Art doesn’t pay

>> Saidye Bronfman School of Fine Arts shuts its doors as the theatre gets the money

CLOSING DOESN’T MAKE SENSE: Stewart Fletcher

by MELANIE MELOCHE-HOLUBOWSKI

The Saidye Bronfman School of Fine Arts was to celebrate 40 years of teaching arts this year. Instead, the YM-YWHA, which managed the school, is shutting it down on March 31, with many questions left unanswered.

As students and teachers finish their last week of class, many still cannot believe what is happening. “People are shell-shocked,” says painting teacher Stewart Fletcher. “They are saying, ‘This can’t be happening.’ This institution has been here for 40 years.”

The centre has been a hub for artists, and offers a variety of classes from painting, pottery, printmaking, photography, lithography and jewellery making. The summer arts camp and the program for intellectually challenged adults are also being cancelled, and the two art galleries will be closed. “Montreal is losing a cultural centre,” says Fletcher.

The numbers game

The Y says it is shutting the school to focus on the performing arts, with a new “multi-faceted performing arts centre.” The Y’s president, Peter Kalichman, admits that, “Yes, it is at the expense of the fine arts.”

Rumours abound as to why the centre is being shut down. “It’s all politics,” says Roslyn Swartzman, the director of the school’s comprehensive arts program. She taught at the centre for 35 years and believes this is not just about money. “The Y just wants to get rid of the school,” she says.

“No one denies the 40 years of the centre. It was unique in many respects. But there are some things that are no longer unique,” says Kalichman.

Michael Crelinsten, the Y’s executive director, says enrollment has been on the decline, but could not confirm numbers. “It’s by a factor of several hundred,” he says. Kalichman could not offer any enrollment numbers either, but says, “Anyone that suggests the numbers weren’t going down is incorrect.”

Most teachers disagree—they say there are 1,800 registrations this year alone and over 80 teachers. Visit the centre at any time, and there is always something happening—classes are full and studios in constant use.

Some said the school’s debt—one estimate puts it at $600,000—was the principal cause of its closure. “But it doesn’t make sense,” Fletcher says. Students pay on average $150 per class, and with 1,800 registrations, the numbers just do not add up. “I’m not an accountant, but that’s roughly $250,000 in revenue,” says Fletcher. “I think it is fiscal irresponsibility [on the Y’s part].” He says the administration has not invested in the school in many years. “Easels are breaking; the heating system is not working. They stopped caring a few years ago.”

According to a spring 2006 consultants’ report prepared for the Y, says Kalichman, “The only way the school was to be viable was to see it evolve into a laboratoire—a combination of theatre and arts.” Studios would have been shared between fine arts classes and dance, music and theatre courses—but upgrading the rooms would have been prohibitively expensive.

In the dark

Teachers had been under the impression that the project to combine performing and fine arts was a go-ahead. However, on December 14, the Y quietly announced to the teachers that the school was closing. A large donation last year by the Segal family was given to the Centre for the Arts, but the money was for the performing, not fine, arts, leaving the school in financial trouble.

Teachers and students were upset that they were not consulted in the process. “They’ll tell you it was a community decision,” says Fletcher, “but it was done behind closed doors.” Kalichman says the Y, the Federation for Combined Jewish Appeal and various stakeholders were involved in the decision. Crelinsten admits that enough consultation might not have been done. “Was the consultation process perfect? No. Was is it legitimate? Yes.”

But even after the December decision, no notice was sent out to students. At the beginning of March, many were surprised when asked about the school closing. “I didn’t know it was closing,” was a common answer. The Web site had no notice until the first week of March. The lack of information has angered many. “It’s business as usual, right? They don’t want the public fallout. It’s a lack of respect,” says Fletcher.

Kalichman says he is surprised that students were not in the know and says there was no intention to mislead students.

Fletcher started an online petition (www.ipetitions.com/petition/savethesaidye) that has garnered over 1,800 signatures. Roslyn Swarztman remains hopeful. “Maybe it will make them ashamed. It worked with Parc Avenue. It didn’t work with the Fraser-Hickson [library, which recently closed]. You never know.”

But the Y brass said they won’t be changing their minds.