Recently Manifest negotiated and signed a new long term (10-year) lease for its current facilities on Woodburn Avenue. The lease includes a provision for an extension for an additional 5 years. It also includes an incentive for establishing energy efficient heating and cooling. This incentive is a 'matching contribution' of facility space that will double Manifest Gallery.
Manifest is in great need of a heating and air-conditioning system. The gallery and offices are currently (sort of) heated by 12 very inefficient baseboard heaters and cooled by 5 window-unit air conditioners.
Manifest currently does not pay for heat in its spaces by lease agreement (carried over from previous lease). However in less than one year (January 2013) Manifest will become fully responsible for the considerable heat bill from that point forward. So HVAC has become a major initiative for our board and staff.
Our new lease includes an incentive for Manifest to undertake the installation of high-efficiency HVAC for its facility. In exchange for our installation of a HVAC system the landlord will provide the gallery with another large space within the building, added to our lease for no additional charge for the remainder of the lease.
New high-efficiency heat and a/c will decrease our monthly costs for utilities and improve the comfort of guests, and climate control for the safekeeping of artwork and our inventory of books.
The additional space is enough to double the exhibition space at Manifest!
It is our dedicated intent to ultimately renovate the added space, linking it to our current gallery facility, and drastically increase the exhibition space of Manifest, as well as number of works shown, and number of solo and group exhibits per year. This would also include an improved reception area, and enlarged and improved book display area, and possibly an education space. This gallery expansion is clearly the second phase of a larger plan. But the HVAC will pave the way for that to occur.
We have been working with the Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance (GCEA) as a project participant and they have provided a quote via a third party contractor for the installation of our needed HVAC.
Originally a complext and very expensvie system was specified for our project. We have since remapped our plan and found a better and more efficient and affordable system.
The cost to accomplish installation of HVAC is broken into three options as follows:
A: Currently occupied spaces - $27,650
B: Currently occupied spaces plus new Manifest Artist Residency Space - $39,650
C:
All current and future spaces at Manifest - $51,650
The optimal choice is plan C, which covers all our facility's HVAC needs for the foreseeable future.
The GCEA will contribute 35% towards the project fund ($18,077).
Manifest is left with the remainder to raise in a very short amount of time.
As a young (but fiscally very sound) organization, Manifest still has no capital fund, endowment, or reserve funds to undertake such a project on its own.
We have already raised nearly $5,000 in public donations towards this project. Our goal is to raise $25,000 by September 2012 so we can initiate the HVAC installation and pave the way for the largest expansion at Manifest to-date.
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