RUMFORD – The Pennacook Art Center, the first gallery in the town, will make the transition to a nonprofit art center early next spring.
The business, started by Lem Cissel 18 months ago as a for-profit gallery, will close its unique revolving door with access to Congress Street on Jan. 1, with an eye toward reopening April 1.
“I planned on doing this two years ago,” Cissel said Monday. “I said I would open it but not run it for the rest of my life. I will work with them.”
Buyers, artists and those who just want to look may still be able to view the works of art through the Scrappers Domaine entrance on Canal Street. But the gallery will not be regularly staffed.
Gallery manager Betsy Bell and two part-time employees will lose their jobs as a result of the change.
According to a statement issued by Bell, the downtime at the gallery will give a group of artists a chance to transform it into a “sustainable, long-term effort.”
Carol Rickards, an artist and one of the center’s part-time employees, said Monday that the Pennacook Friends of the Arts will focus on how to use the space during the next few months. They also plan to work closely with the River Valley Arts Council, which recently was placed under the nonprofit umbrella of the town.
She said other artists, such as writers and poets, and artisans, such as potters and weavers, will be invited to take part. Anyone with an interest in the arts is also invited to participate in the transformation of the gallery, she said.
A meeting will be scheduled for mid-January to begin the planning, said Rickards.
“We want to keep the quality and flow the same,” she said.
Cissel said he plans to devote much more time to a 450-acre mixed development project near Black Mountain of Maine. He also owns Scrappers Domaine.
But he won’t abandon the art center.
“If they are working on it, I’ll keep working on it, too,” he said.
Town Manager Steve Eldridge, an arts supporter and member of the River Valley Arts Council, said Monday that he’s looking for alternative ways to support the gallery. He is also looking into grant money that could help renovate the fourth floor of the River Valley Technology Center, which he hopes will be focused on the arts.
“I think the gallery will continue. It’s too valuable an asset to the town,” he said.
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