AVA in the News, Awards
Bente Torjusen, AVA’s Executive Director, was recently interviewed by Sarwar Kashmeri in Enterprise’s Power Lunch series.!
Click here to download and read the entire interview.
AVA in the News, Awards
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is featuring AVA in their recent article, From Factory to Art Gallery in Lebanon, NH.
The article begins:
Adaptively reusing an old building can have benefits both tangible and intangible. Just ask Bente Torjusen, executive director of AVA Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
Several years ago, the organization purchased and renovated the 1850s former H.W. Carter & Sons overalls factory and turned it into an energy-efficient art center with studios, classrooms, and exhibition space. When we talked with Torjusen about local travel ideas for the Fall 2015 issue of Preservation magazine, we found the AVA Gallery story so interesting that we asked her to elaborate on it. Excerpts from our conversation with her are below.
Click here to read it all.
Development Latest News, Future Plans
October 15, 2015
We are excited to share with you some news about the progress on the plans that our capital campaign will make possible. As previously announced, we will construct a 3-D studies facility on our property adjacent to the parking lot on the rear of our Carter-Kelsey building. We have received approval from both the zoning and planning boards of the City of Lebanon to move forward on the construction.
The existing building, a small one-family home from 1890, will be demolished in order to provide the necessary space for the new construction, scheduled to begin in April 2016. The re-useable parts of the house have been salvaged, including flooring, windows, doors and cabinets. While the lovely crabapple tree on the east side of the house could not be saved—it was just taken down by AVA artist and board member Michael Kraatz, ably assisted by Justin O’Rourke (see photo)—the wood from the tree is being stored for use in the 3-D center’s new woodworking studio.
Before demolition of the remainder of the house takes place later this month, the Lebanon Fire Department will undertake a training session at the site. They will not burn the building down, but will practice access and rescue operations from the roof.
We continue to make progress on our $3.5 million capital campaign. A $200,000 grant this month from the Timken Foundation of Canton helped push us beyond the half-way point toward our goal. We also recently met the challenge from the Byrne Foundation by successfully raising $25,000 in new or increased campaign gifts, and those have been matched dollar-for-dollar by Byrne. In addition, our efforts to eliminate the mortgage on the Carter-Kelsey Building have been extremely successful—in just this past year, the mortgage has been reduced from $410,000 to $130,000. With the pledges we have received, the mortgage will be completely eradicated by October 2016. In addition, we continue to develop our plans for the new artist members’ gallery. We are looking forward to providing a beautiful space for our artists to share their work with both the community and other artists, including a frequently rotating show space, promotional opportunities through digital archives, and gallery store possibilities.
Please stay tuned for more progress reports!
Future Plans
Deconstruction Works of West Dummerston, VT will be salvaging items from AVA’s Yellow House on Monday, September 28th through Wednesday, September 30th.
Several items will be salvaged for consignment sale on behalf of AVA including: 1000 sq ft Hardwood Flooring, Vinyl Replacement Windows, Kitchen Cabinet Set, Cast Grates and Front Door.
If you are interested in purchasing any of these items please email info@avagallery.org or erich@deconstructionworks.com.
