Without giving itself to the Town of Normal, Illinois Art Station [IAS] founder Laura Berk said the arts nonprofit was likely to fold.
Berk said there was hardly a board meeting in which funding woes did not come up.
“The organization was experiencing serious financial challenges,” she said. “Those had been ongoing for a number of years.”
Public documents filed by nonprofits indeed show Illinois Art Station was losing money. Berk said former executive director Hannah Johnson is a talented grant writer, but those grants couldn't close the financial gap needed to keep it afloat.
“It was the challenge of development,” Berk said. “Capacity was involved — small staff with lots to do.”
Fundraising appeared to be a challenge, making up a fraction of the nonprofit’s overall revenue, according to public filings.
“There is no blame, I think, to be had in this,” Berk said. “The organization just wasn’t doing it.”
In the second half of 2024, Illinois Art Station looked for a partner to transfer ownership of its Vernon Avenue property and programs. Berk said the Town of Normal was an attractive option, having seen the Children’s Discovery Museum undergo a similar transition.
After a month long hiring process, new staff are now in place under the town's Cultural Arts Department.
Normal received strong pushback on social media about that process, with commenters accusing them of passing over three qualified candidates who were already doing the work.
“In fact, the old Art Station staff were regarded highly enough by the Cultural Arts Department to program, stock and facilitate artmaking at the Children’s Discovery Museum for all of 2024,” said Seth Wheeler during public comments at Monday's town council meeting.
Cultural Arts Director Beth Whisman said the three former staff members were aware they'd need to reapply for their jobs — jobs which are not exactly the same — with no guarantee they'd be retained.
“As we were absorbing a property that housed a program that employed people, there was a lot to unpack,” said Whisman, “and to think about how this is going to fit into the Town of Normal and how we operate as a town entity rather than as a private not-for-profit.”
According to Whisman, the hiring committee interviewed 16 people of the 136 who applied for three positions. Part of the consideration, she said, was a desire to ramp up public school partnerships.
“Essentially, the town felt like we had a better fit,” said Whisman of the new staff.
New manager Nicole Learned worked as an art teacher in Unit 5, while child development specialist Rachel Ratliff was selected for the Art Station’s full-time education director. A third part-time educator, Lauren Bachman, is a bilingual K-8 art teacher.
In a social media post, IAS board member Cathy Myers Woods said the town chose applicants "with more education and experience, it is as simple as that."
Bloomington Public Library [BPL] children's librarian Alexandra Bell is not convinced.
Speaking at Monday's town council meeting, she noted the previous staff's combined decades of experience in art education and says a clunky transition has left the Art Station's partnership with BPL in peril.
“The IAS will get paid $200 this summer from BPL and we expect those sessions to go more smoothly, but we may not sign contracts with your new staff based on this outcome,” said Bell, who spoke in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the library.
Despite the pushback, Normal Mayor Chris Koos said the decision to accept Illinois Art Station was a good one.
“I think the Art Station is a good fit,” he said. “I think it gives stability to that organization. It opens more avenues for granting — for dollar grants. It offers more stability for going to the private sector and capital campaigns, because it has that element of government stability.”
The nonprofit entity will wind down by the end of the year. So will the Illinois Art Station Foundation, a separate nonprofit led by founding donor Laura Berk to maintain the facility. As part of the agreement, Berk said the town is contractually compelled to reach underserved communities — which many feel was a hallmark of the previous staff's tenure.
Berk remains optimistic.
“I didn’t say how it needs to be done. I said what needs to be done,” she said. “And I believe very strongly in that mission.”
In a statement, former executive director Hannah Johnson said IAS has been treated like a "piece of property" by Berk, the board and the Town of Normal, with "little to no regard given to the past and present people who nurtured IAS in its infancy, who informed its developing identity and who loved it unconditionally."
Illinois Art Station, she said, was "an art piece sold at auction, its creation and inspiration commercialized and its context and contributing artists largely forgotten. That said, IAS the art organization remains and is still open for interpretation."
