A public meeting was held last week by the Arts at the Armory to provide information and to receive comments by the public concerning the city’s “Armory Master Plan Process.”

By Jim Clark

On Tuesday, August 15, the Center for Arts at the Armory (CAA) hosted a community meeting where they shared their perspective on the City of Somerville’s “Armory Master Plan Process,” educating their audience about their non-profit arts organization and provided opportunities for attendees to speak, ask questions, have the meeting recorded and a petition delivered to city government.

The meeting was held in the Performance Hall and was also streamed live via Zoom, with the support of Somerville Media Center.

Stephanie Scherpf, CAA Co-Director/CEO brought the meeting to order by welcoming everyone in attendance and online. Co-Director/COO Jess White introduced the CAA Board members and staff, thanking them for their support.

Scherpf followed up by reviewing the agenda for the meeting, consisting of introductions and presentation, a Q&A session between CAA and meeting participants, and finally testimonies and comments by meeting participants.

Scherpf mentioned that the meeting was being recorded and would be provided to the mayor, the Somerville City Council, the Somerville Armory Master Plan Advisory Committee, the Somerville Arts Council, and the Armory Master Plan consultant, Create Today.

Scherpf then went over the meeting’s objectives, that is to provide CAA’s perspective on the City of Somerville Armory Master Planning process and why it feels it has been a missed opportunity; to educate the community about their non-profit organization, their successes and lessons learned; to share what their experience has been as the anchor tenant in the Armory building with the city as a landlord for the past 2+ years; to provide a forum for the community to speak, and to ask questions and get answers; and to share with the community how it can have its voices heard by city government officials.

Next, Scherpf provided a timeline and overview of the CAA’s history, starting with its incorporation as a 501c3 non-profit organization in 2005 and opened its doors in 2008. At that time the Armory building was under private ownership by Highland Armory Realty Trust (HART) and the Sater family, who purchased the building in 2004 from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for $2.6 million.

In 2008, HART opened the Armory as a newly renovated community arts center, and the CAA became the anchor tenant.

From 2005 to the present, CAA has had four different Executive Directors, and a variety of rent structures were tried between CAA and HART.

Scherpf emphasized the importance of people understanding that “The Armory” and “the Center for Arts at the Armory” are not one in the same. “There’s an important distinction,” said Scherpf. “While CAA has historically operated the largest amount of square footage in the building as the anchor tenant, we’ve also helped to manage the building in the past, it has never operated or owned the entire building.”

Scherpf then covered changes in leadership and building owners, and touched on the effects of the global pandemic. CAA underwent a change in leadership in late 2019, and the COVID pandemic hit six months later. At that time, CAA HART and the Saters experienced financial pressure as the venue could no longer host events, which provided the organization with its primary source of income.

In June of 2021, the City of Somerville acquired the Armory building through eminent domain in order to preserve the building for arts uses.

White then explained that “a year into the ownership of the Armory building, the city basically instituted an Armory Master Planning Process and they hired a consultant team called Create Today, based out of New York to guide that process.”

White continued, explaining that CAA offered support of and collaboration with the process and the city since the change of ownership. “We waited patiently for the Master Planning Process to play out,” said White. “In addition, we’ve offered our guidance, our expertise, proposed plans regarding building maintenance and management. We’ve conducted extensive research on municipal arts buildings and how they function effectively.”

White said the CAA was part of just three meetings with the consultant team. “Outside of those three meetings, we were regarded as just an interested party,” said White. “And we were not engaged to share our experience, any of our expertise, our business model, our assessment on how to best serve the community through the arts. Any ideas about fostering Armory building culture or any lessons we have learned over the years, including building management.”

White then pointed out CAA’s development that took place since 2019, including staff and budget changes, the hosting of many arts, cultural and community events, as well instituting their own signature programs. A major grant was also secured, funding capital improvement in the Performance Hall.

At the heart of CAA’s present issues with the city is what they deem to be a dubious Use and Occupancy (U&O) agreement as a proxy for a lease. U&Os have included both a “base rent” amount and an amount to be paid based on a percentage of CAA’s profits from event revenues. The city has not provided CAA with U&O agreements on a timely basis, and the terms of CAA’s current U&O expired as of June 30. In addition, the city doubled CAA’s rent midway through their last fiscal year.

CAA is now advocating that the city adopt a 3rd Party Operator Model and issue an RFP for entities interested in managing the building while the city would remain the property owner and be responsible for major capital projects.

Q&A and comments were then taken by attendees of the meeting.

Comments that have been made include:

“This is the soul of our city here. This is the soul, and of course the Media Center, too. You’re the bookends of culture in this city.” – Denise Provost, Former MA State Representative.

“I am also concerned about the lack of clarity and commitment from the city to the current Center for the Arts at the Armory and other arts tenants. It is so cognitively dissonant on so many levels, that it does boggle the mind that the city could even contemplate any other scenario than to continue to promote and enhance what CAA is already doing so exceptionally well.” – August 15 Community Meeting Participant.

“I attended the August 15 community meeting at the Armory to learn more about what is happening with the Armory. I have come to understand that the process the city started to determine the future of the facility was well intentioned but very poorly executed. I think the city did the right thing to take the Armory by eminent domain, but seems to be biting off more than it can chew in actually trying to operate it. I think it’s pretty clear that the city doesn’t have the bandwidth to manage this entity and should let another party do it.” – Petition respondent.

“The Center for Arts at the Armory is a gem of the community. CAA’s talented staff provide a diverse array of arts programming that is unmatched in its accessibility, affordability, and inclusivity. It is part of what makes Somerville a great place to live. Model 1 would send a message that the city doesn’t recognize or value great arts programming, and would be a huge shame and loss for the community. Please do the right thing.” – Petition respondent.

The online established by CAA asks the city to do the following:

1) abandon the proposed Model 1 for the Armory building (city as owner and operator model, which would force current tenants out)

2) adopt a 3rd party operator model for the Armory building that would include developing and issuing an RFP (Request for Proposal) that 3rd party operators interested in managing the building would respond to

3) develop and issue an RFP (Request for Proposal) for prospective arts/culture tenants interested in securing a lease on a space inside the Armory building

4) work with a consultant contracted by the city and current Armory tenants to create a governance model and governance committee that would develop, issue, and respond to both RFPs above.

The petition is accessible at: https://fm.addxt.com/form/?vf=1FAIpQLSfCkLv9Ak9V_maJzh9zch3oB9RCXW-668pZQllJkJ3Ky3rpZg

You do not have to live or work in Somerville to sign the petition. The deadline to sign the petition is September 10, 2023.

The full video of the meeting is available online at: https://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/126561.