The 3,000-square-foot hot shop at the GoggleWorks will close this winter.
As the calendar clicks from 2010 to 2011, the furnace flames will go out, hopefully temporarily, at the Reading, Pennsylvania-based open-access glass studio of GoggleWorks. Despite the overwhelming popularity of the regular glassblowing demonstrations, the hot shop has proven to be the greatest financial drain on the organization, with yearly expenses estimated as high as $70,000. GoogleWorks interim executive director Gust Zogas recently made the decision to close the hot shop for the winter so that the the non-profit can work on restructuring the program as a more cost-effective component of the space.
Housed in the former Willson Goggle Factory in downtown Reading, Pennyslvania’s fifth-largest city, the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts opened in September of 2005 following a year-long renovation of the abandoned factory building. In addition to its glass facilities, the organization has multiple galleries, artists studios, and classrooms; offices for arts organizations; and a darkroom, woodshop, jewelry and ceramics studios. The GoggleWorks has been a prime mover in jump-starting the much-needed revitalization of downtown Reading.
The organization’s accomplishments contrast sharply with its financial situation, however. In a telephone interview, Zogas told the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet that GoggleWorks has been running at a deficit every year since it opened. “I think this is not unique to the GoggleWorks, but many arts organizations find it very difficult to break even,” he said. “The greatest expense that we have at the present time is the hot shop.”
Though expensive to operate, the GoggleWorks hot shop has no trouble drawing a crowd.
Although the hot shop generates great public interest, this has not translated into sufficient revenues via sales of artwork, class enrollments, or space rentals. “People applaud after demonstrations, they shake hands with the glassblowers, they absolutely love it,” says Zogas. “But they don’t buy a thing, they don’t rent studio space, they simply love the demonstrations. They don’t say, ‘I’m going to buy a piece of glass for my collection.’ It has the highest interest without people taking advantage of it.”
Studio Manager and glass artist Nate Dubbs, who joined GoggleWorks less than a year after it opened, points to the initial size and setup of the hot shop as another key source of its current predicament. “That’s the upsetting part to me, that the original planning was not thought about enough. It wasn’t planned out in a way that would make it economically sustainable,” he said. He suggested that in the long run, the hot shop would have been better off with less equipment than the two 500-pound furnaces it has, which require costly amounts of energy to run.
Though Zogas and Dubbs do not believe the hot shop will remain closed permanently, future plans for the program remain unclear. Zogas said his focus now was on improving the GoggleWorks’ current financial situation. “I know in an arts organization there are other factors to consider, but unless the GoggleWorks straightens out their finances, the future looks awful. So we must straighten it out.”
To this end, he’s planning to meet with area glassblowers sometime over the next two months to discuss new solutions for the studio, such as a group leasing it for their own production or courses. He’s already been contacted by a number of individuals, glassblowers, and one business potentially interested in running the hot shop.
This Saturday the GoggleWorks will hold “Get it While its Hot”, a glassblowing live auction event with cocktails, hors d’ouvres, and musical entertainment provided by Piano Man H. William Moyer. Participating artists are coming from all over the country to blow, with the finished work up for grabs to the highest bidder, with proceeds benefiting the GoggleWorks and its hot shop.
A promotional video for the event can be seen below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IImtkmC69A4]
For more information, or for tickets ($35), call 610.374.4600.
You can also visit the event Webpage here.
—Grace Duggan
IF YOU GO: “Get it While it’s Hot” GoggleWorks
November 20, 2010, 5 – 9 PM 201 Washington Street Reading, Pennsylvania Tel: 610 374 4600 Website: www.goggleworks.org