Table of Contents
To the editor:
TL;DR – Please donate, we need the money.
The last few years have been tough for all nonprofit organizations, but the arts have been particularly hard hit. Some grants and other types of funding have been eliminated while the competition to secure others has become fierce. The Marblehead Arts Association has a double financial challenge as not only do we seek to promote art and support our artists, we are also committed to preserving our home, the King Hooper Mansion.
In 2028, the King Hooper Mansion will be 300 years old. Thanks to the commitment and dedication of architectural experts such as Bruce Greenwald, Tom Saltzman, John Wathne and others that reaches back decades, the old boy is in amazing condition. Many of the original features remain unchanged. The roof, siding and foundation are in great shape. We have a new boiler, we now have an accessible bathroom, the windows have been fully restored and we have a modern kitchen.
But it has cost a fortune and there is still much to do. The fundraising never ends.
We operate on a shoestring budget with a small staff that frequently goes above and beyond in their duties, but most of what we do is thanks to an army of volunteers. We would love to be able to take some of the burden off our volunteers, take on more paid staff and give them a living wage.
We’d also be thrilled if we could make more of an investment in our artists; we dream of offering residencies, being able to award larger prizes in our judged exhibitions and giving more to young artists through scholarships and paid internships. But, again, that all takes funding.
We appreciate the emotional impact that constantly being asked to give money has on our supporters and that “donor fatigue” is real. With this in mind, we have tried to be judicious in our asking; not too much and not too often. But even so, frequently the answer is, “Sorry, no.”
The MAA is committed to collaboration with other community groups. This year alone we have provided support to Beyond Walls, the Marblehead Museum, the Marblehead Festival of Arts, the Friends of the Performing Arts, Wings, the Marblehead Current and others. When they ask if we can help them by sharing our resources or hosting events, the answer is always “of course!”
We are proud to do this but in order for us to fulfill our mission of supporting the arts and preserving the King Hooper Mansion, we need more people to say “yes” to us.
At the MAA we realize that the area we live in is no different than many other small New England communities, in that we have numerous important institutions that do good work all reaching out to the same pool of potential donors. Nobody likes asking for money but we need your help, your support and your financial gifts. Please donate; we need the money.
Then together we can look forward to another 300 years of being the place where art and history meet.
Xhazzie Kindle
Executive director
