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MacLaren Art Centre provides colour with its strategic plan

'I don't know if this happens in other cities, but there's a core group (of businesses) that have really stepped to the plate and helped with funding the MacLaren for many years,' says board chair
2018-08-24 MacLaren Art Centre 1 RB
MacLaren Art Centre on Mulcaster Street in downtown Barrie. Raymond Bowe/BarrieToday

MacLaren Art Centre officials provided a little colour last night to city council about what the downtown gallery means to the community and how it's funded. 

Executive director Carolyn Bell Farrell and chair Mike MacMillan presented the MacLaren's 2019-23 strategic plan to councillors on Monday at Barrie City Hall. 

"The arts are essential to our quality of life, our cultural identity, social well-being and economic prosperity," said MacMillan, adding galleries like the MacLaren foster creativity and strengthen communities. 

The MacLaren's $1.85-million operating budget is supported by internal revenue (35%), other levels of goverment (13%), and the City of Barrie (7%), but the lion's share comes from the more than 200 local businesses that provide financial assistance, accounting for 45 per cent.

The MacLaren, which is a registered charity incorporated in 1986 independently from the city, had 569 members and 205 business sponsors, according to 2018 figures. 

"The organization treats its sponsors very well," said MacMillan. "I don't know if this happens in other cities, but there's a core group (of businesses) that have really stepped to the plate and helped with funding the MacLaren for many years."

MacMillan is also the assistant general manager at the Serjeant Company, which has partnered with the gallery in recent years to include artwork on its fleet's concrete mixer drums.

"It's become a real part of our brand," he said.

People give for a lot of reasons as to why they support the MacLaren, noted Bell Farrell, but primarily it's to help with youth programming and to care for the collection. 

"You have a low-cost institution here," she said. "It's an anchor in the downtown."

Mayor Jeff Lehman stressed the fact that a very small amount of the funding actually comes from government. 

"That is extremely unusual among art galleries," he said. "There's a very high proportion that you earn yourselves through donations and earned revenue. ... It distinguishes the MacLaren."

Bell Farrell said she's not sure that model is sustainable long-term, but it's something they are following closely. She said most galleries operate with about 50 per cent government support. 

On the MacLaren's revenue side, there were 70 facility rentals in 2018, 111 artists featured in the Gallery Shop, and 401 works framed for 161 customers.

Cultural grants from all three levels of government comprise 20 per cent of the MacLaren's total budget, including a grant of $137,000 city grant, plus facility maintenance.

In 2018, the MacLaren Art Centre employed 13 full-time staffers, as well as 11 part-time/contract positions and 33 artists. There were also more than 200 volunteers who provided 4,000 hours, including 12 board members.

The gallery, which offers free admisison, was open for 353 days in the 2018 for more than 29,000 hours of service. 

The MacLaren staged 30 exhibitions, including two touring shows, four virtual shows and 12 community shows. For the educational component, well over 600 activities were led by 33 artists, with free activities at 15 community festivals. 

Coun. Jim Harris asked about the MacLaren's work in local schools, which have seen cutbacks to programming around the visual arts. 

Bell Farrell said the organization has been working in schools since 1997. 

"We offer 27 different programs in French and English," she said, adding schools are leaning more toward music and theatre as opposed to visual art. "We bring practisting professional artists with high-quality materials.

"We've become the primary visual arts provider for the whole region," Bell Farrell added. "They (school boards) just don't have the budget, so they're focusing more on what they can do, which is music and theatre. Which is fine, we can be that provider. Through core sponsorship, we're able to offer programs at cost."

Last year, they reached 7,400 students through the VanGo program and that's expected to grow to 9,000 in 2019. 

Bell Farrell said staffing is one of the main issues the MacLaren faces these days. 

"We only have one full-time educational co-ordinator for 667 art education activities," she said. "Thirteen full-time staff may sound like a lot, but we have the cafe, framing services, facility rentals and we need gallery attendants and desk people. Basically, there's one person per department."

Bell Farrell, who has been with the organization for 12 years, says everything has doubled at the gallery in that time, "but our budget hasn't." 

"It's grown by a couple hundred thousand, so it's trying to keep up, be competitive, respond to the changing demands in the community, but at the same time trying to stretch the budget as much as possible," she added.