Leaders of the Center for the Arts at the Armory agree that the City of Somerville’s master plan for the future of the center, released on Nov. 25, leaves many unanswered questions. The center expressed frustration about how the Somerville government did not fully acknowledge tenants’ need for a lease agreement.
After 1½ years without a lease, the Center for the Arts at the Armory was given a 30-day license agreement, which they stated did not give them enough time to sustain fundraising and staff.
Stephanie Scherpf, co-director and CEO of the center, told the Daily that she sees no need to create a third party to overlook the Armory when the tenant leadership system had worked efficiently in the past.
“The things that are in the Armory master plan are not what was given in feedback in any of the community meetings,” Jess White, chief operating officer of the Somerville Armory, stated.
Throughout the many public meetings held to discuss the situation of the Somerville Armory, community members gave strong support for a tenant-based system, where the organizations that utilize the Armory would essentially govern its usage rather than the City of Somerville.
The Center for Arts at the Armory is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to providing an “inclusive and accessible venue” that brings the diverse community of Somerville together through hosting artists and cultural community events, according to its website.
Scherpf told the Daily about the quantifiable impact they have on the larger community although they often engage in “one-sided conversations” with the city.
“We do about 750 events every year, 250,000 people served, and we have six full-time staff and about 22 part-time staff, and our budget size is about $1.3 million annually,” she said.
The center was hoping for “some sort of stability in terms of a lease,” White said.
According to White, the center experienced difficulty creating leasing agreements with the city. The center provides yearlong contracts to artists but is only given a one-month licensing agreement by Somerville, making it difficult to carry out their mission.
Somerville City Councilor JT Scott explained that Arts at the Armory leadership said they can not continue to exist under the uncertainty of Somerville’s master plan.
“I’ve seen a great deal of advisory boards created in the city over the last decade, and whilst I believe everybody is attempting to do good work,” Scott said. “I have repeatedly seen how those committees either [have had] their input vanished and had no impact, or in some cases, [how] the recommendations of the committee are completely overruled and ignored by the city.”
Despite the impact the organization has had on the community, the past three years have left the center unsure about its position at the Armory and its ability to carry out the organization’s mission. White said that the Armory went into the switch in ownership with a lot of optimism and hope for the potential of what operating in a government-owned building could do.
Scott described the city’s actions as being akin to those of a bad landlord. Scott stated that the Somerville government is being unfair in “asking [Somerville residents] to do hundreds of hours of uncompensated labor and then disregard their findings and feedback.”
Looking to the future of the Armory, Scott expressed some doubt about the city’s actions. They describe the current conditions as being “corrosive” to the health of the organization and the larger community as the city continues to entrench the organization in instability.
Scott described the similarities between an old Union Square fire station and the Armory. The fire station was originally home to organizations like the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers. Scott said that the city acquired the fire station, neglected the property and evicted tenants despite strong community opposition.
Seeing that the city has followed the same patterns, Scott said that “maybe the city should not be in the business of being a property manager, particularly for nonprofits.”
Scherpf shared similar anxieties about the future of the organization, emphasizing the unstable position the center has been forced into.
The original plan for the center was to wait for the master plan for some direction about the city’s goals for the Armory, but upon seeing the vague language, the center began conversations about alternative actions.
Scott and the leaders of the center share hopeful visions for the future. Scott stated that the Somerville Armory may return to serve its original purpose of community building but that it “takes decisiveness and political courage” to create such change.
