(Jan. 12, 2017) Looking to increase its fundraising capabilities, the Berlin Arts & Entertainment Committee recently applied for, and was granted, 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.
Treasurer Patty Gregorio said the move follows a statewide trend where arts and entertainment districts have been widely encouraged to become their own entities.
“The state would eventually like to see each A&E district have its own paid staff and paid director,” she said. “Salisbury has already completed that process – they’re their own 501(c)(3) and they have their own executive director, and I believe Snow Hill is in the process. So there’s a general trend toward that, but the main reason we did it is because we needed to access funds.”
The committee officially became an autonomous nonprofit on Nov. 29.
“We are now recognized by the IRS as a tax-exempt entity,” Gregorio said. “It remains that Heather Layton is our president, Robin Tomaselli is our vice president, I’m the treasurer and Stephanie Fowler is our secretary.”
Gregorio operates Salt Water Media in Berlin with Fowler. Worcester County Arts Council Executive Director Anna Mullis is also a board member at large.
The committee plans to meet with Town of Berlin officials this month, followed by an open meeting with Berlin merchants in February. Gregorio hopes the committee can drum up some financial support from the latter because she said many A&E activities “directly support publicity for the merchants.”
“What we want to do with the town is to look at the calendar and determine which events we’re going to be responsible for and which events they’re going to be responsible for, because there’s some bleed over,” Gregorio said.
Berlin Arts & Entertainment currently runs the monthly 2nd Friday art strolls, the corresponding outdoor “Maker’s Market” for artists and crafters, and the annual Holiday Arts Night.
Last year, the committee collaborated with the Berlin Parks Commission to host six “Movies in the Park” screenings. The committee is also responsible for several public murals, and put together what was by all accounts a successful new event dubbed “Artists Giving Back: Meals for the Hungry” in November.
Plans for expanding “Artists Giving Back” this year are already underway.
As for financial support from the town, Gregorio said the committee had not received any funding since Michael Day, former economic and community development director, departed about three years ago.
“We have been on our own, either doing fundraisers or writing grants or seeking individual donations,” she said. “We just want to be able to expand that.
“There’s been interest in eventually offering scholarships from A&E for kids to be able to participate in arts activities,” she added. “There’s also interest in the culinary arts, where Robin had worked with Worcester Youth and Family, and there are grants out there to help with the administration of those types of things to get kids involved.”
Gregorio said the committee also hopes to help bridge the gap between the neighborhoods of east and west Berlin, which are divided by Route 113.
“We really want to bridge that by working with the kids and getting them involved in everything,” she said. “We also reached out to the BCIA [Berlin Community Improvement Association] to let them know that we would like to partner with them, and that we certainly would be willing to write grants in order to help with the [multipurpose building].”
The BCIA owns the multipurpose building on Flower Street, which it purchased from the town decades ago. So far, Gregorio said, that group has not responded.
“We’ve heard nothing back,” she said. “We’d really like to be able to help them and use that center. It has a stage, and it would be a great spot for performing artists. There are grants out there that would help us pay to bring entertainers into the area to work with kids, similar to what the Freeman Stage does where they go out to different schools and do projects. We would be able to do that as well, and that would be a perfect location for it.”
The building is said to need major repairs to its roof, and Gregorio said her impression from talking to town officials is that funding could become available for additional improvements if the roof was overhauled or replaced.
“They feel like they’re putting good money after bad if that roof isn’t fixed, at least that’s what I can gather,” she said.
She said the A&E committee would also seek support from the town itself, and that she would apply for several grants this year. Gregorio has more than a decade of experience working for nonprofits, most notably the American Red Cross office in Salisbury.
“We’re hoping that we’ll be able to get some funding [from the town] because everything we do is a benefit to the town, so it makes sense that the town would support us,” she said. “The mayor has made it very clear that he wants the public art projects [at the Berlin Visitor’s Center] to continue, and each panel costs $5,000 from start to finish. We’re fundraising for the third panel now, and of course we’ll be happy to take donations from anybody who is willing to help.”
The Worcester County Arts Council has financially supported that effort, as well as the “Movies in the Park” series.
“We’re also asking for anyone who wants to donate,” Gregorio said. “They can donate through our website [or] they can send a check or drop off money at Salt Water Media. Since we have the longest hours every day, we’ve kind of become the office for people picking up, dropping off and things like that.”
The bottom line, Gregorio said, is more funding would allow for more community activities and for the committee to improve some of its current efforts, including 2nd Friday. She admitted the monthly art stroll had “lost some of its luster.”
“We want to get that back and we want to get those crowds back,” she said. “Part of the reason why we’re doing this is to help with communications. We need a clear way of dispersing information, and when we’re in control of the information it will be a lot easier for us to get out press releases, and then people will know who to go to. It’s been very confusing and we want to clarify that.
“We often were stuck between a rock and a hard place because we were told we were part of the town, but we really weren’t part of the town,” Gregorio continued. “We were a committee, but we really didn’t have the ability to say, ‘yes we are part of the Town of Berlin’ when we went to funding organizations. It was very hard for them to delineate where we fit in. Now, it is very clear – we are our own entity. We operate and manage ourselves.”
For more information or to donate to the Berlin Arts & Entertainment Committee, visit www.artsinberlin.org or stop by Salt Water Media on 29 Broad Street in Berlin.
