President’s Message

We are on the verge of closing one of our most significant years.  Our membership has held steady and we are looking forward to increasing our efforts to improve the recruitment of new members as well as encouraging those who were prior members to rejoin our ranks.  We just concluded a very successful Art in the Park fair thanks to the excellent leadership of Sandy Davies.  This was aided by our initial efforts to participate in the first ever Cultural Arts Festival that included a juried art show of its own as well as musical and theatrical events.

The major decisions made by the Board of Directors this year are:

  1. The approval of a significant new youth educational track that will operate in addition to our regular course offerings.  This structure of courses matches or exceeds the state guidelines for art education.
  2. The authorization to initiate planning and launch of a major capital campaign to raise $1,200,000 for the expansion and remodeling of our gallery to provide two new improved classrooms, a multipurpose area, and an upscale gallery.
  3. The retention of a foundation research organization to assist us in establishing an on-going stream of annual income from a variety of grants.  This firm provides a money back guarantee if it does not cover its cost in the first year.
  4. The operating budget for the coming fiscal year was approved and it is shown by the two attached pie charts.  Our projected total income is $165,495 with expenses of $170,422.  These figures mean we will be anticipating a deficit of $4,927 by the years end.
  5. The most significant step in improving the professionalization of the gallery by creation of a full-time equivalent position of Gallery Coordinator.  This position will be shared equally between our three outstanding members: Sandy Davies, Jillian O’Dwyer, and Judith Sparhawk.  This position will change our previous requirement of two half-days of desk sitting for those of you who place art in the shows to one half-day as a Gallery Docent.  The details of this new requirement will be worked out by our Gallery Coordinators as they begin their new position.

 

Here is hoping that the coming year will be even more eventful for all of us and I wish to personally thank each of you members for continued support and participation in this great organization.

Approved 2013/2014 Fiscal Year Budget

Operating Expenses

Total Projected Income  =  $165,495

Revenue

Total Projected Expenses  =  $170,222

NOTE:  The approved budget has a projected annual deficit of $4,927

Larry Harvill, Chair, Board of Directors