It’s been a tough month at Sushi. As everyone knows, arts organizations all over

the country are suffering and we’re no different. And as I pointed out in my last post about PWYC, the revenue at the door is not covering our costs. So, what’s an organization to do?

Here are the steps we have taken thus far:
1. Cut every expense possible. There is no fat in that budget at all.
2. Let interim Executive Director Lynn Schuette go as we couldn’t afford to pay her. John Warner, our operations manager, was an old friend of Lynn’s and decided it was time for him to go as well.
3. Continue seeking out and applying for grants.
4. Launched our space rental program. Sushi is a great space and we need to start covering some of our overhead by renting the space when we are not using it. Click here for more space rental details.
5. We are resurrecting the Red Ball. This was Sushi’s largest fundraiser in the past and we know it can be again. I will be posting more information about this soon.
6. We are focused on growing the Sushi board. Sushi needs help in every way and new board members will help with fund- and friend-raising.

Of course, letting Lynn go was very difficult. She is Sushi’s founder. But ultimately we couldn’t ask her to work without pay. Her position was always supposed to be interim and we all knew she was going to leave, we just didn’t expect it to be so quickly.

Notwithstanding our financial issues, Sushi continues to operate on a day-to-day basis thanks largely to our two part-time staffers, Fran and Jackie, who fill every gap that shows up. One or both of them are at the office everyday between 10 am and 3 pm. We’ve also been lucky to get our former tech wizard Geronimo back with us, and he’s taking on all the operation responsibilities.

And how can you help? Sushi is an organization that exists for artists and those who love art that touches boundaries. Can you help us rent the space? Do you know someone who would donate a piece of art to the Red Ball for the auction? Can you bring more people to the shows? Have you become a member, at whatever level you can afford?

Sushi will only thrive with the support of the entire community. It does remind me of that worn out expression about raising children – it takes a village. And folks, that village is us.