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Glenwood Center for the Arts will remain open

Aspen Public Radio News

The Glenwood Center for the Arts board of directors voted Tuesday to remain open in a limited capacity in the midst of financial turmoil.

This weekend, the nonprofit hopes to put a dent in its debt with its annual student dance performance.

The center for the arts is around $70 thousand dollars in the hole, according to its board of directors. They say the financial situation was a surprise to them. The discovery came as Christina Brusig, the center’s executive director, resigned in April.

 

Now the Glenwood Springs Police Department is investigating the center for the arts.

 

And, the city of Glenwood Springs announced last month that it’s pulling its funding to the organization. The government gave around $50,000 annually, basically to cover the executive director’s salary.

 

But the organization continues to receive donations by community members. That’s despite that the organization won’t make public its current finances.\

 

Aspen Public Radio, under the Colorado Open Records Act, has been denied multiple requests for the nonprofit’s 2016 financials.

 

Charlie Willman, the organization’s attorney, says via email that until the city’s investigation is complete, quote, “no further information can be provided regarding past or current financial records.” end quote.

 

The board’s president, Kate McRaith, acknowledges how this could be perceived as a lack of transparency.

 

“What is constraining is that we are surrounded by an open investigation. There is a lot of information that we are not allowed to share. We would like to be as transparent as we can but our hands are tied by the situation at the moment.”

 

The 25th annual Dancers Dancing showcase will be held at Glenwood Springs High School tonight at 7:00pm and tomorrow at 1:00pm and 7:00pm. The board is counting on this event and others planned to put the center for the arts in the black.

 

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