In the middle of Main Street in Lawrenceville, next to Gordon Avenue and across from the Nursery School is a small building that used to be the home of the Lawrenceville Main Street Artists Network.
But the Artists Network has been disbanded after a series of events beginning in October 2012 that have left many confused and angry.
Now, the former Artists Network has regrouped with the formation of the Creative Collection, but financial issues remain between the artists and LMS, including the dispute over nearly $20,000 stored in the artists’ savings account.
The Artists Network was first established in November 2009. The Lawrenceville Main Street organization decided that the area needed a creative outlet, a space where art could be shared with the entire community.
“It was in response to a community initiative to have an art presence within the village,” said Howard Nelson, board president of Lawrenceville Main Street.
The purpose of the Artists Network was to connect artists with the Lawrenceville community by displaying and selling artwork at a gallery, as well as providing art education.
The gallery they operated on Main Street served as a means to enrich the culture of Lawrenceville. The members, who all paid monthly dues in order to sell their artwork, would hold special exhibitions, birthday parties, and even classes on their respective artistic pursuits.
Carine Fram, a glass-fusing artist, said she joined during one of the first meetings organized by Eileen Kennedy, who was then chair of the LMS Development Committee. She was put in charge of the website and was made registrar of the gallery, keeping track of the art that was put on display.
Toward the end of the group’s run, she was planning on starting to offer classes on glass fusion.
“Some of the members had asked me if I could teach them,” Fram said. “One woman had a pottery studio in her house in Princeton, and asked me if I could teach there. We were going over the final details when the group disbanded.”
Teresa Prashad, a watercolor and silk artist, was also involved in those first meetings. Prashad believes in the healing power art can have on a community.
“Art is like yoga in that it soothes your mind,” Prashad said. “There are a lot of people, kids and even older people, who need to focus on something.”
The Artists Network even helped Prashad get through a difficult period in her life.
“I am a cancer survivor, twice,” she said. “I had lost all my confidence and I think the Artists helped me get back to where I wanted to be. A lot of people have noticed my art, and that’s definitely helped me.”
However, the Artists Network was struggling during the tail end of its existence. Membership had decreased and the stale economic market didn’t help either.
“The economics were against us,” Ruthann Perry, one of the group’s members, admitted. “Rent was too high, and there wasn’t enough foot traffic to sustain us.”
So LMS allowed the group to stay within the umbrella of LMS for almost three years, even though that wasn’t the eventual goal that was planned.
Nelson said that because the Main Street program is in the business of community advocacy and not specifically art, Main Street’s ability to support them was limited by its own charter.
“We had been working with the artists to separate from the Main Street program,” Nelson said, “into their own separate organization, whether it be a for-profit or nonprofit organization. It was up to them how they were going to transfer out of Main Street into their own organization.”
But that all changed on Oct. 1, 2012, when LMS demanded that the Artists Network discontinue its use of the LMS tax I.D. within a month. Even though meetings were held and the Artists Network argued that one month was not enough time to get their own tax I.D., the group was shortly thereafter abolished and another letter was sent ordering that the artists both vacate the gallery and turn over all financial records.
“They did not warn us or tell us they were going to abolish us,” Michelle Rosenthal, the former Director of the Artists Network, said. “We didn’t have the time, the manpower, or the lawyers to become a nonprofit organization on our own.”
Nelson said he couldn’t comment on why the Artists Network was shut down so abruptly, but said that LMS and the Artists Network had already been planning to go their separate ways.
LMS, in one of the letters sent to the Artists Network, also claimed that money was transferred to a savings account without the authorization of the LMS treasurer. The artists claim that a previous LMS treasurer had co-signed on for that savings account and that the new LMS treasurer had never bothered to do so. The money in the account, which the artists had saved over the years, totals at around $20,000. LMS is now in control of that money.
“We had built up a very nice nest egg, and that became our money to actually improve the gallery. We put in a new floor, new cabinets, and some display tables,” Fram said.
Nelson said LMS is currently going through an independent audit in order to determine exactly where the money belongs.
“While the money that was raised, that came in as a consequence of the activities of the Artists Network, has a loose attachment to the Artists Network, Lawrenceville Main Street is the sponsoring entity with the tax-exempt status,” Nelson said. “Its formal legal responsibility is to ensure that the funds are maintained. We are doing so in accordance to the regulations and the laws that we have to adhere to… and then if there is a way that discretion can be used, then we only want to abide by the wishes of the people and the Artists Network, for whom these funds mean a lot.”
Fram anticipated that the money would eventually be returned.
“I believe that once Lawrenceville Main Street has convinced themselves that all the accounting is taken care of, they will release that money,” she said.
The artists would like the money to go to Homefront, a charity that assists homeless families in New Jersey. The artists, now the Creative Collective, are now using the Homefront space and have even started some classes there. Both Homefront and Creative Collective want it to be a place where everyone, not just those associated with Homefront, can join, completely free of charge.
“Instead of trying to figure out what to give to every artist, we decided to take that money and give it to Homefront ArtSpace,” said Fram, who has volunteered at Homefront for years. “And they said that they have this beautiful neighborhood center that’s empty most of the time. Why don’t you use this as a gathering space and a space to teach?”
“We’re going to be open to everybody, with no fees or anything, who would like to be a creative person,” Rosenthal said. “We’re doing it via meetup.com, a social networking organization.”
Rosenthal said that since the meetup page went online, more than 60 people have already signed up as members. Meetings at the Lawrence Community Center on Eggerts Crossing Road will be once a month to have critiques. There will also be sub-groups for those with specific interests in art, and Rosenthal is hoping to do more offsite art shows in the future.
Nelson ensured that LMS would continue to assist these efforts.
“We will always support the group of artists that were involved in the Artists Network,” he said. “We will do what we can to help them promote the art they have or any kind of educational or community involvement.”
Even after all of the recent turmoil, Rosenthal remains optimistic about the future.
“Out of the ashes I hope will come a good thing, a really energetic community-based group of artists that inspire and excite each other by sharing ideas,” Rosenthal said.
More information on the Creative Collective can be found online at the group’s new meetup page, meetup.com/Creative-Collective-of-Mercer-County. Information on Lawrenceville Main Street can be found online at lawrencevillemainstreet.com.
