International Storytelling Center is bankrupt

The International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tenn., has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Ken Little reports for the Knoxville News Sentinel. The center is the host of the acclaimed National Storytelling Festival held each October since 1973. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is the largest creditor of the $4 million debt carried by the center. Its assets are listed in court documents as $56,000 cash on hand.

Jimmy Neil Smith, the center's executive director and founder of the festival, told Little that several factors have affected its finances. The mortgage on the 14,000 square-foot Mary B. Martin Storytelling Hall, built in 2002, is "one of the things that is dragging us down," Smith said. The recession has also hurt the center. Attendance to the festival was down in 2008 and 2009 (but slightly up in 2010). Up to 60 percent of the organization's annual revenue is derived from the sfestival, court documents say. Smith told Little that a study done at East Tennessee State University found the festival has an economic impact of nearly $7 million in Jonesborough and helps create almost 100 jobs.  Said Bob Browning, town administrator: "It's not something we can afford to lose. We need to do whatever we can to make it as strong as we can."

Smith emphasized that the Storytelling Center will remain open, the annual Teller-in-Residence program will continue, and the 2011 National Storytelling Festival will be held as scheduled. (Read more)