Presidents Report 30th August 2007 AGMArty our art car will be celebrating its 3rd birthday in September. The car continues to be the pride and joy for the Gallery. It certainly has a major impact on the kids when they visit the gallery in the holidays or when Arty is out and about.
Our Art car has been looked after by Juliet Anderson. Juliet has garaged Arty, managed the warrant of fitness, the registration and maintenance. She also makes sure Arty makes appearances at festivals and events to promote the gallery. And for the first time two lucky students were escorted by Juliet to a school ball. Thanks Juliet for looking after Arty this year, you have been awesome.
Geoff Cloake our Photographer has been recording the gallery openings that the friends support. The photos are in an album at the Friends’ desk & on our website. Not only has the Friends’ gained the value of Geoff’s efforts but the photos have been used in various publications to promote the gallery. We are really lucky to have a photographer of his standard at openings - Thanks Geoff. And speaking of our photographer & websites… Geoff has been working on a unique weather house. Ever wondered what the temperature is outside or the wind direction? Well the weather house is hooked up to a local weather station in Timaru. So we can bring live weather reports direct to your computer screen. It features the Aigantighe building & staff. To see this live in action visit our website: friends.aigantighe.org.nz. The website continues to gain momentum as virtual visitors can now stay informed with the Friends’ projects and coming exhibitions.
The exhibitions over the year have been outstanding. Which has been reflected in the rise in numbers at openings. The effort has been made to echo the international standard of the gallery by:
And now the support has grown even more with the generosity of local companies. Thank you to our Vice President PJ who man’s the bar and manages the catering and beverages. And to the committee and their helpers who work to put on a great night for our guests. We have 189 paid up memberships which represent 274 individual people. We also keep some unpaid members on our mailing list as many do end up paying in arrears. Therefore we mail to 263 members, which means we have a pool of 438 people to invite to openings. We must be doing something right as the generosity of donations is up on last year’s amount. Thank you to Sarah Whelan who has been maintaining the membership. Sadly she leaves the friends for the coming year. Your involvement has been so valuable and we wish you all the best. Thank you to Angela Chambers our secretary and Dianne Turner our treasurer. You are so reliable and it has made my role so much easier! It’s been a breeze this year knowing that we are in good hands. We are truly are grateful for your efforts.
So as you can see we have had a great team effort. I’m really proud of our committee, the gallery and what we have achieved. To the familiar faces that we see tonight and on the behalf of the Friends thank you for your support. Art and a building equal’s a gallery. But it is the artists, the staff, the members, the volunteers and the visitors who bring the Arts Spirit to life. At the end of the day it is about atmosphere, discussion and inspiration, I’m sure you‘ll agree that there is plenty to be found at the Aigantighe. Roselyn Cloake
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Friends of the Aigantighe Art Gallery,
PO Box 780, Timaru, New Zealand |