Treasurer Patty Gregorio said the move follows a statewide trend where arts and entertainment districts have been widely encouraged to become their own entities.
“The state would eventually like to see each A&E district have its own paid staff and paid director,” she said. “Salisbury has already completed that process – they’re their own 501(c)(3) and they have their own executive director, and I believe Snow Hill is in the process. So there’s a general trend toward that, but the main reason we did it is because we needed to access funds.”
The committee officially became an autonomous nonprofit on Nov. 29.
“We are now recognized by the IRS as a tax-exempt entity,” Gregorio said. “It remains that Heather Layton is our president, Robin Tomaselli is our vice president, I’m the treasurer and Stephanie Fowler is our secretary.”
Gregorio operates Salt Water Media in Berlin with Fowler. Worcester County Arts Council Executive Director Anna Mullis is also a board member at large.
The committee plans to meet with Town of Berlin officials this month, followed by an open meeting with Berlin merchants in February. Gregorio hopes the committee can drum up some financial support from the latter because she said many A&E activities “directly support publicity for the merchants.”
“What we want to do with the town is to look at the calendar and determine which events we’re going to be responsible for and which events they’re going to be responsible for, because there’s some bleed over,” Gregorio said.
Berlin Arts & Entertainment currently runs the monthly 2nd Friday art strolls, the corresponding outdoor “Maker’s Market” for artists and crafters, and the annual Holiday Arts Night.
Last year, the committee collaborated with the Berlin Parks Commission to host six “Movies in the Park” screenings. The committee is also responsible for several public murals, and put together what was by all accounts a successful new event dubbed “Artists Giving Back: Meals for the Hungry” in November.
Plans for expanding “Artists Giving Back” this year are already underway.
As for financial support from the town, Gregorio said the committee had not received any funding since Michael Day, former economic and community development director, departed about three years ago.
“We have been on our own, either doing fundraisers or writing grants or seeking individual donations,” she said. “We just want to be able to expand that.
“There’s been interest in eventually offering scholarships from A&E for kids to be able to participate in arts activities,” she added. “There’s also interest in the culinary arts, where Robin had worked with Worcester Youth and Family, and there are grants out there to help with the administration of those types of things to get kids involved.”
Gregorio said the committee also hopes to help bridge the gap between the neighborhoods of east and west Berlin, which are divided by Route 113.
“We really want to bridge that by working with the kids and getting them involved in everything,” she said. “We also reached out to the BCIA [Berlin Community Improvement Association] to let them know that we would like to partner with them, and that we certainly would be willing to write grants in order to help with the [multipurpose building].”
The BCIA owns the multipurpose building on Flower Street, which it purchased from the town decades ago. So far, Gregorio said, that group has not responded.
“We’ve heard nothing back,” she said. “We’d really like to be able to help them and use that center. It has a stage, and it would be a great spot for performing artists. There are grants out there that would help us pay to bring entertainers into the area to work with kids, similar to what the Freeman Stage does where they go out to different schools and do projects. We would be able to do that as well, and that would be a perfect location for it.”
The building is said to need major repairs to its roof, and Gregorio said her impression from talking to town officials is that funding could become available for additional improvements if the roof was overhauled or replaced.
“They feel like they’re putting good money after bad if that roof isn’t fixed, at least that’s what I can gather,” she said.
She said the A&E committee would also seek support from the town itself, and that she would apply for several grants this year. Gregorio has more than a decade of experience working for nonprofits, most notably the American Red Cross office in Salisbury.
“We’re hoping that we’ll be able to get some funding [from the town] because everything we do is a benefit to the town, so it makes sense that the town would support us,” she said. “The mayor has made it very clear that he wants the public art projects [at the Berlin Visitor’s Center] to continue, and each panel costs $5,000 from start to finish. We’re fundraising for the third panel now, and of course we’ll be happy to take donations from anybody who is willing to help.”
The Worcester County Arts Council has financially supported that effort, as well as the “Movies in the Park” series.
“We’re also asking for anyone who wants to donate,” Gregorio said. “They can donate through our website [or] they can send a check or drop off money at Salt Water Media. Since we have the longest hours every day, we’ve kind of become the office for people picking up, dropping off and things like that.”
The bottom line, Gregorio said, is more funding would allow for more community activities and for the committee to improve some of its current efforts, including 2nd Friday. She admitted the monthly art stroll had “lost some of its luster.”
“We want to get that back and we want to get those crowds back,” she said. “Part of the reason why we’re doing this is to help with communications. We need a clear way of dispersing information, and when we’re in control of the information it will be a lot easier for us to get out press releases, and then people will know who to go to. It’s been very confusing and we want to clarify that.
“We often were stuck between a rock and a hard place because we were told we were part of the town, but we really weren’t part of the town,” Gregorio continued. “We were a committee, but we really didn’t have the ability to say, ‘yes we are part of the Town of Berlin’ when we went to funding organizations. It was very hard for them to delineate where we fit in. Now, it is very clear – we are our own entity. We operate and manage ourselves.”
For more information or to donate to the Berlin Arts & Entertainment Committee, visit www.artsinberlin.org or stop by Salt Water Media on 29 Broad Street in Berlin.