Chair’s Message | Endowments

Board Chair Report to AGM October 6, 2020

Well that was quite the year. North Van Arts, like every other organization, business (big or small), government (local, provincial or national), or individual, had nothing resembling a normal year. We started the 2019/20 season with a healthy financial position, exciting plans for a full year of events, fund raising, programs and exhibitions. Some of those planned activities happened, many did not. On the positive side, we marked a significant milestone with our 50th Anniversary Gala, hosted the highly successful Pushing Boundaries exhibition, raised critical funds for our organization and artists with our annual Anonymous Art Show, and in March of this year launched the outstanding Culture Compass.

And then . . . well you pretty much know what happened next. We were forced to close the gallery, cancel exhibitions and classes and very quickly move to managing a very real threat to our staff, our visitors and our members. The array of federal support programs and the requirements of provincial health authorities took some time to understand and incorporate. Government assistance has been critical to our survival.

But, even more critical, has been strong leadership, incredibly creative and committed staff, and the even handed, level-headed approach by our governance body. I want to express my sincere thanks to Nancy especially, but to all the staff, who have faced the challenges of this pandemic like they face every other challenge, through creative thinking, hard work and a “we can do that” attitude. Thank you all. I want to thank Nancy Hoang, Etienne Normandin and Shirley Shannon for their contributions to the Board, in Etienne’s case six years, Shirley two years and Nancy one year. We continue to be concerned about the huge number of visual artists, dance and performing artists, musicians and support people who have not faired so well through all of this. In some cases, livelihoods are seriously threatened, audiences become more isolated and venues may be forced to close permanently. Theatres have been particularly hard hit. We will continue to explore ways to fulfill our mandate as an advocate for the arts. We are grateful for the tremendous support we receive from federal agencies, the Province of BC, City and District of North Vancouver, and the North Vancouver Recreation & Culture Commission. The Culture Compass project has resulted in almost one million federal dollars of funding coming into our community. And we thank all our members who have been so incredibly supportive of North Van Arts and everything we do. We do look forward to the coming year. North Van Arts continues to learn from the last 6 months, knowledge and experience we will take into the next year, as topsy-turvey as that may be.

Thank you. Don Rutherford Chair, Board of Directors

The North Vancouver Community Arts Council Scholarship at Capilano University, was established in 1988 to support students in visual and performing arts programmes at Capilano University. Each year the university selects a student to receive the scholarship to further their education.

The North Vancouver Community Arts Council Children & Youth Arts Fund was established in 1993 through the North Shore Community Foundation. This fund offsets costs for children and youth to participate in North Van Arts programmes and/or support creation projects by children and youth.