Norris Arts Center board turns blame on St. Charles school district
Norris Cultural Arts Center board members say they are not wasting money set aside to promote the arts in St. Charles and that it's partly St. Charles Unit District 303's fault it hasn't staged more performances.
The spat arose from comments made by school board member Kathy Hewell at meeting last month during an update on the progress of a new agreement between the arts center and the school district that's awaited a legal review in the courts for the past three years.
Hewell said she was concerned about trust fund money possibly being "frittered away" by the not-for-profit organization because, in her opinion, she hasn't seen the group put forth much effort toward producing community arts performances.
But board members said the dearth of performances at the arts center stems from a lack of income and drain on resources caused, in part, by the agreement with the school district.
Arts center board member Mark Smith said the effort is there; it's the money that's lacking, and the trust fund is only part of the story.
The new agreement that awaits an OK by the courts involves the school district taking over full operation of the center, which sits on the campus of St. Charles East High School.
The district has always owned the building, which was a gift from the Norris family. But a not-for-profit organization was also created as part of that gift to be the property manager of the building and create arts programming for the community.
The organization could schedule performances whenever it wanted as long as it didn't interfere with the school's use of the building. Those performances were the prime income source for the not-for-profit organization.
In 2011, the school board decided to change that setup. It began to charge rent for the use of office space and an additional rent every time the group used the theater for a performance.
The performances in the theater went from an income source to a break-even proposition, at best, Smith said.
In the new agreement, the school district receives those profits. In turn, the not-for-profit board rid itself of paying capital expenses for the building and the expense of keeping a theater director on the payroll.
That left the not-for-profit board with investment income from the trust fund established by the Norris family to support the arts center as the main funding source for performances.
Smith said that income has declined about 75 percent during the economic turndown of the past six years. It's also made finding third-party sponsorships of performance more difficult.
"That's why we haven't had many theater events," Smith said. "It's hard for us to make it work financially."
Smith said Hewell's comments painting the not-for-profit board in a negative light doesn't help the board's efforts toward finding sponsors and generating community support.
"Maybe it seems like we're not doing all we can, but we're doing the best we can in the current situation," Smith said.
Hewell's comments about frittering away trust fund money were particularly damaging, Smith said, because it's not even legally possible for that money to be abused.
Harris Bank controls the trusts. The principal amounts of the trusts "must remain untouched by whomever controls the trusts," Smith said.
Even if the not-for-profit organization dissolved, two of the trusts go the city of St. Charles, which would then be legally bound to use the money for the arts. The two remaining trusts have a legal requirement that only a not-for-profit organization can control them, and the money must be used according to the original intents of the Norris family.
All use of the money must be reported to Harris Bank with sworn, signed statements warranting the expenses.
"The 'frittering away' is a nonissue," Smith said. "It can't happen."
Norris board President James Collins, a member of the Norris family, said in a written statement that the board meets regularly and is committed to a full slate of art shows and concerts in 2015. Those productions will involve more use of the gallery space in the cultural arts center, which the board does not pay rent to use.
"It is, was and always will be a goal of the Norris Cultural Arts Center to maintain positive, productive relationships with the school district board and administration," Collins said.
Blame: Arts center board members say comments hurt sponsorships