News Hospitality Autopsy of a dissolution: Arts Council opts to close, disburse assets
Autopsy of a dissolution: Arts Council opts to close, disburse assets
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By Karen Gentry | MiBiz
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The Arts Council of Greater Grand Rapids had operated like a third-party organization for various arts nonprofits and filled almost a chamber of commerce function, putting on seminars and workshops on topics like social media, as shown above. The council also put on arts exhibits at its gallery space. COURTESY IMAGES |
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WEST MICHIGAN — Sometimes you have to know when to hold and when to fold.
After four decades of promoting arts and culture, the leaders of the Arts Council of Greater Grand Rapids made the tough but unanimous decision to throw in the cards. Faced with a difficult climate for state funding and the growth in its member groups’ own capabilities, the Arts Council in mid-October chose to dissolve its organization and disburse its assets to member arts and cultural organizations.
Rather than being chastised as failures, the leaders are being held up as strategic visionaries who chose the best use of the local resources rather than the survival of the organization.
“A lot of people see this as a courageous move,” said Caroline Older, executive director of the Arts Council since 2008. “People really respect the history and the role the Arts Council has played in the community. It’s also good to know when to close.”
Despite a 90-percent reduction in state funding since 2002 and the stock market tumble in 2008, the Arts Council was able to stabilize financially with significant assets of more than $800,000.
“Ultimately, what the board and I believe in strongly is that those assets should be returned to the arts and cultural community, not for our operating needs,” Older said.
The Arts Council of Greater Grand Rapids will disburse its assets — likely by June 2012 — as a short-living granting institution. About half of the council’s assets are held by the Grand Rapids Community Foundation.
Marcia Rapp, VP of programs at GRCF, said it’s important for organizations to consider the future and whether they are still relevant. She described Older as a “very strategic and great thinker” and commended the gutsy decision to dissolve the Arts Council, as well as the classy way in which it was done.
“They really stuck to their mission and recognized they had positioned the arts to be successful in the community,” Rapp told MiBiz.
Older said the strategic planning started with an outside consultant in January 2011. The consultant helped evaluate future goals and brought the organization’s challenges to the forefront. Older noted it’s particularly difficult to be a third-party organization, like a United Way for the arts.
The Arts Council of Greater Grand Rapids was founded in 1967 as a fundraiser for large arts organizations in Grand Rapids such as the Grand Rapids Art Museum and the Grand Rapids Public Museum. In 1969, the council started Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts as a fundraiser. Festival later split from the Arts Council in 2002 to become its own 501(c)(3). The larger organizations became more sophisticated with their own professional marketing and development staffs.
“The Arts Council, over time, represented more mid-level and smaller size organizations, although the bigger organizations were still members,” said Older, noting the council took on more of a chamber of commerce role offering financial, strategic and advocacy support for members.
Susan Jones, immediate past president of the Arts Council of Greater Grand Rapids and marketing professor at Ferris State University, said the council reached a mature state and came to the conclusion that its mission was complete, although the decision was bittersweet. Jones said other arts organizations will still be around to produce or perform, own buildings and venues, or put on art shows, theater or musical events.
“With the capabilities of our arts organizations today, the best conclusion was to spend out our assets,” said Jones, who has been involved with the council on and off for 20 years.
The 81 members of the Arts Council of Greater Grand Rapids include a range of organizations from hand bell choirs to the Meijer Gardens and the Grand Rapids Symphony. Jones said the arts organizations are very intrigued about what the grant program is going to look like as they anticipate applying for the grants. Older said grants will be unrestricted and can be used for operational funding.
Other local dissolutions
Janet DeYoung, executive director of the Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area, said the current economic environment is placing stress on organizations that must deal with increased demand and fewer resources.
“Whenever an organization has made a difference in a community, we need to celebrate that and not see it as a failure,” DeYoung said. “Sometimes those things happen with changes in the environment.”
In the Holland area about three years ago, leaders of HEDCOR, an economic development organization, felt it had accomplished its mission and dissolved. DeYoung said HEDCOR’s assets were gifted to the community foundation.
“We appointed an advisory committee. Members of that board decided where would be good uses of the resources of that fund,” DeYoung said. “The mission continued, but the form changed a little bit.”
The merger of the Macatawa Greenway Partnership and the Outdoor Discovery Center in 2009 is an example of two organizations on solid financial footing that felt they could better serve the community and gain efficiencies by becoming one organization, according to DeYoung.
A radically new environment means all organizations need to be innovative and creative to preserve their mission, DeYoung says. She said there is now a blurring of the sectors.
“There’s people in the private sector doing social good, and there are nonprofits who have a profit-making arm of what they do,” DeYoung said. “Unincorporated groups are doing great things. I think we’ll see some real different models of how community good is done.”
