AGM Minutes - Council of Management Thursday 27th November 2008
Presiding: John Spayne (JS) Chair
Council of Management: Felicity Aylieff (FA), David Clarke (DC), Corinne Julius (CJ), Natasha Kerr (NK), Dilys Maltby (DM), Pia Sarma (PS), Simone ten Hompel (StH)
Present: Sarah Edwards (SE), Valentino Speziali (VS), CAA Members
Apologies: Andrew Purvis
Minutes: Sonia Dhimer (SD)
1. Welcome
JS welcomed members, friends and staff and expressed thanks for the good attendance.
Formal AGM
2. It was agreed to take the notice as read.
3. To receive and consider the Statement of Accounts and balance sheet of the year 2007/2008.
The audited accounts are available from the gallery on request.
The proposal to accept the accounts was made by Bryan Illsley and seconded by Catherine Mannheim. It was unanimously carried. The Chair accepted that the accounts had been approved by the Council of Management on behalf of the Company.
4. To receive and consider the Chair’s report.
Copies of John Spayne’s report were included in the Annual Report. The proposal to accept the report was made by Robert Cooper and seconded by Catherine Mannheim. It was unanimously carried.
5. To fix the appointment and remuneration of the Auditors
The Auditors, Hayesmacintyre were reappointed as recommended by the Council. Their fee was higher than expected (£8,000.00) due to the extra work required to integrate Electrum and prepare consolidated accounts. It is hoped that this fee will reduce next year. The proposal to approve the auditors was made by Louise O’Neil and seconded by Bryan Illsley and was unanimously carried.
6. The Appointment of Council Members
JS informed committee and members that StH is retiring from her position with immediate effect. The Council is keen to recruit a new trustee who can make a contribution to CAA in the vital area of fund-raising. Once we have identified a suitable candidate this person will be co-opted to the Council and their appointment will be noted at the next AGM.
7. Any other business
JS – ‘I would like, on behalf of CAA, to extend our deep gratitude to our executive team, led by Sarah Edwards, for its hard work throughout this year; for all those late nights, difficult changeovers between exhibitions and long commutes; for all their quiet patience and professionalism. I am talking now not just of the team here at Percy Street but also the team at Electrum. I would also like to say “thank-you” to Valentino Speziali for his consistent hard work and help in terms of organising our financial affairs which I know has been complex this year with the integration of Electrum.
I would also like to take this opportunity, on behalf of CAA, to express our deep gratitude to Simone ten Hompel who is stepping down as a trustee after many years of dedicated work and support. Simone will be greatly missed. Her contribution to CAA has been invaluable both in terms of her artistic integrity, her European perspective and her positive attitude and good humour.’
As there was no other business the formal AGM closed.
Informal AGM
8. Chair’s Report
JS reviewed informally the progress of the year and CAA’s current position.
“I would like to start by quickly reviewing what CAA has done since this time last year
•Electrum – A lot of time and effort has gone into the development of Electrum in terms of staffing integration, establishing financial controls, IT etc. There is still much to do, particularly in terms of refurbishment and overall design but good progress has been made.
•Financially, Electrum has generated sales of £330k since March and made a small net profit of about £19k.
•Sarah and the team have been extremely busy on the exhibition front. By the end of this calendar year CAA will have organised 20 exhibitions in our 3 venues of Percy Street, Electrum and Circus at Marylebone High Street.
•2008 has also seen the re-launch of the CAA brand identity. The overwhelming feedback on the re-branding has been very positive. We worked with one of the leading brand design company’s Bibliotheque and received funding from Arts Council and other donations for this work.
•CAA has developed many very exciting collaborative relationships with a whole range of institutions such as: Origin at Somerset House, Covent Garden, the Arts Council, Buckingham Palace, RCA, The Creative Foundation in Kent, Think Tank, the Crafts Council, Fleming Family, to name but a few.
•Financially, I think we are all aware that the last financial year to March 2008 was a strong performance.
