Talks continue while Waldron remains open

Last month, the Bloomington Area Arts Council said it needed $120,000 by March 1 to keep the John Waldron Arts Center open. It’s been a week since March 1 came and went without the BAAC hitting that figure, and the doors remain open.

“At the moment, it’s business as usual,” events manager Lee Burckes said.

But business as usual comes at a cost.

“We currently have $150,000 in accounts payable,” said Executive Director Rob Hanrahan, meaning the BAAC owes that much for utilities and other expenses.

Jim Whitlatch, Board of trustees president, confirmed the figure but said selling the building to the city of Bloomington should take care of the problem. The BAAC is currently negotiating the deal with the city.

“As part of the transfer, we will be able to pay off much, if not all of that debt,” he said.
Whitlatch said at the time, closing “was a realistic concern.” In January, the BAAC laid off all its paid workers — including students performing work-study jobs — and replaced them with volunteers.

“Obviously, that saved a lot of money,”  Burckes said.

However, there are still bills to pay to keep the venue open. Hanrahan said the BAAC has communicated with all relevant companies via letter regarding the situation.

“Most of them have been very gracious about delaying payments,” he said.

The BAAC board of trustees, originally planned to meet 5 p.m. Tuesday will now meet at the same time Wednesday. To discuss a proposal — though neither Hanrahan nor Whitlatch could discuss the exact details until after it is agreed upon by the board — to turn over ownership and management to the city, with the stipulation that the Waldron remain an arts center.

“Technically, it is the Arts Council that is having financial trouble right now, not specifically the building itself, because the building isn’t actually a separate organization,” said Miah Michaelsen, assistant economic development director for the arts at City Hall.

“When one looks at the numbers of the actual cost of the facility, it’s less expensive place to operate than I think a lot of people thought ... The facility itself may not be particularly expensive. Once you start to put programming in it and hire additional staff to operate that, then that’s where you can have some financial challenges.”

Michaelsen was also the executive director of the BAAC before leaving for her current position and said the economy cannot be ignored as a factor.

“Certainly, this environment has been very challenging for a lot of organizations, not just arts organizations,”  Michaelsen said.

The city will likely maintain ownership, Maichaelsen said, but turn the management of the venue over to a third-party organization. She cited the Buskirk-Chumley Theater as an example — owned by the city, but operated by a non-profit organization, BCT Management, Inc.

Micahelsen said she would like to see work-study students return to the Waldron — both of this semester’s students who were working at the Waldron are currently working for her in the mayor’s office — but there is not enough structure for the positions during this transition period.

“I think the arts administration program wanted to make sure the students were somewhere where they at least had some supervision. ... If you’ve got an entirely volunteer-run organization, then your work-study students end up being the only paid staff, and what position can that put them in?” she said. “But I think that those positions are somewhat fluid and, should the arts council or some other entity have need and be able to take work-study again in that program, I think there’s some flexibility.”