The annual general meeting of the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum was held on May 26 with 17 board members and guests in attendance.
The board heard reports on 2009 activities from chairwoman Nadine Elson and curator/director Griffith A. Baker.
It was noted that the board will be welcoming four new members this year to complement the existing team, which will lend new energy to the activities planned for the remainder of 2010.
Elson particularly noted the variety of talent that is being brought to the board table in the form of existing members and newly minted arrivals.
Policy development continued with the board with the assistance of a consultant who helped them revamp the policies where required.
Elson said the main fundraising events for the EAGM will continue to be the Chili Cook-off, the Christmas Festival of Art and the Wine Tasting dinner and social.
Baker reported that attendance at the gallery for functions and exhibits had increased to 7,660 in 2009 compared with 6,526 in 2008 which indicated increasing interest in the gallery and museum's events and programs. Those visits included 1,618 students involved in 96 official student tours.
The gallery tours and educational programming report was delivered by Karly Millions, the gallery's educator. She also spoke briefly about the rural programming projects.
Baker also reported that a gallery and museum assistant had worked on the accession sheets which is now in its 31st year of operation. He said Michelle Cockroft joined in October 2009 and her job was completed in April of this year. The work was funded through a grant from the Cultural Human Resource Council to the tune of 75 per cent of total cost.
There was also a report on the major interior renovations that were carried out over the past year.
Other grant applications for museum and gallery assistance during the summer months were also successful.
Two new computers and a new computer system were installed during the past year.
Baker also noted that three new acrylic additions to the gallery's permanent collection were made during the past year plus one ceramic sculpture coming from artists Corinne Trebick-Gibson and Charley Farrero. Two oil paintings from Bette Lemke were also added to the permanent collection.
On the financial side of the annual report, the gallery and museum showed an overall loss of $10,364 in operations based on revenues of just over $259,000 and expenses of more than $269,000.
The board report said that self-generated revenues were down about $18,000 in 2009 to just over $47,000 while operating grant revenues were up by $18,000 .
The costs of exhibitions went up by nearly $13,000 in the past year while staffing costs also increased by almost $28,000 due largely to a few special projects and programs which were offset in some instances by corresponding grants.
