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Cortez Cultural Center looks toward future

Board seeks input, hopes to clarify the ongoing status of the nonprofit

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 members 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 in Cortez 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,” Rose said. “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 the next steps.

The board is assessing the value of the building and plaza, but it hasn’t listed it on the market or picked a real estate agent, 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 it is one of the few places in Cortez where local artists can show their work.

If you go

What: “Cortez Cultural Center: New Directions,” an open meeting for members and the public to share information about the new direction of the Cortez Center Inc.

When: Monday, Aug. 10, 6 p.m.

Where: Cortez Cultural Center Gallery, 25 N. Market St.



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