Citing financial strain, a prominent community arts center in Concord has laid off several staff in recent months. The Kimball Jenkins board also dismissed its executive director, shortly after she shared plans to step down.
Some say they're concerned that these staff cuts affect people of marginalized groups — and those who were leading an effort to build a more inclusive arts community in New Hampshire.
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Nannu Nobis, chair of the Kimball Jenkins board of directors, said the staff cuts were painful but the decisions were made purely for financial reasons. He said the organization was struggling to secure funding and sponsorships, and it was facing a budget hole as 2023 came to a close.
“We had fantastic programming,” Nobis said. “But it didn’t bring the money to support what we were doing.”
Like many art organizations, Nobis said, the COVID pandemic presented challenges for Kimball Jenkins, but government funding helped keep it going.
By last summer, Nobis said it became clear that the organization wasn’t pulling in enough money to maintain its current programming. He said Kimball Jenkins is currently seeking sponsors to support more self-sustaining programming. They have also appointed an interim executive director.
Julianne Gadoury — who was, until recently, Kimball Jenkins’ executive director — said the organization cut two part-time positions in the fall. In November, the board decided to remove another position because they no longer wanted to pursue a project.
Gadoury said she disagreed with the board over the future of the campus and told the board on Jan. 8 that she planned to step down effective Feb. 2. But on Jan. 19, she said she was also let go, along with two other staffers.
“I resigned because we, as an organization, had made so much incredible progress on the governance of the organization on financial matters that on stewarding the historic state,” Gadoury said. “But it became very, very clear that the direction that I wanted to lead in and the direction that the staff was interested in being part of was different from the way that the board felt comfortable moving forward with the organization.”
Gadoury began at Kimball Jenkins in 2020, and during her tenure she said she tried to create a center that embraced all arts and served a diverse community. She grew up in Pittsfield and said she has always gravitated toward cultural experiences that focus on accessibility and equity.
“New Hampshire is aging, the workforce is declining and the only way we're gonna get our incredible leaders of color and our incredible young people to stay here is if we have a better cultural landscape,” Gadoury said.
Gadoury said it became clear to her, after months of disagreements, that the board had a different vision of where the organization should go and how to build a vibrant, inclusive community.
Yasamin Safarzadeh, who previously served as the head of curation and programming at Kimball Jenkins, was also let go this past month.
Safarzadeh said she’s concerned about how the layoffs will impact where and how people can access art. She said people around Concord may now need to look to other communities, like Manchester and Nashua, for art that defies tradition.
She said layoffs in the nonprofit sector often affect people from historically marginalized groups, and New Hampshire’s nonprofit sector isn't an exception. She said that can discourage people from staying in the state.
“This has happened a lot of times,” Safarzadeh said. “This has happened everywhere and it's pretty shortsighted.”
