...
yet keeps its darkroom facilities literally in the dark - non-operational because as they say, there's not enough
traffic to keep it going. I don't know how much they've done in recent years letting the film shooting public
..
I don't know anything about budgeting for non-profits like this, but I think if there were some who really wanted
to get it going again - but this time at affordable costs, they could find a way.
Any ideas?
I can offer some ideas from my bad experience with community darkrooms
I set one up 6 years ago in London, England. It took months of my life (!) to agree a former dead space in the community centre and a year later the trustees of the community centre approved it. Years ago I taught to a community centre until the darkroom ceiling collapsed on me. There was no will to repair the ceiling and instead the darkroom closed for good. Well this time (I thought), I would do it differently and learnt from the renovation challenges of the first community project.
I agreed with the community centre on a good will basis, that they would pay £800 for the renovation of the space and development (costed and within the scope of the arts grant) of the space for community use for a trial period (set up and then maintenance costs). I agreed to source 3x enlargers; an array of 35mm film cameras; bulk loads, and darkroom kit; supply my experience as a photographic tutor with my own insurance/indemnity and support unemployed/socially excluded young people; harness the manpower to clear out the abandoned dead space and move out the storage and render it workable and then submit a risk assessment for compliance. This took about 2 years and not a single negative had been printed. In the meantime, I accumulated the darkroom equipment and cameras, bringing them back to working order.
The elected trustees changed at the next Annual General Meeting. New trustees joined and then reneged on the agreement for the use of the darkroom space. There was suddenly no monies for the renovation works and all the work put in by the community lead and myself evaporated overnight. The community lead was apologetic and helpless. It left a very difficult pill to swallow and it's hard not to feel that this is how disposable a photographer working on goodwill ends as rooms are colonised by digital laptops and darkrooms are squeezed out. I've attached an image of the space which was neglected in the community centre. You can see it is neither lavish or opulent. All the trustees from the outset marvelled that anyone might be able to see the merits of the space! However even in the face of loving restoration and doing all of the brain work for the trustees, planning for U turns by community centres is inevitable.
I had not envisioned too, that my donation of the enlargers and cameras and photography equipment, were then sequestered and seized by the community centre and never ever used. They did not wish for a darkroom and retained all the equipment which I had donated. The individuals who donated - all had the understanding that their old cameras and enlargers would go to help young people experience and thrill in darkroom work. It was hard going back to face the kindness of the donors to inform them of the community centre's decision to abandon.
The lesson pushed me away from trying to work with community groups with waning photography interest. Their interest in film photography may be as fleeting as hipster cyanotypes on a team away day for bonding disintegrating morale before moving on, to paintballing one another or a historical pining for what was the golden era of darkroom photography.
Now on to your question for ideas.
1. I glanced their current website (that is - start doing research on what they offer):
"The Art Center’s photo darkroom is one the few remaining of its kind. In the darkroom, artists and students learn about film processing, developing, and printing."
2. Further down their page of Artists' Opportunities:
https://www.hydeparkart.org/get-involved/artist-opportunities/
3. Funding: Their professional pathways is supported by the Kanter Family Foundation.
Putting together your proposal will effectively require an arts council grant or a demonstrable stream of income if you cannot identify any resource stream coming from the Art Center. If you have the will to scope the darkroom to find out and enquire curiously about their photo darkroom with a suggestion of linking development for artists - even young or new artists - into the darkroom, you may do so with more success as a signed up client of the Art Center, instead of offering an outsider's vision and suggestions by cold calling.
The funding stream will be of interest for them; if their Kanter Family Foundation does not hold film photography and darkroom in their scope (which might be a reasonable hypothesis, given the neglect of the darkroom), then your scoping exercise will require exploration further afield to bring together a funding proposal.
In England we do this via local council ward grants which become available with underspend at the mid and end points of the council budgets and tap in to offering community services for local, deprived, or marginalised sections of society; through private arts grants and the general Arts Council. Essentially, learning how to navigate funding procurement or setting up the American equivalent of what we call a CIC [Community Interest Company] which bypasses sole trading or financial liability for taxes as a community centre by offering 'community value'. If this is not your skill set, it makes sense to find a willing partner.
Alternatively, a safer proposal for them (and yourself) is to run a proposal in line with the themes for their other wider arts calendar events for a cycle of one off workshops in any of their extant artists spaces which do not require a darkroom, in order to build a portfolio of workshops before suggesting the darkroom venture. POP style low light not quite darkroom workshop, lumen printing; chemigram, anthotypes or cyanotype course to wet their interest and gauge whether the will to work together in a community is authentic or merely a pipe dream of resurrection. An idea to succeed, cannot be run by a sole photographer alone; you will need a fundraiser and support and even approaching a known local artist to champion its reopening will increase the potential to run with it for more than just a start up which peters out after a few months.
Kind regards
RJ
