08 Jan January 2017
Happy New Year everyone. A huge thank you to the 83 artists who contributed art work to the “Celebration” theme show, the last one of 2016, the 24 artists who created such great Christmas Tree Ornaments and to all the people who stopped by and made purchases. I hope everyone got to see the show and ornaments. Art and ornaments flew out of the gallery as gifts for friends, co-workers and family, while ornaments went to teachers, ornament exchanges and as gifts. It was our best “ever” Holiday season in the gallery.
But, there is no time to sit on the laurels of our 2016 achievements. The New Year is traditionally a time of new resolutions, looking forward and trying to make it a better year than the last one and this applies to the RAA as well. As you all know we are a 501(c)3 organization, dependent on membership dues, donations, sponsorship, classes, gallery and show sales to keep the organization running. We used to be completely volunteer driven but fortunately we are lucky enough to now employ 5 people: our book keeper and the four gallery coordinators who run the gallery. But we still need volunteers to cover the children’s classes, help at shows and most importantly sit on committees to help with the running of the RAA. Maggie Macro, our Vice President, addressed this further in the newsletter.
As we all know change is exciting but can also be disconcerting. The RAA is where it is today because of the dedicated people who have been in the organization for a long time and worked hard to keep it running. It has reinvented itself several times and I see this year as another one of change and forward development, with the implementation of our new Mission Statement and Core Values and work of the Board of Directors, the Marketing Committee and improving our contact with other local art organizations. It is tempting to whinge about changes to each other especially if we feel threatened or uncomfortable with what is happening. Let’s try and be open and talk about what’s happening. We all need to be on the same page to make the RAA work.
Our first change of the year is reverting to being “Members of Redlands Art Association”. A new clause is being added to the by-laws to say we can all be Members but only the Board of Directors will have voting rights.
Other changes include a “Donate” button on the website. Candy Glendening, our webmaster, has created a “Donate” button on the website which we hope will be active by the end of the week. This way anyone can make a donation to the gallery, through Pay Pal, throughout the year.
Candy has also requested that the website content be updated to reflect where we are now in 2017 with our new Mission Statement and Core Values. It might not all be done this month, but there are some changes and will be more. Check it out. If you have comments or suggestions and you can’t find somewhere to leave a comment on the website then email me at president@redlandsartassociation.org.
In the meantime, enjoy our Southern California winter of lower than average temperatures (still warmer than average in the UK at this time of year!), rain and snow on the mountains. I hope it provides inspiration for the upcoming Spring shows. Wishing you all a Happy New Year and Prosperous 2017.
Liz Coviello, RAA President