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Center of attention
by Outspoken on Fri Aug 01, 2008 4:26 am
Center of attention
The Chocolate Church Arts Center needs millions to renovate the building to historic standards.
By BOB KEYES
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
BATH — As many as three dozen artists will scatter across Bath on Saturday to create paintings of their favorite locales, then sell their work that evening at an auction to benefit the Chocolate Church Arts Center.
The Paint Bath & More fund-raiser is expected to generate between $4,000 and $5,000 for the downtown arts center.
The timing couldn't be better.
As he prepares for its 2008-09 season, the arts center's executive director, Roo Dunn, fears that the economic downturn and the high price of heating oil will affect ticket sales and the number of performances.
But the larger and most pressing issue is the need for major renovations to the 161-year wooden building and its stately brown belfry, which towers over the riverside city at a height of almost four stories. Over the years, the belfry has separated from the main building, and now lists about 17 inches to the north-northeast.
Concern over the belfry and the 3,000-plus-pound bell it houses threatens the ability of the Chocolate Church to function as a self-sustaining arts center and may force the center's board to choose between scheduling programming or fixing the building, said Michael Barndollar, president of the board of trustees.
"What a lot of people don't realize is that our nonprofit (organization) loses money practically on every show that we produce in that building. We have to raise money to offset the losses, which is money that can't go into maintaining the building," Barndollar said. "We do not have the resources to do what's needed for that building."
The center operates with an annual budget of about $350,000, and does not have an endowment. It relies on tickets sales, donations, grants and fundraisers for income.
In addition to the leaning belfry, the building's board-and-batten siding is rotted in many places. The roof leaks, the building has virtually no insulation, and its boilers are outdated and inefficient, Dunn said.
Those issues have taken on urgency.
The belfry suffered damage during the 2007 Patriots Day storm, and the increase in the cost of heating oil makes adding insulation and repairing the building's siding more important than ever, Dunn said. Last winter, the center used about 8,500 gallons of heating oil.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=202481&ac=PHnws
Photos By Jack Milton/Staff Photographer
The Chocolate Church Arts Center needs millions to renovate the building to historic standards.
By BOB KEYES
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
BATH — As many as three dozen artists will scatter across Bath on Saturday to create paintings of their favorite locales, then sell their work that evening at an auction to benefit the Chocolate Church Arts Center.
The Paint Bath & More fund-raiser is expected to generate between $4,000 and $5,000 for the downtown arts center.
The timing couldn't be better.
As he prepares for its 2008-09 season, the arts center's executive director, Roo Dunn, fears that the economic downturn and the high price of heating oil will affect ticket sales and the number of performances.
But the larger and most pressing issue is the need for major renovations to the 161-year wooden building and its stately brown belfry, which towers over the riverside city at a height of almost four stories. Over the years, the belfry has separated from the main building, and now lists about 17 inches to the north-northeast.
Concern over the belfry and the 3,000-plus-pound bell it houses threatens the ability of the Chocolate Church to function as a self-sustaining arts center and may force the center's board to choose between scheduling programming or fixing the building, said Michael Barndollar, president of the board of trustees.
"What a lot of people don't realize is that our nonprofit (organization) loses money practically on every show that we produce in that building. We have to raise money to offset the losses, which is money that can't go into maintaining the building," Barndollar said. "We do not have the resources to do what's needed for that building."
The center operates with an annual budget of about $350,000, and does not have an endowment. It relies on tickets sales, donations, grants and fundraisers for income.
In addition to the leaning belfry, the building's board-and-batten siding is rotted in many places. The roof leaks, the building has virtually no insulation, and its boilers are outdated and inefficient, Dunn said.
Those issues have taken on urgency.
The belfry suffered damage during the 2007 Patriots Day storm, and the increase in the cost of heating oil makes adding insulation and repairing the building's siding more important than ever, Dunn said. Last winter, the center used about 8,500 gallons of heating oil.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=202481&ac=PHnws
Photos By Jack Milton/Staff Photographer
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
