You can’t save Clayworks without sustaining Clayworks

Believe it or not, the unfortunate and wholly avoidable tragedy of Baltimore Clayworks isn’t over yet. Though currently shut down, the organization’s leadership hasn’t yet filed for bankruptcy, leaving a slim possibility that the organization can be revived.

Even before arriving at Baltimore Clayworks in September 2016, when I was hired as the director of finance and administration, it was glaringly apparent after reviewing publicly available financial data that the organization was in dire straits. Barely a year later, the organization has shut down. And while there are different views about the hows and whys that led to this point, the fact is there wasn’t enough money coming in to outweigh expenses and sustain operations, and all of the efforts to avoid a shutdown were thwarted.

Plans developed by the Clayworks Board of Trustees to revitalize the organization included selling properties to a qualified nonprofit buyer for a substantive amount at over $3 million, paying off all outstanding financial obligations, establishing an operating reserve, and relocating operations to an undetermined location further into Baltimore.