ROCKPORT – A 30-year-old visual arts school on Rockport Harbor that draws some 2,500 students from around the world for summer workshops is near financial collapse and is seeking a buyer, its owner said Wednesday.

David Lyman, founder of Rockport College and Maine Photographic Workshops, said the for-profit business is “suffering a financial slump right now. We have run out of cash and we have laid off staff.”

Lyman serves as director for the workshops, launched in 1973, and for Rockport College, an adjunct institution he founded in 1996. Rockport College offers a master of fine arts degree.

Lyman, 63, is the sole owner of both enterprises. “We have to find a buyer before the end of the year,” he said.

Husson College and an unidentified Canadian film producer, he said, represent the two most viable offers to buy the workshop and college. Both are conducting financial evaluations of the college.

Husson President William Beardsley said Wednesday he has discussed possible collaborations with the Lyman, but that no formal proposal is being considered. He said the New England School of Communications, a subsidiary of Husson, might offer a tie-in with the college or workshops.

Together, the Rockport schools are valued at $5 million, Lyman said. The buildings and property – including a $1.3 million dormitory built in the late 1990s and a 19th century harborfront building – are also valued at $5 million, he said.

The business has annual gross revenues of about $5 million, Lyman said, and he estimates it pumps about $3 million into the local economy each year, including about $1 million in payroll.

A variety of factors, including the war in Iraq and a soft economy, dealt both the workshop and college financial blows over the last year, he said.

A typical summer sees some 2,500 students take weeklong workshops in photography, filmmaking, video production and other visual arts. Enrollment dropped by 10 percent this past summer, Lyman said.

In addition, the workshops have offered classes in Europe and Mexico for 25 years. Soon after the war with Iraq began, the cancellations mounted so that Lyman pulled the plug on that part of the operation.

Longer workshops continue throughout the year, as do classes at Rockport College.

During the summer months, students are a common sight in Belfast, Camden and Rockport as they tackle photographic assignments.

A dozen employees have lost their jobs in recent weeks, Lyman said, and about half of the faculty is working without pay. The workshops and college employ 30 year-round, with the staff swelling to 100 in the summer.

In addition to the enrollment slump, he said, Camden National Bank – a longtime financial backer – has refused to extend a credit line. “It’s an annual credit line,” he said, but added that the bank did not want to risk money on the workshops and college now.

Also hurting cash flow is what Lyman called the high-interest loan on the new dormitory project.

After refinancing, Lyman said, he has paid $1.3 million in interest the past five years.

A spokeswoman for Camden National Bank declined to respond to Lyman’s comments, citing customer confidentiality.

Some of the workshops’ property is prime harborfront land and buildings, but Lyman said the bank would not allow him to sell any to improve cash flow.

Rockport College is also seeking accreditation, he said, but that effort might be stalled by the lack of money.

“This is exciting,” Lyman said of the financial crisis. “I’ve lived through three hurricanes on my boat in the Caribbean, and this is more exciting than that.”

Lyman was a photographer and journalist who covered the Vietnam War. Later, he specialized in adventure photography, taking pictures of skiing and mountaineering expeditions.