Donald Teuma-Castelletti
PORTAGE DU FORT
Dec. 1, 2018
The Pontiac Artists’ Association (PAA) held their annual general meeting on Saturday, reviewing their 2018 activities and finances, as well as electing the new board of directors.
Held at the Stone School Gallery, 11 PAA members attended, with many concerned as to how the group could limit their net assets in the years to come.
The meeting began with a summary of the major events held this year, detailing the successes and occasional challenges experienced across them. These events included the Pontiac School of the Arts’ various courses, the Pontiac Artists’ Studio Tour, exhibitions at the gallery, and the Artists’ Residency Project.

Louise Guay’s president’s report focused on the success of the group’s volunteers, from organizing events through to fundraising. As well, she highlighted the building of a new website for the PAA as they look to have something more user-friendly in the year to come.
Her report also addressed the need for new volunteers to step up for management and administration roles, within the coming years.
Treasurer Chris Seifried broke down the financial statement of the past year and the budget for the new one. Concerns arose around the PAA’s net assets hovering just under $25,000, with member Dale Shutt asking why the non-profit has carried net assets over $20,000 two years in a row (2017 ended with $20,914 in their account).
“I’d like to see us carry less,” said Seifried, during the meeting.
He agreed with the concerns as too much money carried over could affect their eligibility for grants in the years to come. This led to discussion into directing more money towards promotional aspects, as well as purchasing items like tools and materials for use for PAA members. While concerns were raised, Seifried did warn of the potential for capital assets to affect the association’s overall account values, but the discussion will continue at meetings in the new year.
Spending on advertising, printing and the website were reported to be below the budgeted amount for 2018, while artists’ fees, consulting fees and travel and hospitality all exceeded their budgets for 2017-18.
These numbers have affected the 2018-19 budget, as more has been allocated for artists’ payments and fees and less in other areas.
Travel and hospitality has seen less approved for the budget, despite exceeding the budgeted amount this year. Seifried explained that the expenses exceeded the budget because money from the previous year and the coming year was lumped into the amount spent.
As well, despite expecting to spend $2,690 on consulting fees, the PAA spend a total of $4,127. In the coming year, they have budgeted only $530, as they have no plans on needing more. The previous amount spent was due to a special project and receiving a government grant.
Finally, the new board of directors was elected, though their official roles will be revealed in an upcoming meeting. The board saw Sean Kerr, Nicole Lavigne and Marcel Renaud step away from their roles this year, and re-elected Seifried and Guay. New to the board are Cheryl Dolan, Linda Girard, and Claire Taillefer.