Perspective: Room with a View

by Diane Brown

After 24 years as an art dealer and consultant, I found myself looking for a new challenge. I ruminated for a few months, turning over ideas. I thought about opening a new gallery (been there, done that), or getting involved in something art-related on the Internet (nope - I want to work with art, not electrons). I talked it over with family and friends. Then it came to me: What I love about art is the direct connection it can make to a person's life. Where better to make that connection for people in need of one, than at a hospital?

Things began to click. I decided to form a not-for-profit organization, to be called Room with a View. I discovered that it can take a while to set up a new not-for-profit. Once it exists, you still need it to be blessed by the state and federal governments as a tax-exempt organization. Once all that has happened, you can tell people their contributions to the not-for-profit corporation are tax-deductible. I definitely wanted that.

My address book came in handy at this point. People I know, or people they know, could provide legal assistance and accounting advice. A friend suggested a lawyer, a partner at a major New York law firm, who had in fact become an art client. I called him to discuss my ideas and my hopes, and he said he thought his firm could take this on as a pro bono project. They would take my project through getting tax-exempt status. I was thrilled. His assistance did not stop there. He had some wonderful ideas about other help and support we could tap. He also suggested that we establish a relationship with an accountant who specializes in not-for-profits.

After speaking with another friend, I found out there were things I needed to handle with care. The not-for-profit status was a trade-off. My corporation would not have to pay income taxes to the state and the IRS. In exchange, they wanted assurances that the tax-free money we spent was for the charitable purposes we had committed to in our corporate papers. I realized I was going to need to learn a new set of rules for this nonprofit world. I also realized what a good idea it was to find an accountant who already knows those rules.

The corporate papers were going to be filed, and they were in the capable hands of the pro bono partner and a talented and enthusiastic associate at the law firm. I could direct my attentions elsewhere. I had begun to look around for Board members. Every not-for-profit is required by law to have at least three people on their Board of Directors. The Directors might be able to contribute money, and / or they might be able to make the introductions and personal connections that could facilitate our growth and success. There would be an Advisory Board / Art Committee as well, a panel of art experts to decide what art we would actually bring to the hospitals.

Which raised the question: what hospitals? I knew I needed to begin small, locally. After setting up an art program with one hospital, then we could branch out. First, it was important to get the pilot program up and running smoothly. My address book came to the rescue again - I realized I knew a doctor who was in an administrative position at a hospital here in New York City. If I contacted him, he would probably know other people in the hospital to contact for permission and coordination.

I wanted to be able to make presentations. Stationery - I needed stationery. Something that looks great and somehow conveys a bit of what we want to accomplish. A brilliant designer, whose work had come to my attention while curating the art collection for a corporate headquarters in midtown, agreed to tackle the logo at a "not-for-profit price." But my plan to call the new corporation Room with a View was rejected - I learned that somewhere in the State of New York there is a corporation using that name already. This was a setback, and would obviously delay the stationery design.

I had to put some written materials together, describing the corporation and its goals. And, of course, I needed to do budget projections. I began to list the various expenses I could foresee: art shipping and storage, framing, insurance, conservation, etc. We would need an office. How many people would it need to accommodate? What would these people earn? What about me? I would want some kind of fee or salary for all the time I was planning to invest in the project. If we were going to set up an office, that meant a host of additional expenses for overhead: salaries, equipment rentals, furnishings, telephone, fax and Internet, office supplies and software, etc. I could see this list growing longer and longer.

I alternated among working on the budget, exploring Board and Committee candidates, and writing the mission statement and concept memos for the new project. I was realizing with delight that the people I told about my project thought it was a wonderful idea. That in itself provided me with more energy. In addition, they also were contributing ideas, and introductions, and war stories from their own experiences in the nonprofit art world. Momentum was definitely building.

Here's my draft of the mission statement, as it exists now [we'll refer to the project here as RWAV, for the moment]:

RWAV is a not-for-profit corporation whose goal is to aid and accelerate the healing process by improving the patient's environment. Specifically, we will buy exhibition-quality photography, contemporary works on paper, sculpture and installation work, which will be installed in hospital rooms across the country.

RWAV is founded on the belief that an aesthetic and stimulating environment is the best medicine. It has been demonstrated in numerous studies, that if a patient has something beautiful and interesting to look at, and something to think about other than their illness, they will heal more quickly. We propose to improve the clinical and often impersonal hospital environment by purchasing works of art which are rigorous in quality, beautiful to look at, and stimulating to contemplate.

A laminated card with a brief, clearly written biography of the artist and a few sentences about the particular piece and the school of art from which it derives will accompany each work. This will give the work greater context and relevance and will facilitate access to the artwork for anyone, regardless of whether or not they have experienced art before. Patients will be able to obtain greater depth of information by choosing to view videotaped artist interviews, selected performances, and short, lively discussions about art on the television monitors in their rooms, which are already utilized to disseminate treatment information.

What distinguishes RWAV from other organizations already in existence is that we will not be limited to accepting donations of art, which are all too frequently pieces that are not of sufficiently high quality to be accepted by museums. These works have traditionally been donated to art-hungry hospitals for a tax deduction and, subsequently, hung in hospital lobbies and halls, not patient rooms. We are currently building a Board of Directors and an Art Selection Committee comprised of important and influential figures in the international art, business, and medical communities. Committee members will be dedicated to choosing works of art and ensuring the quality of all RWAV purchases.

The primary goal of RWAV is to aid in the healing process of patients through exposure to art. In doing so, we will additionally be supporting the contemporary art community and raising art awareness and appreciation in this country. Furthermore, collaboration with RWAV, Inc. will undoubtedly raise the profiles of the hospitals and organizations with which it is associated.

Our first step is to collaborate with a single institution to launch a pilot program. The possibilities for expansion, both physically and conceptually, are numerous and exciting. A lending program for patients in home- care situations could easily be established. Traveling exhibitions of work purchased by RWAV would be a great way to attract a larger national audience and broaden our base of support. RWAV also hopes to work with participating hospitals and existing organizations to establish and support programs of live performances for patients, staff, and the community at large.

The ultimate goal of RWAV is to expedite the healing process and improve the hospital stay of patients, while becoming a positive force and base of support in the contemporary art world.

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Although I'm sure the mission statement will go through some more revisions (besides replacing "RWAV" with the new name), it's descriptive and, I hope, inviting.

We are probably a month or two away from getting the tax-exempt "seal of approval" from the government. In that time, I am planning to invite people to join me on the Board and the Art Committee. I will also start a relationship with a local hospital, to be our first site.

As I write this, I'm preparing to attend a conference about the arts and healing - sounds apropos, and certainly well-timed.

I'll keep you posted. If you want to help, visualize positive energy around this new project, to encourage it to grow and prosper.

About the Author:

Diane Brown is an art dealer and consultant, specializing in collection development and management. Her family fervently hoped she would become a doctor, while all she dreamed of was opening an art gallery. After graduating from college as a pre-med major, she opened her first gallery in Washington, DC in 1976, moved it to Soho (New York City) in 1983, and closed it at the end 1992. Since that time she has sold art privately. She also curates the art collection for a corporate headquarters in midtown Manhattan.

She sees the new nonprofit as, at last, an opportunity for her to combine her formal education with her dreams of exposing and educating a broad public to the highest quality works of art.

For more information, contact Diane Brown in care of the editor (email to editor@arts4all.com)

Resources:

Diane Brown promises to let us know when the website for the new project goes up.