The Brush Art Gallery and Studios
Legal name: A Brush with History Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 222475069
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Lowell, MA, US
- Phone
- (978) 459-7819
- Rating
- 52
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $104,531
- Expenses
- $119,042
- Assets
- $63,024
- Liabilities
- $9,915
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- James Dyment (Executive Director)
- Joanne Bergamini (President)
- Michael Lally (Vice President)
People named in this filing
- James Dyment (Executive Director)
- Joanne Bergamini (President)
- Michael Lally (Vice President)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To nurture the working artist; to keep the visual arts alive and healthy in Lowell National Historical Park and Preservation District; to use art to focus attention on important social and environmental issues; to demonstrate through exhibitions and cultural programming the diverse and rich heritage that exists in Lowell; and to make Lowell a destination for viewing some of the finest art being produced in New England and beyond.
What it reported doing in 2025
The Gallery affords the opportunity for local and regional artists and artisans to exhibit their works.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 28
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 19
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 28.8%; rating input score 29
- Program expense ratio: 24.8%; rating input score 25
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -13.9%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.53; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 50.8%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1% per year; rating input score 0; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 28.8% of revenue deployed · 24.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $30K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 29/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 25/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.