Lansing Art Gallery suspends operations over financial problems

TUESDAY, Sept 10 — The Lansing Art Gallery has suspended operations for at least the rest of September while it figures out how to overcome financial problems, two of the nonprofit's board members said today.

Its executive director, Michelle Carlson, resigned, effective last week, and five part-time and two full-time employees have been laid off, they confirmed. Exhibits director Sarah Hopkins and bookkeeper Carmen Carlton will stay on temporarily. 

“We just have to tighten our belts and figure out how we're going to move forward,” board vice president Amy Zander said. “We’ll be putting a pause on programming as we rethink how we're going to run the gallery.”

“We will be back in operation in October,” Zander added. “We're not closing.”

Founded in 1965 as the first permanent art gallery in Lansing, it has had six addresses in its 59 years. It moved to its current space in the Knapp's Centre, 300 S. Washington Square, in 2022.

Board President Rachel Beatty said the board will meet in closed session Thursday and on a weekly basis through the rest of September to “reevaluate operational costs and the structure of our programs and work with our  stakeholders to figure it out.”

“This is to save cost, but it’s also an opportunity for the board to figure out a succession plan with volunteers to help move the gallery forward until the end of the year. We’ll look at restructuring a lot of operations, such as open hours for the retail gallery, and discuss other artist classes that might be better aligned with what the community wants,” Beatty said.

Monthly operational costs for the gallery have been around $20,000, Beatty said, but financial struggles, partially spawned by COVID, have led them to cut down to the “minimum” of $6,000.

Beatty said the board conducted a financial analysis last summer and began organizing an Aug. 16 fundraising effort in partnership with Deadtime Stories bookstore. That event raised $12,000 of the $15,000 goal organizers set for themselves.

Zander and Beatty noted that their operations rely heavily on grants, which have become more difficult to secure in recent years. Donations are another key source.

“We have some grants that haven't actually hit that have been postponed for some time. One of them is the ERTC fund, the employee retention tax credit. We're just waiting for that last payment to come through, but there's supposedly been some pushback on it with current politics that have slowed it down,” Beatty said.

The gallery’s existing lease won’t expire until the end of 2025. While there’s a possibility it may have to move as a result of these financial issues, Beatty noted that the gallery is working with Eyde Development on potential compromises.

“If we can restructure everything and move forward with a better operational cost format and find a better way to get people in our doors, then we can still stay in our space,” Beatty said. “This is very much just about creating a succession plan, because we want to try to keep as many programs and educational openings as possible. We also want to become a reason why people want to come downtown.”

Click here to donate to the Lansing Art Gallery.