No more LAAFF? Event’s nonprofit sponsor in ‘financial bind’

Jason Sandford September 4, 2012

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

Arts2People, the nonprofit that presents the Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival, says there might not be a LAAFF next year, and there might be no Arts2People programming for the remainder of 2012.

Last year the festival, traditionally held on Sunday, was expanded to Saturday and Sunday. Word was the festival took a financial hit with that expansion. This year, the event sponsored a pub crawl on Saturday night and had bands perform in several downtown bars–and happily proclaimed it was paying bands for the first time. The festival was held Sunday, with thousands of attendees.

And it looks like organizers face a shortfall in 2012. From Arts2People about LAAFF:

I have to tell you that this has been a rough year for the festival and we are in dire need of help from all of you. As the event grows and we look at ways to try to make the event profitable for all involved, we are forced to take many risks. This year’s list of risks did not pay off and we are in a position that might mean we won’t be able to continue to have this event. We are in a financial bind that might mean that Arts2People won’t be able to continue to any programming.

I am posting this as a cry for help! If all of our fans donated $5, we could save LAAFF and Arts2People. If you can help by making a $5 donation through www.arts2people.org it would help us keep this festival alive.

Please help us save Lexington Ave Arts and Fun Festival (LAAFF)!

View the original Facebook post from Arts2People here.

Arts2People link

LAAFF on Facebook

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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7 Comments

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Jeff September 6, 2012

Sounds like a whole buncha people aren’t going to get paid.

Reply
Non-profit Watcher September 5, 2012

The Guidestar report for 2010 (latest available) only gives gross revenues and expenses for the organization as a whole, not details of any of A2P projects. It would be helpful see the details. How about a breakdown of LAFF revenues and expenses? From the Guidestar report, it appears that no one is receiving a salary, so all volunteers. Where is the money going?

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Ben September 5, 2012

Any non-profit’s financial information is publicly available:

http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/56-2212585/arts-2-people.aspx

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mat catastrophe September 5, 2012

It would be nice, as a non-profit, if they could provide the public with a financial record so that it could be seen where the money’s going.

Just sayin’.

Reply
1. aaron September 5, 2012
  
  i second that motion
  
  Reply