LEWISTON — L/A Arts is slated to end this past fiscal year with a slight surplus, an improvement from the year before when it faced a $45,000 deficit.
Consulting Director Louise Rosen said the Lewiston-Auburn arts nonprofit “made huge strides” in the past year, even despite losing the $75,000 state grant it had been counting on.
Rosen said L/A Arts was able to improve its finances, thanks to other grant funding and increases in individual donations and business support. It also made changes to the way it operates.
“We worked hard to reduce expenses and to really look carefully at the programming and how it could be made more efficient,” she said. “How to do more and to do more efficiently.”
L/A Arts’ fiscal year ended June 30. Its accountant is finalizing its year-end numbers now.
L/A Arts’ new fiscal year started July 1.
“I would say that we’re very optimistic,” Rosen said.
Among its projects this year are:
• A collaboration with the Tree Street Youth Center to create a gallery at the center, with young people trained to be docents there and at L/A Arts’ own gallery;
• The creation of a community stage that can accommodate film viewings;
• A collaboration with Lewiston High School summer students to create a temporary mural on Lisbon Street; and
• A program to help Lewiston-Auburn “makers” who can become artisan-based manufacturers in the area.
Although L/A Arts has some funding for its projects, it is seeking more. The community stage, for example, has gotten $7,500 in pledges or donations, as well as the donation of a high-end video projector, but the project will need another $10,000 to $25,000 to become a reality.
Rosen said L/A Arts also plans to try again for the state grant it lost last year. The three-year matching grant would help L/A Arts move forward with its Cultural Plan, a long-term strategy to increase culture and creativity in Lewiston-Auburn.
Rosen said L/A Arts will be the only organization eligible to apply this year, though it was also the only one eligible last year.
“We have been invited to apply this year,” she said. “We’ve met with the (Maine) Arts Commission. We’ve received some very good feedback about how to direct this application quite specifically toward what they’re looking for.”
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