Next week, the public is invited to a meeting at the Cortez Cultural Center to discuss the nonprofit’s future.
The recently renamed The Cortez Center Inc. plans to lay out the facts and get feedback from residents.
Board members and staff also plan to emphasize that the nonprofit is not disbanding.
“We’re not shutting down. We’re still going to be The Cortez Center, but we must find a financially sustainable business model,” said Duncan Rose, the center’s treasurer.
Leadership announced last month that it would be “substantially realigning” its mission and operations after the annual Indian Dances ended in September.
In its June 18 letter to Cultural Center members, the board largely attributed its anemic finances to an increasingly competitive market for arts, archaeology and cultural offerings, which wasn’t an issue when the Cultural Center started about 30 years ago.
And as revenue-generating event attendance and memberships have declined, overhead costs have not, so a sale of the center’s iconic building on Market Street seems inevitable.
“The only expenses we can control are building and staff, so we’re trying to find the balance between costs and what the community is willing to invest in it,” said Rose. “Right now, we do not have a sustainable model that would allow us to keep the building.”
The center’s only full-time staffer, Executive Director Jeff Weinmeister, has been working with the board to determine its next steps.
The board is accessing the value of the building and plaza but hasn’t listed it on the market or picked a realtor, said board President Lee Bergman.
Although closing the gift shop and gallery after Sept. 7 was initially proposed, the board and Weinmeister said it will remain open into the holidays because it still generates revenue and is one of the few places in town where local artists can show their work.
The center also will continue to host the annual Ute Mountain Birding Festival, a popular event that draws regional birders.
One of the Cortez Center’s most valuable assets is 120-acre Hawkins Preserve, which leadership sees as key in its future. Carving a niche in ecological and environmental education, and partnering with local businesses and other environmental nonprofits seems like a logical base to rebuild the center and make it relevant again, they say.
The board and Weinmeister emphasized that nothing has been finalized, and encouraged the public to attend the Aug. 10 meeting to present ideas and feedback on current proposals.