VARLEY MCKAY
ART FOUNDATION OF
TOWN OF
MINUTES
|
Attendance: Members Present: Brian Ayer Karen Chadwick Lana Champion Drew Gerrard Sammy Lee Patty Loveland Edward Mariani Robert McCulloch Elizabeth Plashkes Terrence Pochmurksi Beverly Schaeffer Councillor Staff: John Ryerson, Director Katerina
Atanassova, Program Coordinator Sue Firkser, Education Coordinator Kitty |
Absent: Mahesh Chokshi Stan Neal Ernestine Tahedl |
The sixth meeting of 2008 of
the Varley-McKay Art Foundation of Markham Board convened at
1.
OPENING REMARKS
Howard
Back, Chair, reported that Nancy Coxford had submitted her resignation from the
Board due to health reasons. A motion was made to express the Board’s
appreciation for
Members
noted that
MOVED BY: Lana Champion
SECONDED BY: Drew Gerrard
THAT on behalf of the Varley-McKay Art
Foundation of Markham Board and the Art Gallery, appreciation be conveyed to
Ms. Nancy Coxford for her dedication and commitment to the Board, the
community, and the York Region art community.
CARRIED
The
Chair advised that Mr. Patrick Carr, Vice-President of Marketing at Hallmark
Cards, has indicated an interest in being involved with the Foundation, and has
agreed to Chair the Art Auction next spring. Elizabeth Plashkes, as past Chair,
will provide guidance to Patrick.
The
Board was asked to keep other new members in mind for next year’s elections.
The
Chair noted the great success of the Garden Party held at the end of September,
and thanked Karen Chadwick and Patty Loveland for their efforts at this event.
The
Chair advised that a new Volunteer Coordinator had been appointed. More
discussion took place during the report of the Volunteer Sub-committee.
2. ADDITIONS
/ CHANGES TO AGENDA
A letter
from the office of the Lieutenant Governor, the Hon. David Onley, was
presented. The letter was in response to the Mayor’s invitation to attend the Legally
Deafblind show, and advised that although they are unable to confirm his
attendance at the event, every effort will be made for him to attend.
Katerina
Atanassova spoke of her recent trip to
3. WELCOME
TO EDWARD MARIANI
The
Chair introduced new member Edward Mariani and welcomed him to the Board. Mr.
Mariani gave a brief outline of his background and stated that he was looking forward to contributing to the
community.
4. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF THE VARLEY-McKAY
ART FOUNDATION OF
MOVED BY: Drew Gerrard
SECONDED BY:
Patty Loveland
THAT the minutes of the Varley McKay
Foundation of
CARRIED
5. EDUCATION
SESSION
Sue
Firkser gave an overview of the ongoing educational programs, and provided a
brochure of the 2008/09 offerings. Sue advised that the full-day programs are
well priced and are very popular, and that outreach programs are also
growing. In-house events raised $22,000
in revenues last year.
One
concern is the black-out periods that occur when the gallery cannot be used,
such as during the Homes for Holidays event. Outreach, which is gaining in popularity
and has no such limits, has doubled it’s revenues to $16,000 this year.
Another
educational opportunity is the art elective that is available to some schools,
where the students attend the gallery for 3 or 4 weeks. There is also a Teen
Council involving
Future
plans involve: establishing more professional development and workshops for
teachers; an Asian art exhibit that involves the School Board; a focus on
accessibility; and a pilot program that has been launched to put artists,
writers and musicians into
6. SUB-COMMITTEE
REPORTS
6. a. Building and
Elisabeth Plashkes provided
a document book of the gallery expansion plans, provided by Jerome Markson,
Architect, who has been preparing the feasibility study for the expansion and is
the original architect of the gallery. An analysis is currently underway to
determine the requirements for certification of the expansion under the bronze
or silver level of
CM2R Cost Consultants has
provided an independent second opinion of the cost analysis and there is a
significant discrepancy from an initial estimate prepared by Dineen
Construction Corporation, the original contractors for the gallery building.
Bill Pickering is meeting with Town staff and the consultants on this issue. The
latest figures will be provided to the Board, when available.
The project is proposed to
be presented to the General Committee of Council on
6. b. Nominations Committee
Howard Back requested that
members be on the lookout for potential new candidates, and pass the
information on to him.
6. c. Volunteer Committee
Lana Champion reported that
Francesca Amato-Gauci has been appointed as the new Volunteer Coordinator. Francesca
has a BA in Art History from the
The role has been expanded
to include a support function for the Art Auction as well as the Homes for the
Holidays event. The volunteer kick-off for Homes for the Holidays took place on
October 14 at the gallery, and it was a great opportunity to introduce
Francesca to the volunteers.
