The Elora Centre for the Arts (ECFTA) has reached a precipice in its financial struggles.
On Feb. 29, if a solution is not found, the doors to the popular arts and community hub will close.
A registered charity, ECFTA owns the iconic building at 75 Melville Street in Elora, but it has had financial difficulties for some time.
Those issues are exacerbated by a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) ruling stating the centre can not earn revenue from rentals.
ECFTA chair Robbie Keith said in a Jan. 6 interview with the Advertiser centre officials are doing everything they can to keep the building open.
“We told (our tenants) we cannot promise that we will be able to keep the building open after Feb. 29,” Keith said. “And we are going to do everything we can to extend that stay while we are hopefully in the process of waiting for an offer of purchase.”
He explained the most significant financial burden on the group is the cost of operating the building, which was originally constructed in 1856 with additions in 1866, 1874 and 1939, and served as a school until 1996.
“We are in a building that is very, very costly to operate,” said Keith. “With very limited programing which we have right now, just keeping the doors open requires $100,000 a year.”
The ECFTA has owned the building since 2002 and has rented portions of the building to tenants such as the Fergus-Elora Academy of Dance and Montessori School of Elora.
The CRA has advised ECFTA officials the centre can no longer earn income from rentals, which Keith says has brought the centre to a crisis point.
The board had to pare down expenses, said Keith, including laying off staff and shutting down activities not operated by the centre itself.
The group is looking for potential investors for the building or a partner able to purchase the building and rent out the space to ECFTA and current tenants. Keith explained he has received some interest from investors, but there are no concrete plans.
“Unless we are able to come up with either a new owner of the building who wants [the tenants] or we have some sort of financial windfall, which is not going to happen, and if our cost cutting measures aren’t sufficient to stay the course, then the contracts would be concluded … the building would close,” he said.
Keith said this is a time for the centre to re-imagine its role in the community.
“We are in the process of not only trying to deal with this problem of the building and the property, but we are also looking at what is it that a centre for the arts really contributes to the community,” he said.
“There’s a need to re-think what it is the centre for the arts could be.”
Representatives from Fergus-Elora Academy of Dance and Montessori School of Elora were unavailable for comment by press time.