•Sales of craft work reached £736k, more than double the previous year
Membership subscriptions were up from £19k to £26k
•Charitable grants were up from £53k to £65k
•Sales of publications grew from £14k to £18k
The total amount of incoming resources to CAA including sales, donations etc, before costs, was just over £1m, nearly double what it was for the previous year.
What is the financial position today?
We are in a very different world from that of 6-9 months ago, following a banking crisis of historic proportions and a world economy that has seemingly ground to a halt. How is CAA going to cope?
CAA’s financial position right now:
•For the year to date (March to November) the combined sales of Percy Street, Electrum, plus grants and donations comes to £680k. Plus we still have Christmas and another quarter to go.
•Cash at bank currently £280k.
•In simple terms if we have £1m coming in, half is paid to makers for their work which leaves about £500k for the cost of running two Central London galleries – staff, rent, insurance etc. On that basis, assuming we can go from the year to date number of £679k to around a million at the year end in March 2009, we will be ok and cover our costs.
The UK, particularly London, is now in recession. The CAA team has reported a definite slow down in business in the last 6 weeks. We would be naive to expect anything other than a very mediocre Christmas. We need to work even harder to win sales and raise funds so that we can ‘weather the storm’ which I am very confident we can.
So how are we going to respond to the changed economic climate?
•We are not going to panic, there will always be demand for the creative output of our Members and we have loyal customers.
•We cannot fix the recession but can come up with creative ways to boost sales; we need to be careful about costs; and continue to put on amazing exhibitions, especially with the Arts Council and Esmée Fairbairn’s support.
•We can make use of our charitable status and launch a fund-raising campaign to generate funds to boost our reserves and fund new projects so that we maintain our momentum.
Next week we will be hosting a fund-raising dinner at Buckingham Palace with our patron, The Duke of Edinburgh, to celebrate CAA’s 60th anniversary. We have wealthy collectors flying in from the US for this dinner, keen to meet the Duke of Edinburgh but equally keen to visit the Gallery and exploit the strengthening dollar.
This dinner will be the springboard for a wider campaign to raise funds for CAA from a wide range of donor agencies, private individuals and corporate sponsors. Our fund-raising target is ambitious and will be set at around £300k, some of which will go to core funding of the organisation, and to special projects like the re-launch of Electrum, development of an on-line internet business, Ceramics and Glass apprenticeships, residencies and studio hire and a CAA lecture programme.
We are in the process of reviewing and costing these projects, which will be fully reviewed by our Council, for inclusion in a long range strategy plan for CAA. In this connection, I urge our Members to please let us know if you have any particular projects or ideas which you would like to be considered for inclusion in this plan.
In conclusion, 2008 has been a year of considerable activity and progress as well as consolidating some of the advances made in the previous year. We can make our own luck by continuing to be positive and creative; we must do this in a way which does not compromise CAA’s principles. in times like these it might be tempting to shift the emphasis towards more utilitarian objects which sell easily; in jewellery, for example, or to focus on precious rather than non-precious work. We need to stay true to CAA’s values and get the balance right between the ‘commercial’ and the ‘artistic’ – which in the end is in any case a very arbitrary divide.
Looking forward to 2009:
•Fund raising campaign to launch
• Collect 2009
•Another ambitious programme of exhibitions
As you know, we are a membership organisation and we rely totally on the continued support, encouragement and active involvement of CAA’s members. Without you, there is no CAA. So we are very grateful for your support throughout this last year and will depend on you for continued support in the year ahead.
I would like to close with one final small and probably rather rash announcement in the spirit of kicking off the fund-raising campaign, which is to say that your Chairman has secured a place in the 2009 London Marathon, subject only to medical clearance! The simple thought is that if our 300 CAA members sponsored me at an average sponsorship of, say, £100 each, this would raise £30,000 which would go direct to CAA reserves. Even half that amount would be a great result!
