BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts continues to face major financial struggles and large deficits - and some have wondered why they chose to put on Artscape this year.
The agency is once again hoping the city can supplement its funding, said new CEO Rachel Graham at a special meeting Thursday that was meant to explain the financial situation.
Graham told the team that information was just uncovered over the last few months that "significant financial documents" were missing, and the group had difficulty figuring out what their budget even was.
Graham said:
There's been a question in recent days of, why did you do Artscape? ... There's a couple of reasons.
She said they had already made commitments to sponsors who had paid into supporting Artscape, and there was also concern that people would think: "There goes BOPA, not supporting the arts community again."
Even on the low end, she pointed out, Artscape is a million-dollar festival. And this year, much of the event was rained out.
She said they didn't have a true understanding of the cost of Artscape until a few weeks earlier - but, "even if we had fully covered the cost of Artscape, we would still be at a deficit."
Board member Andrew Chaveas said the goal is to get to a "solvent place, a stable place" where the agency can truly help support arts and culture in the city.
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"This is a very fast moving situation in light of the situation that the details were provided to us very recently. So we wanted to call this meeting," he said.
Graham said the agency had been operating at a deficit for some time, dating back as far as 2019 (with the apparent exception of 2021, due to an infusion of COVID-related funding) and significant deficits were projected through the end of the year - as high as $651,000.
The deficit in 2019 was at $1.1 million.
"There have been no reconciliation of our accounts since June 2023, and our team had been operating essentially without a data-informed budget," she said.
BOPA is seeking supplemental funding from the city, but they would need a one-year plan of how the organization would go forward, in order for them to feel comfortable, said Graham.
She said:
We need to fix the processes but do I take responsibility? Absolutely. Do I understand the impact? Absolutely.
The ongoing financial strain has "made it very, very difficult to fundraise."
After a tumultuous last few Artscapes hamstrung by the pandemic and poor weather, local artists like Shawn Theron, who depend on Artscape for income, hope the situation is resolved.
"Having BOPA get itself back together will be critical for all of us, to move forward, and to make more art," Theron told WMAR.
“The picture presented by BOPA at this afternoon’s board meeting is deeply troubling and raises more questions than it answers," said Baltimroe Mayor Brandon Scott's office in a statement. "The Mayor, in partnership with the Comptroller, is calling for an independent forensic audit of BOPA’s financials. The City will not be directing any supplemental funds to the organization until the audit is complete. We want to make abundantly clear that the City and this Administration will always support the arts and artists in our city and that support will never be in question. We will continue to work with BOPA to identify the immediate needs, but there will be serious conversation about the long-term path forward.”
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The board has planned another meeting next week.
As Chaveas noted: "We need to make good, informed decisions about the future of this organization."