Dan Mankin, who has led the Dance Palace Community and Cultural Center since founding executive director Carol Friedman retired in 2008 after 37 years, will vacate his post on Dec. 15 after the board decided this month to let him go. 

Board president Ann Emanuels declined to elaborate on exactly why Mr. Mankin was removed. “I can say that we have a new [three-year] strategic plan,” she said, “[and to carry it out] we felt a leadership change was in the best interest of the Dance Palace.” 

The community center’s plan “puts an emphasis on community relations and donor relations, and then another big piece of it is community access,” Ms. Emanuels went on. “The Dance Palace wants to recapture the feeling of community ownership of the Dance Palace. And hopefully we can engage the community in Dance Palace activities. So those are the pieces that led us to feeling it was time to make a change.” 

Before coming to work in Point Reyes Station, Mr. Mankin directed other performing arts organizations in Idaho and Washington. In the Bay Area, he has worked at nonprofits like Vaudeville Nouveau and the Harvest Festival, where he was the entertainment director and “minister of fun.” In his earlier years he was a juggler, an acrobat and a trained clown. (He makes a brief appearance in the beginning of the 1996 movie “Jack.”) 

During his tenure at the community center, Mr. Mankin expanded the donor base and oversaw the creation of a new logo and website, as well as the installation of a state-of-the-art lighting system. He also helped bring in outside artists through his connections in the performing arts world, including the Kronos Quartet, George Winston, Janis Ian and Perla Batalla, a letter from the board stated.  

He also headed an organization with a $500,000 budget during financial struggles. The nonprofit has suffered budget deficits in recent fiscal years, and was $34,000 in the red at the end of the most recent fiscal year before a donor stepped in with $30,000 to mostly fill the gap. 

The financial troubles nearly led to the demise of Baby Gym this fall, though the organization again managed to secure funding for a teacher for at least the next few months. 

At the time, Mr. Mankin said he was also planning to cut back on performing arts events to curb costs. Ms. Emanuels said the organization is working on balancing outside performers with “being able to stay in the black with events,” which is tough when an event doesn’t have a sponsor and it doesn’t sell enough tickets. 

Though she believes the organization is financially sound, Ms. Emanuels added that grant funding for the arts is scarce. Last month the Marin Community Foundation announced it was eliminating arts and culture as a main facet of its grant program, she said. “That’s going to be a blow,” she added.

In addition to financial issues, the Dance Palace has also faced internal questions about Mr. Mankin’s leadership; Burton Eubank, an employee who quit his post as the technical director a few months ago, told the Light he did not feel Mr. Mankin respected his employees, and he had hoped his own departure would make a statement to the board. 

Ms. Emanuels said Mr. Mankin’s termination had nothing to do with his style of leadership.

The Dance Palace will soon hire an interim executive director while it searches for a new leader.