Thank you for listening, I would now like to hand over to Sarah Edward’s for the Director’s report.
9. Director’s Report
SE – ‘2007 was a year great year for CAA there were some fantastic exhibitions and it was a time of change within the organisation. Over the year we gained a new team who have strived to achieve success, without their dedication and endless enthusiasm paired with the member’s commitment and outstanding works it simply would not have been possible to be in the position we are in today.
I covered many of the exhibitions in 2007 at the last AGM so just briefly wanted to touch on a few and focus more on this year.
Exhibitions: 2007
•Outside Inside
This exhibition was collaboration with Landscape Gardener, Steve Tsang. We created the feel of a garden inside the gallery so there was a sense visually of large scale ceramic, glass, wood and metal pieces in an outdoor environment. This was almost a sell out show and one that had a lot of feedback. We are looking at venues for 2010 to re-create a similar exhibition. Possible venues include the royal parks or sculpture parks continuing to create new opportunities for the gallery and the membership. The exhibition had over 2000 visitors and generated sales in excess of £22,000.
•Hue Line & Form
This exhibition was curated by Brian Kennedy and Peter Ting. The exhibition involved 59 members of the gallery and had foot fall of more than 3000 visitors and sold in excess of £32,000. Hue Line and Form appealed to a diverse audience and was so successful that we are continuing the concept of an Interiors show every 2 years. Next year, Kit Kemp of Firmdale Hotels will be curating an exhibition for CAA coinciding with London Design Week.
Exhibitions: 2008
A total of nine exhibitions were held at CAA in our 60th anniversary year
•Think Tank
European initiative curated by Edmund de Waal. Very successful in developing and diversifying our audience with a series of artist’s talks and a well attended private view. Coinciding with Collect also attracted international curators and writers to the gallery.
•Diamonds
A group show dedicated to the theme of Diamonds represented in Jewellery, Metal and Glass.
•Myths & Legends
Works orientated around mythical stories, makers representing Jewellery, Ceramics, Glass and Textiles were involved.
•Glasshouse & its Tree
A celebration of the Glasshouse and all involved in it. This was the first exhibition dedicated to this group who played a major part in the history of British Studio Glass. Many international makers participated.
• Cup
A themed exhibition involving 20 members, with over 77 pieces each. The exhibition demonstrated individual interpretations of a ‘cup’. This was an extremely successful show with high footfall, great artist talks and the majority of the exhibition was sold.
•Spectrum
A focus on textiles and colour, five members made new work which covered different textile techniques.
•Book Binding
This was a touring exhibition sponsored by Simon Eccles and was only the second Bookbinding exhibition the gallery had ever promoted. This brought in new clients to the gallery that were previously unaware of CAA.
•Teas Up
Curated by David Clarke, this was a dynamic exhibition around the theme of Tea Time. Special thanks go to David for the endless hours he put into this both as curator and chef. Thank you also to the Real Flower Company, Violet Cakes and Clipper Tea who sponsored the exhibition during the private view, lunch time discussions, patron’s tea party and member’s tea party.
All exhibitions have been well received, increasing foot fall and continuing to gain new clients as well as building established relationships with existing collectors. The exhibitions have generated huge press interest as have the 42 focus exhibitions that have run along side the main exhibition programme.
•Collect 2008
CAA will be building on the success of Collect 2008 in 2009 which will be held at the Saatchi Galleries in May. Electrum has also been selected to exhibit.
• Circus
We have also had an additional space this year at Circus, a branding consultancy in Marylebone High Street. This is a joint collaboration celebrating our 60th anniversary and their 10th anniversary. The partnership has enabled us to curate a further 4 exhibitions this year, involving over 36 members across all disciplines. Sales and new clients have been generated from this opportunity and due to its success we are planning an additional 5 exhibitions each with its own private view, to run along side the exhibitions at CAA in 2009. Thank you to Dilys Maltby and her team for the continued opportunity & support.
•Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
We have continued our Art for Offices programme with a rotational showcase sponsored by Freshfields. This has created an opportunity to show 8 artists a year, reaching out to a wider audience. This programme has proved successful over the last few years and has generated more direct sales in the last six months. Freshfields have confirmed continuation of this programme in 2009.
•Covent Garden
We were also involved in an exhibition space at Covent Garden for a period of 3 months at the end of 2007 going into 2008. This project was a great way of advertising CAA’s existence to a wider audience. The space was sponsored by Capcom, the management body of Covent Garden. Since the end of this project we have continued to build a close relationship with Covent Garden and have been assisting them on re-engaging with hand made products from the UK. In the coming year we hope to have opportunities for CAA and its members; individual exhibitions, installations and educational projects.
•Origin @ Somerset House
CAA worked in collaboration with Somerset House hosting a series of lectures, demonstrations, handling sessions and children’s workshops. These took place during Origin. The events were all very well attended with over 100 people visiting Susie Thomson in one day. The children’s workshops were all fully booked, and received very positive feedback ‘they were the best Somerset House had ever played host too’. Thank you to Clare Maddison and Robert Cooper who were hosting the children’s workshops and to the other members involved.
Due to the success of this collaboration we are now in talks to have more permanent educational links with Somerset House, continuing the success of this year.
CAA Website
As some of you may have noticed this has been continually updated. Lucy Southgate has been trained to update the website internally and has done a fantastic job in a short space of time. The website is an educational resource as well as a form of advertising and creating potential sales.
PR - Belinda Fisher
As an organisation we have never had an advertising budget. The press we have generated over the last year is due to the hard work of Belinda Fisher, our freelance PR consultant. The press she has generated in 2007 alone has a value of £345,655.00 (advertising), £691,310.00 (editorial) and a readership of over 11,359.00. The amounts are of course illustrative, but demonstrate what the reach could be.
CAA e-newsletter
Since taking the position of Director of CAA, myself and the team have always wanted to achieve a monthly newsletter connecting the members who are based all over the UK to CAA; the galleries news, opportunities and feedback.
With the appointment of our full time PA/ Administrator, Sonia, we are now in a position to achieve this. This newsletter will be for you, our members about your gallery and your organization. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Arts Council
This year, we become a regular funded body from Arts Council for a period of three years. In real terms this means that we have an additional £50,000.00 a year. This was granted to us due to the united turn around that we have achieved for the gallery.
Electrum
Electrum has hosted four exhibitions this year all of which have been successful. Footfall and sales for the first quarter of this year are up. There is much work to do long term but initial work on the interior has been completed. A planned refurbishment and redesign of the interior of the space will be scheduled in a three phase project over the next two years.
We will have seven exhibitions internally and externally curated in 2009. We have a fantastic team at Electrum and are making great headway, especially with Electrum being accepted to Collect 2009, this will be the first time the gallery has exhibited there.
All of the profit made by Electrum feeds directly back into the charity helping to sustain the organisation and boost reserves.
I would like to thank the Trustees for their time and support over the last 18 months.
10. Any other business
Felicity Aylieff – As some of you may be aware the Ceramics degree course at the University of Westminster, Harrow is not being validated for the following year so will be closed down in stages. This is devastating news and the impact will be immense. Harrow has a great history and a lot of CAA member’s have had a link to the course, its staff and students.
Christie Brown – Currently petitions are being put together as well as Facebook support groups and letters to higher powers. We have to look at this as a bigger issue, this will affect Craft education in the UK which has seen huge development in the last 30-40 years and we do not want to see it go.
Everyone is doing their bit, to lend your support and for up to date information please visit www.studiopottery.co.uk.
There was general discussion about the crafts sector and issues of funding, strategy, education and the need to be better organised, as a sector. It was also agreed that there would be a follow up meeting of CAA Members in January 2009 to debate these issues in more depth.
The meeting closed, followed by drinks and informal discussion.