Last Thursday, June 22, Councilmember Jim Graham once again hosted a helluva meeting to facilitate dialogue and try to make some progress towards a resolution of the future of Source.
Present were Mr. Graham, the Source Board of Directors [Peggy O'Brien (chair), Julia Galdo, Janice Delaney, and Source's past artistic director Joe Banno], Curt Large and Marjorie Heiss of Bedrock Management, Jennifer Cover-Payne of Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington (operating as fiscal agent if Source's proposed Fund goes forward), Matty Griffiths of Actors' Theatre of Washington*, Carla Hubner of the In Series*, Nicky Daval of the League of Washington Theatres*, Pat Murphy-Sheehy (producing artistic director emeritus of Source), Mark Chalfant (artistic director of Washington Improv Theater), Anne Corbett (executive director of Cultural Development Corporation) and Amy Rifkind (CuDC's board chair), Jenifer Deal (area actress and ATW company member), Allison Stockman (area director), Nelson Pressley of the Washington Post (he filed a story
here) and Nell Boeschenstein (a new writer at City Paper who filed a story
here).
[* organizations currently housed in Source's second floor office space]There were two spectacularly unexpected moments. The first was when Source Board President O'Brien volunteered to
recruit new boardmembers on-the-spot, after which she and the other current Boardees would step down. But when Councilmember Graham persuaded Source's boardmembers to hang in there through the final resolution of this, the meeting moved towards the second notable moment:
the Source Board agreed to receive and review proposals for saving Source as a performance space. and to enlist the help of an outside Advisory Panel (to be recruited by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington) in reviewing the proposals and making their decision.
Details of the proposal requirements are below. Assuming there is at least one proposal received, those making the proposal(s) will have an opportunity to present them to Source and the panel in a publicly attended forum.
All you out there in Non-Profit-Land take note: this is how transparent governance is done.Those in attendance received the following notification the next day from Mr. Graham's office:
" Notice to all attendees of the 6/22/06 Source Theatre meeting in the office of Councilmember Jim Graham: All proposals for redeveloping Source Theatre must be submitted to this office by 5 pm on Thursday, July 13. Eight copies should be submitted. Organizations submitting proposals should include contact information as it appears on the common grant application (which can be downloaded from the Meyer Foundation site).
All proposals should meet the following criteria:
1. Demonstrate the ability to retire the existing debt of Source Theatre Company. This amount will be provided by Source Board to all applicants.
2. Demonstrate a commitment to preserving 1835 14th Street, N.W. as a theatre space.
3. Submit a business plan that demonstrates sustainability for three years.
4. Proposals must be submitted by a legal entity (in the case of a coalition, a lead organization must be identified).
5. Proposals must be ready to implement, with solid funding commitments. Letters of agreement from committed funders are strongly recommended.
6. An entity submitting a proposal must include a letter of approval from its board chair."
Anyone planning to submit a proposal was invited to contact Source's Board for a full run-down of the company's debts. They're currently in the neighborhood of $590,000, though that includes $160K labeled "cost of building sale," an item that we're pretty sure could be eliminated in the case of a sympathetic non-profit asset-transfer.
You can bet that there will be at least one proposal on Mr. Graham's desk by July 13.
