Museum on the move

EUSTIS — After nearly 25 years, the Lake Eustis Museum of Art (LEMA) is moving its headquarters to neighboring Tavares.

LEMA Board President Lou Buigas said the board voted recently to move to a building in downtown Tavares after striking a sweetheart deal with the landlord Herbert Lehner Foundation.

“We’ve been struggling financially, with grants and other funding and also with membership for years. It’s a sign of the times that’s led to this,” Buigas said. “We basically want to be somewhere where the museum is going to be loved and supported by the community.”

The museum has been renting the 2,300-square-foot building at 1 W. Orange Ave. in Ferran Park from the city of Eustis for $1,300 per month since 2012. Before that, it was housed in other Eustis locations and is known for offering children and adult art programs and education, as well as hosting various artist exhibits.

Some were well supported and attended and some were not, Buigas said.

The museum was being funded by membership dues, sponsorships and donations. As a nonprofit organization, it relies heavily on state grants and support.

After finding itself in a financial rut and encountering building problems, the museum went to the city for help. Buigas said the museum also wanted to form a broader partnership with the city, to no avail.

Commissioners did agree to waive the museum’s rent for six months, however.

A call also went out for additional community and board member support when grant funding was slashed.

“Unfortunately, the state of Florida has slashed its budget for the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs grants. This affects LEMA greatly — we did not receive the salary assist grant money that we have applied for and received previously,” LEMA wrote in a letter to patrons in February. “Even with the financial contributions of our board members, we are still in need of additional funding to make up the lost revenue from the State of Florida zeroing out their grant support.”

Eustis City Manager Ron Neibert said he wishes there was more the city could have done.

“The museum provides arts and education and we will miss that. Not having an art presence always diminishes the community somewhat, but we were charging them below market rent and we did what we could do to help them out,” Neibert said.

Within the next few months, the museum will begin its transition to the Key West Resort in downtown Tavares, where it will occupy more than 1,600 square feet in the first floor of the building at 213 W. Ruby St.

The museum, which plans on changing its name, will be taken under the wing of the Herbert Lehner Foundation, considered a total charitable irrevocable trust.

Buigas said she’s talked to various people and organizations about LEMA's mission to promote art education and thinks they will have a great following in Tavares.

“LEMA is grateful to the City of Eustis for their many years of support and is looking forward to this exciting new chapter in the City of Tavares," Buigas said in a press release.

"We want to be a big part of the community and have the community be a big part of us and I think we will be in a location where people will embrace and engage in and with the arts,” Buigas added. “We’re excited about our rebirth."

She also said the traffic they expect to bring to downtown Tavares should serve as an economic driver that will benefit not just the museum but all the businesses around them.

“It will be a win-win for everyone,” Buigas said.

D.J. Varon, the trust administrator, said Lehner, a businessman from South Florida, owns several properties in Tavares. The trust is funded with profits from his tenants' rent.

“They showed us what they’ve done, what they are doing currently and what their vision is for permanent and traveling exhibits, for camps they want to bring to our community and workshops they want to offer to children and adults. The arts are kind of lost in school, so we thought it would be a good addition to the foundation and to the city,” Varon said.

Varon said the museum will be responsible for some kind of rent, but would not disclose an amount or further details.

Tamera Rogers, Tavares’ Community Services director, said LEMA's move to Tavares will bring additional cultural offerings to the community.

“I can tell you that we are deliriously happy. It is the first program of its kind for us in the city,” Rogers said. “We see them fitting in with many things we do like being part of our summer camps and engaging with our library staff to bring in additional programing for our children and teens and even our adults and seniors.”