The Great Neck Arts Center could receive a major financial boost from the Town of North Hempstead’s Business and Tourism Development Corporation under a plan proposed by Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman.
The proposal calls for the business and tourism corporation to take out up to a $3.5 million bond and use about $800,000 of the sum to pay off the art center’s mortgage. The remaining money – an estimated $2.2 million, according to Kaiman – would cover the bond’s debt service for a decade.
Ownership of the art center’s offices at 113 Middle Neck Road would transfer to the business and tourism corporation under the proposal and the art center’s name would be changed to the Gold Coast Arts Center, a change that Kaiman said will highlight the art center’s townwide activities.
Kaiman’s deal is a financial lifeline that Regina Gil, the art center’s president, said would ensure the nonprofits’ long-term viability.
“This is something we’ve been urging the town to consider,” said Gil, comparing the arrangement to New York City’s ownership of Carnegie Hall’s building and support for its operations. “We want to ensure the future of this arts center.”
Kaiman said the arts center’s programs would be used as part of efforts to promote economic and cultural development on the town’s main thoroughfares.
“It’s important for us to find ways to sustain our main streets in our community,” Kaiman said.
Gil said the center suggested the name change to the town as a way to emphasize the scope of the art center’s reach across Nassau County and into Queens.
“We haven’t been only about Great Neck, ever,” she said.
The art center has suffered recent financial setbacks.
Gil said that while nearly every peninsula village had historically contracted with the art center for its services, all except Great Neck Plaza, Great Neck Estate and Lake Success cancelled their support over the last several years.
But, she said, the proposed deal is targeted at long-term financial stability, not fixing a current crisis.
“The arts center is doing find today,” Gil said, noting an uptick in recent fundraising. “People rallied when they realized that we were having financial difficulties.”
As an independent entity, the Business and Tourism Development Corporation would be responsible for the liability of the bond. Kaiman said he hoped that by the time the Business and Tourism Development Corporation has to cover payments on the bond, the arts center will be on solid financial ground.
“The goal is… between the town, the [BTDC] and the arts center, we will come up with revenue streams,” he said.
Though the arts center will be expected to engage more heavily with the town outside of Great Neck, Kaiman said that the nonprofit would remain independent under the deal.
Once an agreement is drawn up between the Business and Tourism Development Corporation and the arts center, the town will have to formally approve the arrangement.
Kaiman’s announcement of the plan comes in the opening days of the art center’s second annual Gold Coast International Film Festival, and on the eve of the festival’s Wednesday night gala at Oheka Castle – a major fundraising event for the arts center.
The proposal has yet to be formally discussed by the art center’s board.
