EAC Meets With the Press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 2013

MEDIA CONTACT: Paula Danoff, [email protected]

(847) 475-5300, ext.206

 

EVANSTON ART CENTER (EAC) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SPEAKS WITH PRESS AND ALDERMEN AT PUBLIC LIBRARY

On Monday, July 15, EAC Executive Director Norah Diedrich and Director of Development & Communications Paula Danoff Outlined 8 Points About EAC’s Plans for the Future

 

As a response to a recent flurry of petitions, Letters to the Editor, emails, and news stories regarding the possible sale of the former Harley Clarke home and the impact it will have on EAC’s future (EAC has operated out of the Clarke home since 1967) EAC Executive Director called for a meeting with the Press. A Press packet included an historical overview of EAC, summaries of a recent architectural space projection and fundraising campaign, and ten Points of Clarification. The ten points are printed below:

  • In 2007, with the recognition that its lease on 2603 Sheridan Road would expire in the year 2021, Evanston Art Center (EAC) Board members and key staff began serious discussions about the need for a larger, more updated facility. In order to sustain EAC well into the future, remain at the vanguard of contemporary arts offerings, and better serve its various communities, a 21st Century facility will be needed.
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  • Last year, EAC adopted a Strategic Plan. Goal Six of this plan states: Provide facilities that are well designed, visually appealing, sustainable, and supportive of the Evanston Art Center’s programming.
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  • Over the last 2 ½ years, EAC’s facility search has included due diligence efforts that have been primarily paid for from EAC’s financial reserves with additional generous support from the Evanston Community Foundation and the Field Foundation. The architecture firm Wheeler Kearns was employed to complete a space needs projection, Nike Whitcomb and Associates was employed to complete a fundraising feasibility study, and EAC is currently working with a team of financial analysts through a generous grant from the Taproot Foundation. A brief summary of results from the architects and fundraising consultant are in your packets. 
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  • EAC staff and Trustees are working in conjunction with City of Evanston officials in an attempt to identify a suitable building(s) or site for the organization’s future home. 
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  • While all of us at EAC sincerely appreciate community support, we want all of you to know that we have not instigated any of the various petitions, newspaper editorials, yard signs, or letters and emails sent to City officials from community members and current or former students or faculty that claim we will be “thrown out” of the building if and when the building is sold. Any yard signs or flyers left on the premises of the Evanston Art Center with messages not previously approved by EAC will be removed and discarded. 
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  • Individuals who are not current students, faculty or staff of EAC are not allowed in any areas in the 2603 Sheridan Road building other than the public galleries. 
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  • EAC serves thousands of individuals of all ages, backgrounds and levels of artistic ability in the following arts-related programmatic areas: arts classes, exhibitions, public programs and discussion and community outreach initiatives. The galleries are free and open to the public 7 days a week. 
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  • EAC awards needs-based scholarships to adults and youth for art classes, supports other nonprofits with EAC class certificates, discounts tuition for Evanston residents, is involved in numerous community outreach initiatives like last year’s Youth Film Festival and Street Arts programming, and participates in several Evanston street fairs annually. 
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  • EAC has occupied the 2603 Sheridan Road location since 1966/67and is grateful to the City of Evanston for the opportunity to engage in a creative adaptive reuse of the building and provide arts programming for the Evanston community and many others. Additionally, EAC rents studio space at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center for its figure sculpture, printmaking and jewelry studios, which incurs a rent and mandatory outreach expense of approximately $50,000 annually. 
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  • EAC was founded in 1929 and incorporated in 1947 as a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization. With a Board of Trustees currently numbering 19, EAC has an operating budget of approximately $1.2 M and observes best practices in all of its operations. 

Please visit EAC’s web site for updates on EAC’s pending relocation: www.evanstonartcenter.org.

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