Art School Seeks Board Members

The Kimball Jenkins School of Art is in the process of creating a board of directors, separate from the estate, in order to build on the last 15 years worth of work done at the school and move the North End landmark’s main focus of work into the future.

Ryan Linehan, the director of education at the school, said the school is currently structured as a program of the Carolyn Jenkins Charitable Trust. The estate has five trustees handling fundraising for the art school as well as the estate, pulling double duty.

“It’s five people doing a lot,” Linehan noted. “So what we’re looking to do is to find people to become members of the (new) corporate board.”

The art school is “mainly what happens here,” he said, and now it has a new 501(c)(3) structure. The trustees hope to name six to eight people to serve as the board of directors.

Exposure and fundraising will be the main focus of the new board, Linehan said, as well as expanding the school’s event calendar, educational efforts, recruiting volunteers. The board will also enhance the visibility and reputation of the school in the community.

One of the problems with finding new board members though is that, in Concord, it tends to be the same people who serve, Linehan said. Those people also tend that shuffle around to various boards and may not always have one or two entities as a main focus. He said the situation at Kimball is a unique one that will require special skills and attention in order to get to the next level.

Right now, about 50 percent of income for the estate and the school comes from donations, he said. The way the structure is set up at the art school, the classes are “as affordable as possible, so the margins aren’t high, especially when we start giving away scholarships,” he said.

“What we need help with and what the board will be doing is helping to raise that X amount of dollars to make this place sustainable,” he said. “While we’re still working on the 2013 number, it’s obtainable … it’s very obtainable … with help.”

Linehan said, so far, they have two potential members and now, all they need is “people with time, people with energy and, of course, people who have an interest in the arts and want to see the estate succeed.”

Interested parties should email their resumes to rlinehan-at-kimballjenkins.com. The trustees will be holding a lunch meeting in March for potential board of directors to discuss the formation of the board, goals, and how the Kimball Jenkins School of Art an even more valuable resource to the community, he said.