Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts on Fifth Avenue in Shadyside. Click photo for larger image.

The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, a Shadyside facility on the verge of its 60th year in business, has suspended operations and laid off its 13 staff members.

Catherine Kraus, president of the center's 20-member board, told the nonprofit organization's staff during a Saturday morning meeting that they are being laid off and should file for unemployment benefits today.

"We couldn't keep asking them to come to work if we weren't sure we could pay them. We don't have the revenue to pay them," Kraus said.

Despite the suspension of operations, art camps scheduled this week for youngsters and teenagers will go on as scheduled, as will weddings booked there.

The center is about $1 million in debt, Kraus said. Some of the debt was incurred through a $350,000 bank loan, and another $600,000 has accrued since 2001. The center also owes money to a local printing company that printed its glossy color brochure earlier this year.

Staff members received their last paychecks on Friday.

"The board ponied up the money to pay staff members for the last paycheck. We had to get $32,000 to pay the last paycheck," said Kraus, who has served on the board for 6¹*₂ years. "We couldn't continue to keep writing our personal checks to keep the place going."

The center negotiated long-term payment plans with many of its vendors, she said.

Artists founded the center in 1945 in partnersh ip with local philanthropists and city officials. Located at 6300 Fifth Ave., the center consists of three structures: the former Charles Marshall mansion, a yellow building that houses a gallery, shop and offices; the brown Scaife mansion where art classes are offered; and a smaller third building that contains a few classrooms. Both mansions were donated to the city of Pittsburgh and the center leases them.

The center's staff instructs nearly 3,500 students at its Shadyside location and another 30,000 students in local schools. The center offers classes in studio arts, exhibits work by local artists and runs a community arts program. The gift shop at the center sells local artists' work, including woodworking, ceramics, jewelry and photographs.

The suspension of operations comes roughly 2¹*₂ years after the board laid off five people in February 2002 and eliminated its exhibitions department to save an estimated $350,000.

Those let go were the center's executive director, Laura A. Willumsen, curator Vicky A. Clark, finance director Ginny Schultz, exhibitions assistant Joe Gallo and Gretchen Zellner, who was Willumsen's assistant.

"I think it's definitely worth saving," said Clark, who served on the center's staff for six years and is an art historian by training.

"It's a Pittsburgh tradition that has served the artists of the region well by showing their work and bringing in exciting artists from around the world."

The center's debt has accrued over the last three years, said Kraus, who became board president in January.

Contributions from local foundations, she said, have dropped between 20 percent and 25 percent and all local arts groups are seeking grants from all of the same pots of money.

In years past, the Howard Heinz Endowment has contributed to the center's operating expenses and also helped fund exhibits.

Membership at the center is down and so is annual giving to the center's fund, Kraus said, adding that she did not have specific percentages available.

The center had reduced its budget for the 2004-05 fiscal year, that started July 1, to $1.5 million. Three years ago, in 2001-02, the budget was $3 million, Kraus said.

Suspending operations was necessary, she said, because "we had to first stop the bleeding. We can't open the doors to the public again unless we can generate the revenue to pay for the services that we render." Eighteen of the board's members voted unanimously Thursday night to suspend operations. Two board members were away on vacation, Kraus said.

The signs of trouble had been surfacing.

One teacher who was hired as an independent contractor for the summer quit three weeks ago after she had taught a Pop Art class for five weeks and not been paid. Another teacher hired for the summer noticed that the summer contracts, which usually state payment dates, were left blank in those spaces.

The center was still operating on what Kraus called "an old business model" because its mission is broad.

"We really have to re-examine our business model. People are no longer willing to commit for an eight-week class. They want a one-evening or two-evening class," Kraus said, adding that enrollment had dropped. The center decided to pay for a glossy brochure earlier this year because that course catalog was a way of marketing its services to the public.

But, Kraus acknowledged, "that glossy document was too costly."

That brochure was not distributed until after some classes began in June, she said, because the printer would not release it until the center paid for it. Another printer then agreed to do the job, she said.

The center's board members still hope to start fall classes in October.

"It's still on the table but the reality of it is rather bleak. We're looking for an angel or a miracle," Kraus said.

During an emergency meeting Friday, all of the board members present agreed to work to save the center.

By not paying salaries for the last four months of this year, Kraus said, the center may save as much as $256,000 because the monthly payroll is $64,000.

The board intends to pay teachers who worked this summer, Kraus said, acknowledging that some of those independent contractors are still owed money.

Funding that pays for artists from the center to teach at local schools comes from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and will continue for now, Kraus said.