The Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center has enjoyed another year of gallery exhibits, classes of all kinds for adults and children, community events like Ceram-A-Rama, opening receptions, and pop-up shows honoring members of the Art Center in memorium.
There have been several changes to the Board of Directors. We said goodbye to Yvonne Rowe, our Treasurer, when she recently moved out of the area. Larry Worley stepped down from the Board in March, and Jennifer Hennig left the Board at the end of 2017. Larry and Jennifer are both still active volunteers at the Art Center. We thank them all for their many years of Board Service!
Currently we have eight Board positions filled, out of a possible eleven, leaving three vacancies. Anyone interested in becoming a Board member, may come to one of our meetings on the second Monday of every month, and/or talk to one of the present or past Board Members.
Evelyn Liesching, our Youth Art liaison to the Board, became the lead in a Community Art Advocacy project, when Youth Education Director, Brian Bowes, left for a full time teaching position. Kathryn Pierno has taken the interim position of Youth Education Director.
Your Board of Directors is responsible for seeing that the integrity and safety of the building is maintained. Over the last year and half we made some significant improvements to the Art Center. In 2017 the gallery got a much needed new floor. After a rough winter, a new fence was installed across the back of the property along with preventative tree trimming. And during last summer, major repairs were made to the ceramics throwing room. The next big project involves repair and painting of the outside of the building. A committee is just beginning to work out a plan for this “face lift” project.
Our financials are in good shape. The budget and income continue to be around $100,000 a year. We have a prudent reserve and have been able to pay for our major facility improvements out of our yearly income. Upcoming challenges include the end of the Rydell Grant (given to us by the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County) that supports our Youth Art Program.
Class income increased 15% over the year. Our Art After School participation increased thanks to greater collaboration with the School District personnel. The popular Independent Clay Lab continues to bring many new people to the Art Center, while overall class and workshop participation has increased. Detailed information is available upon request.
On a more somber note, we want to acknowledge the passing of two of our long-time members: Dale Bates, Raku Master, passed in early 2017, and G. Michael English, Life Drawing facilitator and former Board member, passed in January 2018. We miss them both dearly.
And finally, your Board of Directors would like to give a really big thanks to all our wonderful volunteers. This is a community focused, volunteer run Art Center, and we would not exist without our volunteer helpers, our supporting members, and the people in the community who, “Make Art a Part of Your Life”.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, we look forward to another creative year and hope to see you all at the Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center often!