The board and the gallery
would like to take this opportunity to thanks Sue Firkser for taking over so
well during the process of finding the new Volunteer Coordinator.
6. d. Homes for the
Karen
Chadwick reported that the volunteer kick-off event held on October 14 was well
attended. The tickets are being finalized this week and will be printed next
week. Posters will be displayed and the sales campaign will be held over the
next month. It was suggested that members send e-mail contact lists to Karen,
for further sales opportunities.
Karen
discussed the difficulty of getting support for this event, and suggested that
consideration be given to a Fall Harvest House and Garden tour as an
alternative. It could be easier and less costly to produce, and would be held
earlier in the fall. The board discussed this possibility and Karen agreed to
report back with more information.
7. EVENTS
7. a Homes for the Holidays –
November 14 and 15, 2008
7. b Opening,
7. c. Opening, “Aligning in Beauty” –
8. TREASURER’S
REPORT
Drew
Gerrard, Treasurer, presented a banking resolution for signing officers, which
will replace the former Commissioner with the new Commissioner, Brenda Librecz,
as well as replacing Bill Pickering, former Chair, with Drew Gerrard as
Treasurer. Andy Taylor and Howard Back continue to be signing officers.
MOVED BY: Drew Gerrard
SECONDED BY:
Brian Ayers
THAT the Corporate Resolution of the Directors of the
Varley-McKay Art Foundation of
CARRIED
9. DIRECTOR’S
REPORT
John Ryerson, Director,
reported on various events:
-
The Gallery had
experienced a strong fall season with Faces Forward and the Weavers show on
Judy Livingston. Both shows reflect the strength of the gallery in reaching
contemporary audiences, creating many points of access and our on-going
commitment to portraiture. John expressed appreciation that so many artists and
Mayor Scarpitti attended the Judy Livingston opening.
-
In 2009, our
commitment to living artists will be strained by the settlement between CAMDO
(Canadian Art Museum Directors) and CARFAC, the artist’s copyright
organization. Negotiated fee increases will reduce the number of living
artist’s art works that we can bring in without more funding.
- The
school season has record bookings, art classes are full, and we have launched a
pilot program, fully funded by OAC (Ontario Arts Council), to put artists,
writers and musicians in to
-
The gallery hosted
a week-long exhibit to draw attention to the issue of homelessness in York
Region. We also hosted a symposium for over 100 in the gallery space on the
issue, garnering a lot of media attention and a further deepening of the roots
into the community that supports us.
-
On October 31,
Richard Florida will be launching the creativity and innovation ten-year plan
for
-
John Ryerson will
be speaking on a panel at the Canadian Museum Association conference with six
other institutions from across
-
The gallery is holding
down prices for schools and other fees, except for some cost of living on
rentals, until a study is done on pricing strategy. This is part of a larger
review of sustainable operations to meet 2009 and beyond pressures on municipal
funding. A pricing strategy looks at who
we are serving and at what price. The Board’s advice will be sought early in 2009.
After five years under this Director’s leadership,
there have been balanced budgets with no requests for increased municipal
funding. However, a balanced budget will be a challenge this year. We need to
look forward to how we can sustain our operations while continuing to produce
the high quality exhibitions that have been experienced at the Varley.
- Many
compliments were received on the Foundation’s Tea Party, and the weather was
perfect. We were honoured with the presence of Hon Michael Chan, Mayor Frank
Scarpitti and many old friends, notably Esther Beaupre, who came from
-
John Ryerson attended
the Ontario Association of Art Galleries AGM and gave a presentation on the new
OAC strategy.
-
Official dates
have been set for The Automatiste Revolution exhibition at Varley and the Albright
Knox Gallery in
-
We have extended
an invitation through the Mayor’s office for the Lieutenant Governor to open
the Legally Deafblind show March 15th. A Humber Arts management and former museum
studies student is working with staff on this project, through their internship
program. John has met with the Dean of Atkinson and has an upcoming meeting
with the new Dean of Fine Arts to further extend participation by
- We
have two more great shows this fall – the York Juried Show, opening on November
20, and Aligning with Beauty, opening November 23.
- The
Public Art Committee met last week, and it was decided that an art sculpture
event will be held again this year.
-
The Federal Arts
Council has a new strategy and is looking to help promote applications next
year.
- Barbara
Roth, Director of Recreation Services, is leaving the Town of
-
Cheryl Rego is in
10. NEW
BUSINESS
Elisabeth Plashkes discussed
accessibility issues at McKay House. John Ryerson advised that the Town undertook
an accessibility audit. For the McKay House, the plans were submitted to
11. NEXT
MEETING
The next meeting of the
Varley McKay Art Foundation of Markham Board will be held on
12. ADJOURNMENT
That the sixth meeting of
the Varley McKay Art Foundation of