LEWISTON — L/A Arts is laying of its employees two months after the organization’s director said the nonprofit had “made huge strides” financially.
Board Chairman Jim Parakilas said Wednesday that the area’s premier arts organization hasn’t been able to bring in enough money to support itself.
“It’s been an accumulation of things,” he told the Lewiston Sun Journal said.
L/A Arts has a full-time consulting director and a part-time programs manager. It usually has a full-time business manager as well, but that position is vacant and the organization has been using a part-time bookkeeper to fill in the gaps.
L/A Arts will be moving from its longtime location at 221 Lisbon St. Google photo
The director and programs manager will leave in the coming months. The business manager position will not be filled. It is unclear what will happen with the bookkeeper.
In place of full-time employees, the 44-year-old organization will use volunteers, board members and independent contractors to keep its programs running.
The organization also plans to move out of its office space on Lisbon Street in Lewiston. The board has not yet decided on a new location.
The nonprofit focuses on arts in education, community arts events and arts agency initiatives, like the development of a Lewiston-Auburn cultural plan.
L/A Arts has struggled financially in recent years. Tax forms filed between 2013 and 2015, the latest years available, show the organization often ran a deficit.
Two months ago, Louise Rosen, L/A Arts’ consulting director, told the Sun Journal it that had been able to improve its finances despite the loss of a $75,000 Maine Arts Commission grant, thanks to other grants, increases in individual donations and business support and changes to the way it operates.
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