletter20-2008nov20,0,5599508.story( I realize the scale of MOCA is like Paul Bunyan to a moth)
21 November 2008
at 8:43 a.m.
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edjayhawk (Anonymous) says…
I never see any poor or working class people using the center, so why should they be taxed?
21 November 2008
at 8:50 a.m.
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SettingTheRecordStraight (Anonymous) says…
De-fund the LAC. If private entities want to support it with grants and contributions, let them. The city has a moral imperative to not confiscate our incomes to pay for this unneeded luxury.
21 November 2008
at 9:11 a.m.
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edjayhawk (Anonymous) says…
Settingtherecord is right. Why give public support for an elitist institution that is targeted for the highly educated or wealthy, and are the only ones who use it?
21 November 2008
at 10:22 a.m.
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mdev (Anonymous) says…
The LAC is not an institution that targets the highly educated or wealthy. The majority of students who attend classes at the LAC are on scholarship/ financial aid. The requests for aid is so great and that is the main reason the LAC needs funds. Art saves lives!
21 November 2008
at 10:28 a.m.
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edjayhawk (Anonymous) says…
It may not target them but thats who use it, with the exception of some of the classes. How does art save lives? How many of the students come from low academic achievement?
21 November 2008
at 10:34 a.m.
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mdev (Anonymous) says…
It is not who uses it, plain and simple. Do your research before jumping to conclusion about an organization that does amazing things for families in the Lawrence area: rich, poor, black, white- it serves more people in the community then you think
21 November 2008
at 10:54 a.m.
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Confrontation (Anonymous) says…
“Art saves lives!”Yes. I once saw a sculpture perform a hemicorporectomy on a little person with severe trauma to the pelvis.
21 November 2008
at 11:13 a.m.
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9070811 (Anonymous) says…
The Arts Center provides a wonderful preschool at a very, very affordable cost; and also offers aid and scholorships to families who need it. The preschool uses tons of recycling materials so that it doesn't have to purchase pricey art materials. It utilizes parent and community involvment. They also have fabulous caring volunteer teachers and paid head teachers who support individual growth for each child. Many parents or guardians would not be able to send their children to such a wonderful learning environment, to prepare for elementary school, if not for the Arts Center.
21 November 2008
at 11:25 a.m.
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SettingTheRecordStraight (Anonymous) says…
No one's saying the art center isn't nice. No one's saying it doesn't offer something of value.The question we always need to ask ourselves, however, is: Does the government have a right to confiscate money from the masses to pay for programs it has no business being involved with?
21 November 2008
at 11:36 a.m.
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hippograf (Anonymous) says…
Could you not then make the argument that Eagle Bend Golf Course should not be city supported also? I believe the Arts Center has tried over recent years to reach out to low income underserved populations in many ways. That is probably part of the reason they are in the financial situation they are in, giving so many kids financial aid when they can't support it. What has the Board been doing all these months while looking for a new Executive Director? I agree with Ward that with a fundraising consultant as the Chairman of the Board, why are they in the place they are in? Who has fiscal responsibility and what have they been doing to build themselves as less dependent on the city and more dependent on themselves? Every non profit in town is facing this situation, and that is why the board is so important as a resource for the staff. Where is the plan to get through the tough times?
21 November 2008
at 11:59 a.m.
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Luxor (Anonymous) says…
“Art saves lives?” Oh my god.
21 November 2008
at 1:25 p.m.
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SettingTheRecordStraight (Anonymous) says…
Eagle Bend needs to have its funding removed as well.
21 November 2008
at 2:01 p.m.
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Luxor (Anonymous) says…
Given all of the comments about Eagle Bend and LAC, obviously people want funding shut off. How do we do this? Who can people talk to?
21 November 2008
at 2:21 p.m.
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streetking (Anonymous) says…
cutting funding to the LAC is a retarded idea, unless you are shooting to make Lawrence another lame, boring Kansas town with no culture. If you don't want to support what makes this town so awesome, why don't you move somewhere lame, like Colby, or Mcpherson, we don't want your unsupportive, dry attitudes bringing down our great town.
21 November 2008
at 2:58 p.m.
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Luxor (Anonymous) says…
The LAC isn't really about culture. It's about crappy ceramic bowls and bad plays. I have nothing against it other than I have to pay for it and I'd rather have the potholes fixed.
21 November 2008
at 3:24 p.m.
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edjayhawk (Anonymous) says…
Surely there are enough grants, foundations, trusts, etc.. to fund it without public dollars. Have they ever done a capital campaign like the United Way?Whenever I go by there I see expensive European and Japanese cars parked nearby…
21 November 2008
at 4:34 p.m.
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9070811 (Anonymous) says…
No business doing preschool? Community centers have preschools…this is a community center. Churches have preschools, focusing on JC, like the Arts Center focuses on arts. Should they not be in the preschool “business” either?
21 November 2008
at 5:49 p.m.
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9070811 (Anonymous) says…
Oh, Mooch, I wish someone would give you flowers.