Touchstone Center for the Arts may merge with Cal U
The Touchstone Center for the Arts in Farmington is considering a merger with California University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Angelo Armenti, California University president, will speak at the fall membership meeting of Touchstone on Saturday to discuss a possible affiliation.
California University issued a brief statement, saying, “California University of Pennsylvania’s Student Association Incorporated and the Touchstone board are exploring the possibilities of an affiliation. University President Angelo Armenti Jr. has been invited to present some ideas and he plans to do so.’
University officials declined further comment. Representatives from Touchstone declined to comment.
The merger is being met with some skepticism. Dr. Sanford Klein of New Jersey, a member of Touchstone, said he’s worried that the move could spell doom for the facility.
Klein shared a letter dated Oct. 7 with the Herald-Standard from Janet McCall, president of the Touchstone board of directors, outlining the financial reasons the board decided to explore talks with California University as they were presented at the July meeting.
The letter reads in part: “It was reported that an operating deficit of $43,000 was anticipated for 2005, with a total projected debt at year-end of approximately $90,000 – a continuation of the performance trend of the last several years. It was explained that an enrollment of at least 600 dues-paying students per season is required to sustain Touchstone’s annual operating costs of $420,000. Given the facts, a majority of those in attendance at the membership meeting agreed that the talks with Cal U. should proceed. The facts are very clear: to be viable, a nonprofit must bring in as much or more than it spends. Otherwise, it will dig itself into debt from which it will not be able to recover.’
The letter noted this season’s enrollment was 314, far below the 600 needed to break even. Despite staff layoffs last season and again this year, current projections for year-end debt for 2005 are $130,000.
The letter explained “the board has undertaken talks with California University to explore whether a merger might be achieved that would provide Touchstone with the necessary financial underpinning and long-term stability so essential to Touchstone’s survival.’
Klein said he formed the Touchstone Rescue Team after the July meeting, concerned about the continued existence of Touchstone.
“We thought Touchstone would cease to exist as a crafts school and simply become an asset of California University,’ he said.
Klein talked about a similar craft school in New Jersey that was able to pull itself out of debt without an endowment and large donors.
“There’s the assumption that Touchstone can’t stand on its own,’ Klein said. “…There’s nothing magical about this. They could have asked me for money; asked other people for money.’
Asked how many people are committed to the Touchstone Rescue Team, Klein said, “Fully committed? I send a newsletter to a dozen people. Each shares it with one to 15 people. We have a mailing list of former students – 300 to 400 people. I haven’t taken a vote. I’m waiting for Saturday.’
But Klein also said, “If Touchstone gets preserved as the craft school it is, none of us care what you call it – as long as it exists the way it is now. If it’s a true merger and California University adds marketing, physical plant maintenance, runs it year-round for its own benefit but the summers are devoted to traditional craft school teaching, we have no problem with it. It’s the destruction of Touchtone that concerns us and what we are worried about.’
Touchstone, according to its Web site, is a three-season crafts school that was founded in 1972 as the Pioneer Crafts Council.
The Web site states, “Touchstone’s original mission was to foster interest in the preservation of traditional mountain crafts. Today, this unique craft school has expanded to include contemporary and experimental techniques, in addition to traditional and historic methods in disciples such as blacksmithing, ceramics, metals, textiles, glass, oil and watercolor painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture.’