Budget shortfall brings change to the Mendocino Art Center
MENDOCINO, CA >> The Mendocino Art Center’s Board of Directors has issued a public statement concerning the financial status of the sixty-four-year-old non-profit. The board’s message is straightforward. “The MAC is grappling with a shortfall.” Fundraising goals for 2022 were not met, and the board is extending an “opportunity for a $25,000 match to June of 2023.”
The statement added that the Art Center’s management, Board of Directors, and Community Advisory Committee would work to develop “a sustainable direction and Strategic Plan.” The message also announced that some programs, such as Fine Art, Jewelry, and Fiber Arts, would be “temporarily downsized.” However, the Gallery would remain open under the direction of the Exhibitions Committee, composed of a board member and Art Center volunteers.
According to Martin Betz, Interim Executive Director, 25% of the Art Center’s budget relies upon donations. “We will have to whittle down that 25% to make it sustainable,” he said. “We will be making drastic changes coming up,” he added. “We need five to six people to carry the dollar amount of fundraising with gifts in the $10,000 to $20,000 range. We don’t have that,” he said.
Martin Betz came a year ago to the Center for the position of Director of Arts and Education and has had a successful career running various art museums in southern California and Hawaii. What drew him to Mendocino Art Center was his retirement from the Temecula Cultural Arts complex and his discovery of an intriguing side connection with an artist who had been a part of the Art Center.
He had studied fresco in Maine. His instructor, Lucien Bloc, was part of the Art Center and had also once served as Diego Rivera’s colorist. The other instructor, her husband Stephen Demitroff, had been Diego’s plasterer. Over the years, the couple painted many United States murals.
Betz now has to put all his skills to work. He said, “The budget is $1.2 million a year, which
is $3,000 daily. The small population in the area can’t support the Center anymore.” Large donors with bequests no longer respond to fundraising drives. Many artists and donors connected to the Art Center have aged out, and younger artists cannot afford to live in Mendocino and maintain the Art Center’s legacy as an art haven. Its volunteer base has dried up as well.
Betz confirmed that “we have a cultural crisis with fundraising and the Art Center potentially closing if we can’t afford to stay running.” He noted that 50% of staffing was lost during the COVID crisis and that no positions have been filled since then. Betz believes that since many art organizations are in trouble, “a collective strategy would be a good one” for non-profit art groups to work together for funding sources.
There are bright spots in the Art Center’s recent outreach to the public. Its
Youth Program, currently an art class for toddlers and a separate class for ages nine through twelve, is successful and growing by word-of-mouth. Ceramics classes are very popular with younger artists, and the Center recently hired Seth Charles as the new Artists Ceramics Coordinator.
Betz noted that although the Art Center has a large facility for ceramics and the classes are full, the studios are in need of upgrades that have never been made. He also hoped that in the future, the Art Center could reopen its metalsmithing and blacksmithing program since it still owned all the tools. He added that the Center still had a foundry as well.
The artists-in-residence program still has plenty of applicants to draw from. In the last round of applications, fifty qualified artists vied for five available slots. Most of these artists are fresh out of art schools and looking for their art niche. They pay rent and buy their own art supplies. They then have free access to the Art Center’s studios and will participate in a showing after their stay. Some also teach at the center; others dedicate their time completely to art exploration and creation.
Betz says the Art Center has an important role in the local communities. “Coming out of COVID, with all the emotional and health damage that it’s done to communities, I think the arts is a great way to heal yourself. A lot of communities are in need of something to make them feel healthier. I think art has the potential to do that for a lot of people.”
He continued, “Even if it’s just something you come in and do on the weekends, You don’t have to be a professional artist to be involved in the Art Center. You can be anyone who wants to use his hands to make something creative and make yourself feel better. That’s why ceramics is so popular. It’s almost therapeutic.”
Betz said that the public does not seem to respond to traditional marketing for the Art Center. What does work best is wordof-mouth, flyers sent out through the schools, and advertising on radio. As an example, he described the recent public response to a “free family night” for parents to bring in children of any age and do a project with them. Forty people came for the first session, many walking in without registering.
For the second session, over sixty people came, most from the Fort Bragg area.
Betz said that the Mendocino Art Center had ridden a long wave of popularity since its founding in 1959. However, interest in it and its cultural influence has faded over time. Now, he said, “it is at a crossroads and needs to go in a different direction.” New generations are unaware of the Art Center, and the Center is working on a plan to provide low-cost and free classes that communities have asked for.
The Mendocino Art Center Board of Directors is open to any “thoughts and suggestions” the public might have regarding changes to re-vitalize the Art Center. Readers may contact them at www. mendocinoartcenter.org.