In the latest turn of events in the ongoing saga over the future of the School of Architecture at Taliesin (SoAT), the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, the group that owns and maintains the buildings used by SoAT, has announced that it will "allow its agreement with the School of Architecture to expire at the end of July, 2020," effectively finalizing the plan to shut down the school. 

The move follows an announcement made by the Board of Directors of the SoAT on January 25 indicating its plans to close following a disagreement between SoAT and the Foundation over the viability of the school's finances and over the school's continued use of the spaces at Taliesin. The SoAT Board of Directors switched course in early March, when it voted to rescind the January decision to shut down the school following an outpouring of financial support in response to the initial announcement. 

What the Foundation says

In the latest announcement from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, however, the group writes that SoAT "provided no information about new sources of secured funding or enrollment to the Foundation that would suggest that it had a viable path forward. As a result, the Foundation made the difficult decision to end discussions with the School."

Instead of working out an agreement with SoAT to continue its operations, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which is required to utilize the spaces at Taliesin for educational purposes in conjunction with the stated goals of Wright's will, explained that it "will return to its own efforts to develop new programs in architect education that advance Wright’s legacy, his pedagogical ideas, and the integrity of Taliesin and Taliesin West as architectural campuses."

The Foundation adds, "We have been contacted by apprentices who spent years working at Taliesin, alumni of the School’s predecessor (the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture), and others interested in Wright’s legacy of training at the Taliesin campuses. We have heard an eagerness from these stakeholders to have us return to core elements of Wright’s Fellowship they felt had disappeared, including ideas around apprenticeship and pedagogy centered on the evolution of organic architecture."

The group additionally states that it is in the process of forming a "working group" that will "explore how these ideas and others can become the spine of new programs that will continue the legacy of Taliesin, the Fellowship, and organic architecture through the training of design professionals and others in Wright’s ideas."

SoAT's response

In response to the Foundation's latest announcement, Aaron Betsky, the outgoing Director of SoAT, issued a statement through the Kirkland & Ellis law firm that is working pro bono to aid SoAT in its efforts to remain open, that reads, “The Foundation Board has decided not to renew our Memorandum of Understanding. They claim that was a decision they made recently; in fact, they told us their position on Jan. 25. They also claim that we have not provided them with any plans or showed them a viable path forward."

Betsky, who was recently hired as the new director of Virginia Tech School of Architecture and Design, added that "[The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation is] also ignoring the enthusiastic and unanimous support from the Fellows, the tens of thousands of people who have expressed their desire for the School to continue, the plea from the Arizona Private and Post-Secondary Education Committee Board for mediation, and the confidence our banks and supporters have put in us. The School Board of Governors is currently preparing an appropriate response.”

Previously, Kirkland & Ellis law firm partner Jon Kelley wrote in a statement to Archinect that "The [SoAT] board sent the [a] letter asking the Foundation to contact them by 3/10 to give them a time to engage in a discussion about how to save the School," adding that "The [SoAT] board received no response from the Foundation. It appears, then, that the Foundation is unwilling to engage in any kind of meaningful discussion about the future of the school, which is really unfortunate - for the existing students, the school’s alumni, and the global architectural community. "

According to the law firm, the next steps include an effort to mediate between the two groups. If that is unsuccessful, arbitration could follow.