An internal 2023 memo from Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration lays out a potential road map for how the city could effectively end the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts — a missive recirculating now as speculation swirls about whether City Hall will sever ties with the beleaguered arts council.

Written a few months after ex-BOPA CEO Donna Drew Sawyer resigned in January 2023 from the organization at Scott’s request and before a new CEO was chosen, the previously unreported memo characterized the arts organization as unstable. It warned of low morale, mass resignations and “collapse” if it did not adjust its workload or make itself whole again. “Will the administration continue to fund and have indirect oversight with an organization that is dysfunctional and doesn’t serve the needs of the creative community?” it reads.

The document, reviewed by The Baltimore Banner, suggested two possible plans for BOPA. One, “Option A,” called for a review of all board members efficacy and giving the mayor’s office control of the organization for one year until a new CEO was selected.

A more detailed plan, “Option B,” would redirect all money the city gives the nonprofit to a wing of the mayor’s office and other organizations to put on BOPA’s signature events. Stripped of its core programming, BOPA would lose its quasi-governmental agency status under the plan, turning it into a private nonprofit that would have to raise funds independently of City Hall.

Losing city funding would be devastating for the embattled arts group — Baltimore’s general fund contributes more than two-thirds of BOPA’s $4.7 million in revenue, according to its latest tax filing. It not only stages events but also serves as a facilities manager, film office and funding source for the city’s creative class.

Scott’s office, in an unattributed statement, called the memo “deliberative,” and suggested it had little bearing on the current situation between BOPA and the city.

Last week saw a heated exchange between Scott’s office and BOPA CEO Rachel Graham who insinuated that city government bore some responsibility for the organization’s ongoing financial troubles — the nonprofit is insolvent. Graham, in an interview with The Banner, said a $1.5 million state grant for Artscape never reached BOPA’s coffers. The organization had, incorrectly, included the grant in its 2023 accounting as expected revenue, which may help explain its current shortfall and the $1.8 million city bailout BOPA is seeking.

The city was always the grant’s intended recipient, according to state Sen. Antonio Hayes, a Baltimore Democrat who secured the funds. But Graham also questioned if Scott’s office spent the money wisely. She asked, for example, why the city spent six figures booking Artscape 2023 headliner Kelly Rowland — who ultimately did not perform — instead of on local talent and other items that could have helped the organization become more financially sound.

Internal BOPA planning documents from late 2022, however, show the money spent on national talent for Artscape in 2023 adhered to the organization’s expectations. In fact, the budget for national talent was projected to grow every year for the next five years, according to documents The Banner reviewed.

City Hall drew a line in the sand last week, with the mayor’s office saying it was “seemingly impossible” to maintain the current relationship with BOPA and would start “moving accordingly” — the second time in as many years Scott’s office has entertained the prospect.

But it’s not clear whether any action has been taken. Statements issued Tuesday from Scott’s office and BOPA Board Chair Andrew Chaveas suggest little progress has been made.

“We continue to work with BOPA leadership and the Board to identify the best path forward and will make an announcement regarding that path if and when appropriate,” Scott’s office said. “Anything beyond that official announcement would be purely speculative in nature at this point in time.”

Chaveas, taking a slightly different approach, said BOPA and Scott’s office are “working together to reimagine” BOPA’s role while determining what the best path forward is for the arts community.

Scott said last month a bailout is not an option unless the nonprofit undergoes an independent forensic audit. At a board meeting last week where members opted out of downsizing the organization or relocating from its downtown offices, some members refuted that a forensic audit was needed.

The city’s latest contract with BOPA, negotiated earlier this year, includes a section that outlines how Baltimore or BOPA could terminate the agreement with a 90-day written notice. The city could also cut off BOPA if it finds the arts organization to have violated the agreement in any way and asks for BOPA to help it transfer its responsibilities to a “successor organization.”

Should Scott ultimately decide to yank BOPA’s funding, the 2023 memo lays out what could happen to its assets and events.

The Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture, helmed by former BOPA executive Tonya Miller-Hall, would get all of the nonprofit’s city funding. It would also absorb the arts council, city film office and public arts commission.

The Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, The Cloisters Castle in Timonium and the Baltimore Farmers’ Market, all currently run by BOPA, would be split off as well, per the memo.

And then there are the city’s signature events. Artscape, Baltimore Book Festival, Light City and July 4 and New Year’s Eve fireworks displays would need new homes. The administration’s memo suggests contracting with either Visit Baltimore or Live Baltimore to put them on.