Frederick Book Arts Center Inc

FREDERICK BOOK ARTS CENTER INC. WAS FOUNDED IN 2018. AS OUR INAUGURAL YEAR, THE TWO FOUNDERS, JOHNNY CARRERA AND SARA FRIEDMAN, FOCUSED ON BUILDING A BUSINESS PLAN, FORMING ARTICLES OF ORGANIZATION AND LODGING THE APPROPRIATE LEGAL DOCUMENTS FOR THE COMPANY. THE RESEARCH REVEALED BY THE BUSINESS PLAN, PLACED OUR ARTS CENTER CLOSE TO DOWNTOWN FREDERICK, SO FBAC BEGAN A DUAL PROPERTY SEARCH WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF TWO BROKERS - ONE ASSOCIATED WITH A PRIVATE REAL ESTATE FOUNDATION THAT OFFERED TO PURCHASE A PROPERTY FOR US IN EXCHANGE FOR A LONG-TERM RENTAL AGREEMENT. IN SHORT, OUR BASIC GOALS WERE TO HAVE ALL OUR LEGAL DOCUMENTS IN ORDER, FIND A LOCATION FOR OUR BUSINESS, EXPAND OUR BOARD TO SEVEN MEMBERS BY MID-YEAR, AND BEGIN SETUP SO THAT WE COULD COMMENCE OPERATIONS SOME TIME IN LATE SUMMER 2018. UNFORTUNATELY, THE PROPERTY MARKET IN FREDERICK AND LIMITATIONS ON THE AVAILABILITY OF APPROPRIATE BUILDING SPACE THAT COULD MEET OUR NEEDS SLOWED DOWN THE PROCESS. WE CAME CLOSE TO CLOSING ON THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS ON THE PURCHASE OF A BUILDING WITH THIS REAL-ESTATE COMPANY ASSISTING US (WITH FBAC BECOMING THEIR MAJOR TENANT). EACH TIME, DIFFERENT FACTORS SUCH AS IRRECONCILABLE ENCROACHMENTS ON PUBLIC LAND, AND OTHERS, MADE THE DEALS COLLAPSE. THE WEIGHT REQUIREMENTS FOR OUR SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT MADE THE SEARCH FOR RENTALS DIFFICULT SINCE FREDERICK HAS MOSTLY HISTORICAL THIN WOODEN FLOORS THROUGHOUT THE DOWNTOWN. WE FINALLY FOUND A SUITABLE LOCATION FOR LEASE IN DECEMBER 2018, PUSHING BACK OUR OPENING DATE TO MARCH 20, 2019, BECAUSE OF THE DIFFICULT WINTER. OUR GOALS TO REACH FUNDING WAS LARGELY PLANNED TO BE SEED MONEY FROM ONE OR BOTH FOUNDERS OF FBAC AND WE WERE UNSURE OF HOW STRONG THE RESPONSE WOULD BE FROM THE COMMUNITY. AS A RESULT, FIGURES FOR A BUDGET DESIGNED FOR THE IRS IN FEBRUARY 2018, WERE VASTLY FAR OFF THE ESTIMATIONS SINCE WE COULD NOT HAVE FORESEEN ALL THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT WOULD LEAD TO A DELAY IN OCCUPANCY. FORMULATING A BUDGET FOR 2019 BECAME A GROUP EFFORT, BY OUR BOARD AT THE END OF 2018, BASED ON PROJECTIONS OF UPCOMING COSTS THAT WE HAD A GREATER AMOUNT OF PLANNING TIME TO CONSIDER. WE ALSO HAD A CLEARER IDEA OF PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES AND INVOLVEMENT IN COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES BECAUSE OF THE DELAY IN OCCUPANCY IN 2018. WE HAD MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO PARTICIPATE IN POP-UP FREE CLASSES THROUGH THE FREDERICK ARTS COUNCIL AND THE FREDERICK COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM, AMONGST OTHERS. THE FORMATION OF OUR INITIAL BOARD IN 2018 - GROWING IT BEYOND THE TWO FOUNDERS AND ONE INTERESTED LOCAL, KAYLEIGH MONTGOMERY, INTO A FUNCTIONAL SEVEN-MEMBER BOARD, WENT MORE SMOOTHLY. FBAC CHOSE TO GO WITH A "WORKING" BOARD OF ART TEACHERS AND PROFESSIONALS IN THE AREA WHO KNEW WHAT WE WERE TRYING TO DEVELOP IN TERMS OF AN ART CENTER, AND COULD BE ABLE TO TRANSITION INTO AN INITIAL STAFF, AND WE COULD FOCUS ON BUILDING A BOARD THAT COULD BE MORE CONVENTIONAL OVER THE FOLLOWING YEAR AS WE CAME TO KNOW MORE KEY PLAYERS IN THE FREDERICK AREA WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED IN JOINING FBAC'S BOARD. LARGELY, 2018'S SITUATION TURNED FROM BEING A YEAR IN ACTIVE BUSINESS TO A GREATER EXPLORATION OF OPPORTUNITIES AND PROTOCOL FOR CONDUCTING OUR TYPE OF BUSINESS IN THE AREA. WE WERE ABLE TO FORM CLOSER RELATIONSHIPS WITH SISTER-ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS PYRAMID ATLANTIC ART CENTER IN HYATTSVILLE, MD, WHICH WE ARE BASED ON FOR OUR ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE, AND OTHER RELATIONSHIPS WITH BUSINESSES AND NONPROFITS IN OUR AREA. IT ALSO GAVE US MORE TIME TO PLAN OUR LAYOUT FOR SPACE AND TO THINK WHAT EQUIPMENT AND PEOPLE WERE NECESSARY TO MAKE FBAC WORK MORE EFFICIENTLY. WE WERE ABLE TO TURN "LOST TIME" INTO A MORE POSITIVE EXPERIENCE THAT BENEFITTED OUR WHOLE ORGANIZATION.