Crossroads Carnegie Art Center Launches “Pay What You Can” Model

By Garrett Christensen on Wednesday, January 25th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News

BAKER CITY – (Release from Crossroads Carnegie Art Center) Crossroads Carnegie Art Center Inc in Baker City, Oregon is thrilled to announce the starting of a bold new project “Pay What You Can” payment model for their classes starting in late February/early March thru 2023.

In 2023, Crossroads is celebrating its 60^th Anniversary serving Baker County. As our community continues to recover, staff reached out to community members and organizational partners on how to increase participation in their programs.

One question emerged—is the “cost of Crossroads programs” on rural families, seniors and community members limiting peoples ability to participate in Crossroads Education programs?

“Crossroads staff and board recognize that something “happened” and we faced a marked decrease in attendance in our classes and the use of the scholarship fund, beyond Covid impacts. The Hand to Heart Scholarship has always been available to people of all ages since the 1980’s and is being a light of positivity for so many. Our scholarship process was simple and easy and we always invited people to pay what they could or if needed we could do full scholarships. As we move into our 60^th year we had to do something bold to increase engagement.” says Ginger Savage, Executive Director

With the support of the Marie Lanform and Bloomfield Foundations, Crossroads will unveil a “Pay What You Can Model” for the rest of 2023.

How it works:

Look at our Spring Class Schedule Online at www.crossroads-arts.org or look at the class schedule delivered for free to every mailbox around the first of March.

Find classes of interest for you or student.
Choose to pay full tuition, half tuition, or any amount you can afford. If your family is struggling it can be zero. Complete your registration using your current Crossroads account or start a Crossroads account. As simple as that.
There is no scholarship form to be filled out and, in the privacy of their home, families can look at the value and knowledge gained by themselves or their child in Crossroads classes and their budget and make a choice on what they can pay.
Teachers will be paid as usual for the hard and valuable work they provide.

As classes are added for the Spring Session on the Crossroads website the “Pay What You Can Model” will start appearing. This option will be available for Children or Adults class registrations. Crossroads has also added a “Pay What You Can” FAQ Sheet in our forms library on our website at www.crossroads-arts.org.

“Crossroads goal at the end of 2023 is to see what happens. Our hope is that all our classes will be filled with eager and excited students who for a variety of reason were unclear about our scholarship program. It is by filling the classes we currently offer, we can offer more classes and recruit new teachers. If successful, the board and staff has identified how Crossroads can financially maintain this program over the long term.

But If we don’t have a measurable increase in enrollment then we have eliminated cost as the barrier. In the last few years staff has tackled some of the other barriers shared with us including:

How our class schedule was circulated.
How staff shared our message with the community.
An updated website with point-of-sale capability to allow busy families to enroll in classes at home.
Funded a dedicated Education Coordinator position who has the sole job of recruiting teachers and students to our program.
Included basic supplies at no additional charge for some of our entry level classes.
Offer more family friendly classes to eliminate the need for childcare.

“Crossroads offers Baker families wonderful classes in a variety of disciplines and that our community constantly expressed desire for more art programming. Crossroads will continue to be the hub for arts education in Baker County. Families need to understand that our classes are a great place for your student to learn and grow in the arts. Our classes are not a substitute for quality child care and students who are uninterested in the arts are encouraged to find the things that make them happy. For those students, adult, or children, who long to participate in the arts but can’t afford too, this option is available to allow you to access the arts at a level you can afford.” Ginger Savage, Executive Director Crossroads Carnegie Art Center.

Crossroads thanks the Marie Lanform Foundation and the Bloomfield Foundation for supporting this first year’s experiment. Crossroads will continue to take donations for the Hand to Heart Scholarship Fund which will fund the program if successful. This does not change Crossroads critical membership program. Members still get discounts on classes and purchases and more importantly membership provides critical operating income for the art center. In fact this year, celebrating our 60^th Anniversary year Crossroads will offer a 1 year Student Membership for $3.00 the price of the membership to Crossroads when founded.

If you have any questions please contact Executive Director Ginger Savage at 541-523-5369 or email at ginger@crossroads-arts.org . For help enrolling in classes or inquiring about teaching classes contact Crossroads at 541-523-5369 and speak with Karen Owen, Education Coordinator.