The overwhelming message from the organizers of the Dance Palace Community Center town hall meeting on Tuesday was clear: the center’s directors want to listen. And based on the turnout—roughly 100 people showed up, compared to 29 at last year’s annual meeting—a lot of people have something to say.
In December, the board announced it was letting go of former executive director Dan Mankin, who took the helm after founding director Carol Friedman left about seven years ago. Directors cited a new strategic plan, which called for an emphasis on community access and donor relations, as the impetus for a change in leadership.
At the gathering this week, the board asked for input on the four “pillars” outlined in the plan: community access, fundraising, facilities and membership and marketing.
“This is your community center,” said Louise Franklin, the newly hired interim executive director, after a dinner of butternut squash soup made by board members, salad and a suite of desserts. The center, she went on, is in a period of transition, and the board is taking a “good hard look” at the organization. “I will listen carefully. I am excited… We hope to ignite a new sense of excitement and ownership” in the community center.
Once upon a time the county provided a hefty chunk of the budget; these days, county funding accounts for only about two percent, said director Kathryn Lino during an introductory presentation before attendees organized into breakout discussion groups. A recent decision by the Marin Community Foundation to cut arts grants added to the hardship.
Even without staff salaries, Ms. Lino said it costs about $51,000 just to pay for insurance, programs and upkeep.
In an effort to ensure the center’s financial solvency—it has run at a deficit in recent years—Ms. Lino said the Dance Palace would trim the number of fundraisers to just one or two a year, in the hopes that concentrating that effort would draw more support.
Steven Horvat, another director, added that improving the facilities—which the board hopes some day will include securing a high-definition projector for film screenings—can be expensive. (He also seemed to recognize that facility improvements don’t always light a fire under people. “You’re definitely gonna want to join that [breakout] group,” he deadpanned.)
In the discussion group focused on community access, participants bandied about ideas: more community-driven theater, informal Spanish
conversation groups, once-a-week evening babysitting for parent date nights. Someone wondered if the new executive director should speak Spanish, to foster a stronger relationship with the sizeable Latino community.
One particularly popular idea—as demonstrated by the colorful stickers people placed around scribblings on poster board intended to show their votes for the best ideas—was the formation of an events committee, not just to brainstorm ideas for events but to reach out to groups that might not use the Dance Palace, to encourage greater participation.
Another group considered how to raise money; someone suggested a “nudge tip,” which is essentially a small donation—perhaps a dollar—tacked on to restaurant or bed-and-breakfast bills that people opt out of, instead of in to.
Donna Faure, an Inverness resident the development director for the Point Reyes National Seashore Association, proposed that stronger “co-branding” with local groups that use the Dance Palace could, in the long term, bring in more support. Ms. Faure, who used to work at a community center in San Francisco, said that highlighting more joint events or programs, as opposed to groups simply renting space, can raise the profile of both organizations and perhaps expand the donor base.
But as the breakout groups made clear, change can’t just come from the board or the handful of staffers. It has to come from the community—through donations, participation on committees, attending events or just helping to spread the word about the Dance Palace, whether to newcomers or those who haven’t come by in a while. (The marketing discussion group noted that the center’s location on B Street means that it is out of sight, and perhaps out of mind, for many, making outreach and marketing all the more critical.)
Michael Greenberg, an Inverness resident, wondered what could happen if everyone in the room that night called just one person to encourage them to become involved. He said he had recently called a few people as part of outreach for the West Marin Chamber of Commerce. “People were so appreciative…If it’s not personal, it’s not worth anything,” he said.
Almost everyone at the meeting had helped out the community center in one way or another; when Ms. Franklin asked who had volunteered at some point, virtually everyone raised their hands. But for some, it had been a while.
Dewey Livingston, a longtime Inverness resident, worked as the center’s technical director in the mid-1980s, and his kids attended youth programs there, like the Summer Stock Players theater group. But his kids grew up, and he hasn’t been involved for years. The meeting, he said, “got me energized to get involved again.”
A job description for a permanent executive director of the Dance Palace Community Center is being drafted, and the board is encouraging community members to send in candidate recommendations.