Emily Logue and Linda LeBoeuf of Montgomery
As many in Montgomery Township know, Montgomery Center for the Arts (MCA) has served as a first-rate regional resource for arts exhibitions, performances, activities, events, summer camp and classes for citizens of all ages for more than 13 years.
Ensconced in the lovely setting of the 1860 House, a dowager jewel of a farmhouse leased for a negligible fee from the Township, and sited on nearly four unsullied acres of field and stream, MCA’s devoted inhabitants have quietly stayed the course of its mission to foster the pursuit and process of art-making in this unique and tranquil spot, scarcely making a ripple on the landscape, yet affording enormous pleasure to many, many artists, students, and audiences in the Montgomery community and beyond. Few arts centers are blessed with such a bucolic setting.
What many of you may not know is that an unfortunate irony of the very circumstances of its home and hearth, what makes MCA a treasured retreat and source of artistic inspiration and joy, is also an undeniable and substantive reason for its current moribund state.
Charming as it is to look at and work in, the inevitable deteriorating structural issues endemic to many a nineteenth century building – ancient, leaky windows and strained gutters, water-logged plaster, inefficient heating systems – make for enormously expensive fuel, utility, and repair bills, and, more to the point at the 1860 House, require vigilant, ever more costly attention to ensure a solid and safe foundation and structure. The terms of its lease attribute the responsibility for these expenses to MCA.
A second, equally substantive problem, lies in the deterioration of the infrastructure of the organization itself. In recent years, an inconstant board of trustees comprising well-intentioned, variously motivated, and unevenly board-sophisticated individuals has led to a very real lack of stability at the helm of the organization. It is the responsibility of MCA’s board of trustees to adhere to its mission and articles of incorporation, requiring that it generate general operating funds for insurance, salaries, instructor fees, supplies, and so on.
Any organization will suffer from rapidly shifting priorities and styles on the part of management; sometimes it can limp along with these injuries for years, as MCA has, bouncing back from time to time, then squeaking by on the strength of its charms, the beauty and bounty it offers, or merely by force of habit. Ultimately, however, if the board of trustees cannot or does not engage the community to work together actively and with some degree of passion and commitment to the organization’s vision, and to ensure its sustainable financial security, the organization will expire. Montgomery Center for the Arts is no exception.
Many of you have heard that MCA is on the verge of losing its home and closing up shop. Last October, the entire remaining most recent board of trustees resigned. Having raised no funds in the course of its year-long tenure to underwrite expenses, including the baseline (substandard) salaries of its one full-time and two part-time staff members, and nearly $20,000 in debt (owed mainly to local utilities companies and two former employees who had deferred payment during hard times at MCA some years earlier) the board left MCA perched on the precipice of filing for bankruptcy.
There are those among us who are willing to shepherd MCA through a new beginning, starting with the development of a new, vigorous board of trustees who will in turn steer MCA on its mission to enhance and enrich the artistic and cultural life of its community. It is impossible to believe that others in this extraordinarily fortunate, well-educated, and diverse region would not come forward to preserve this unique cultural asset.
The first step in the rebuilding process is to ask for your help. MCA needs the enthusiasm, participation and financial support of the community in order to stay afloat and to thrive; it will need funds and volunteers; it will need artists and teachers; but first and foremost we need to know now: Do you need MCA?
Emily Logue and Linda LeBoeuf are acting co-presidents of the Board of Trustees of the Montgomery Center for the Arts.
