Originally from the Seacoast but coming to Concord after a 10-year stint with the Florida Ballet, Martha Lemire has spent her first months as the new executive director at Kimball Jenkins by immersing herself in what the historic estate and its programs mean to the city — and seeking to steady the helm.
The arts non-profit, occupying the 1877 Kimball Jenkins estate off North Main Street, has had a rocky year with both a budget shortfall and internal friction with outgoing staff over the direction and mission of the organization.
Around Concord sat down with Lemire to ask her how she’s facing those challenges and what her vision is for the future. Her focus, she said, is on financial recovery – increasing revenue by adding more children’s programs, expanding partnerships with local businesses and creating a more robust marketing effort. She also wants to bring in more private events, more heavily utilizing the historic mansion.
Around Concord: How do you feel like Kimball Jenkins is different than, or similar to, things you’ve done in the past? What kind of lessons from that past work have you brought into your role here?
Martha Lemire: I’ve always been in the arts, just more so on the performing arts side. But, no matter if it’s fine arts or performing arts, it’s the arts, and we all know how much the arts can make a difference in people’s lives and how important they are to the community and those we serve.
Leaving Florida, the hardest part was that I truly loved my job. I saw the organization grow from a $250,000 annual budget, with one employee, renting 10,000 square foot facility to, by the time I left, having a 12-member professional dance company and purchasing our own building. My last performance with the organization was watching them perform with the Jacksonville Symphony. Being able to take the work that I did at Florida Ballet — from expanding programming, events, collaborations, partnerships, DEI work, just all of that — I’ll be able to hopefully bring into Kimball Jenkins.
Here, we have the program, and we have events, we have exhibitions, we have a summer camp. There’s a lot of different areas that we’re trying to evaluate, see what’s worked, and then move forward.
AC: You’re starting alongside a lot of other new administrative staff. There has been turnover here in the last year, as well as financial challenges. How did you understand the role that you were coming into and what you would need to do to be successful here?
ML: I have not focused too much on the past. I know there’s been history, and I appreciate all the work that has been done by previous administrations here — wonderful, wonderful work. When I came in, it was my understanding that we were trying to move forward and come back as a stronger, more balanced organization.
My priorities right now are definitely financial. They have struggled with finances, but the board has also done a lot of work over the last six months to ensure that they could bring in an executive director and to stabilize the organization. My focus right now is revenue generating, trying to bring in different programming in different ways. I am also going to be writing quite a few grants in the next couple of months. We have a beautiful campus, and I want to make sure that we’re utilizing it to the best of our ability, as well as serving the community and what they need.
AC: Where are you looking, in addition to grants, to find that new revenue?
ML: Kimball Jenkins has been very much focused on the adult population; we haven’t had a lot of youth programming besides the camp. So this year, we are bringing in a lot of different opportunities for children: we’re expanding into puppetry and woodworking and metal working and watercolors for kids. This year, hopefully, we’re going to offer a February and an April vacation camp for kids — which we’ve never done before.
We’re trying to plan a little bit further down the road, so I could potentially go to different businesses and sponsors. We’re looking at maybe branding a little bit differently, and we’re going to be updating our website. We’ll be having a gala in the spring of 2025, so that will be a big revenue generating event for us as well.
AC: What do you see as the greatest strengths of Kimball Jenkins to move forward and to meet its financial challenges?
ML: I’ve heard so many times how important Kendall Jenkins is to the Concord community. There’s a lot of people that truly love this establishment.
I think that we are known for being able to provide accessible arts education and giving kids those opportunities, and I do feel with the expansion of the programming that there will be a lot of different ways that kids can experience art here.
We’re going to be able to cultivate further some of those partnerships that were already in place, and I think that’s a strength too. This is a grant that was written prior to me — but we are going to be working on the New Hampshire Correctional Facility for women doing a theater program within the facility.
We don’t really have an exhibition schedule in place past 2024 yet, but bringing art to the community is another strength. We’ll be working with the Concord Women’s Club for ‘Art in Bloom’ again in January.
AC: You’ve talked to community leaders about how Kimball Jenkins fits into Concord and its place in the city. What’s your vision for what that will look like when you’re meeting all these goals?
ML: I think my first impression when I came here was that it was just it was so empty. I want to fill it.
My vision is that we’re going to have a vibrant campus with lots of different opportunities for all ages, all backgrounds, while still being able to provide those accessible arts experiences. I also want us to be an event space for people to be able to come and enjoy the beautiful estate that Carolyn Jenkins left for Concord to enjoy.
And I think we have a great possibility of getting there.
Catherine McLaughlin can be reached at cmclaughlin@cmonitor.com
