President's Report
Greetings Friends, Donors, Volunteers, Members of the Board and other Supporters. Welcome to the 2003 Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.
As you have likely heard, the Archives, as an organization, has gone through quite a few changes this year – some positive and others more challenging. At the moment, the Board's membership includes: myself as Acting President, Jonathan Sceeles as Acting Vice-President, Gordon Davies as Secretary, Greg Paton, Treasurer, and Board members Mary MacDonald and Mark Lehman.
Following the election of the 2003-04 Board of Directors in June 2003, there was a “Board Visioning Meeting” held on August 10, 2003, facilitated by former Archives president Ray Brillinger and colleague Liz Gildner. This exercise was attended by the Board, and a few members of the operations committee, including Clifford Collyer, Bill Eadie, and Paul Leatherdale. The main purpose of that meeting was to set some very general organizational guidelines on how the CLGA would move from our current location at 56 Temperance, to the new building at 34 Isabella. It was recognized at the time that some additional expertise might be required for the organization – specifically in finance and project management. Several immediate as well as longer term goals were set at this time: to more clearly define the CLGA’s mission, and accompanying branding in the community; a greater understanding of the individual and collective roles within the organization; reinforcement of a focus on fundraising; and, reconsideration of our role as an organization in the community, both in terms of access but also visibility. Challenges identified included knowledge management (as in the institutional retention of valuable information), effective use of valuable volunteer time and energy; and, alternate ways to generate revenue, such as internet advertising, and/or user fees to access the collection. Many of these challenges still face us.
Most significantly, shortly after this meeting, in September 2003, then President Matt Hughes announced his resignation. I cannot overemphasize the impact that this particular event has had on the organization, in that Matt was a dedicated and tireless volunteer for the Archives, and his absence created a huge gap in the working capacity of the Board and presented an organizational challenge to remaining Board members. At this time I would like to publicly thank Matt for his selfless dedication to the management of the Archives. Although he cannot be here today, he did indicate to me an ongoing interest in the sustainability of the organization and a willingness to remain involved as a volunteer in some capacity. I understand that Matt’s partner Roger Johnson is also suffering ill health, and I would like to offer our thoughts to them both during this difficult time.
It is essential that we find a new President who has the time, energy and commitment needed to resolve the issues that confront the CLGA. As with any elected member of the Board, it is important that this person have the support of the CLGA members and volunteers -- their financial support and hard work are integral to the CLGA and they must have a voice. It's also important that we find someone who can remain in the position for successive years to give us the stability we had before Matt's illness and eventual departure. As of yet, this position has not been filled.
Unfortunately, since September 2003, we have accepted the successive resignation of other members of the Board:
- In October 2003, Miriam Smith resigned after a few short months with the organization, citing conflict rules of her funding agency, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC);
- In December, 2003 long time Board member, Dave Smith, resigned from further Board responsibilities as secretary on the Executive, and as Chair of the National Portrait Committee, citing an increased workload and some new volunteer responsibilities;
- Both Harold Averill and Greg Paton will be resigning from their current roles on the Board for this coming year – Harold will remain with the Operations Committee, however, and his duties as Operations Committee liaison to the Board will be covered by Paul Leatherdale. Greg will remain with the Board as Treasurer until which time a replacement is found for his duties. I can’t say enough about either of these two individuals, in terms of their integrity, commitment to the organization, and cooperative and colleagueal working style. They will be missed.
I would like to thank all present and past Board directors for their service to the community and involvement. Everyone at the Archives does valuable and vital work, and new energy and ideas stimulate regeneration and growth. The Board of Directors maintains corporate control and fiduciary responsibility for the organization – at times a thankless and often contentious position in the organization. As well, a big thank you to the many volunteers who keep us operative on a day-to-day basis and form the backbone of the organization. A specific thank you to the operations committee, notably Alan Miller (Chair), Harold Averill, Don McLeod, Gerry King, Clifford Collier, Lawrence Bennett, Roberta Wiseman, Paul Leatherdale, Daniel Lee, and Liz Millward. A fantastic group of dedicated and in many cases long standing volunteers, donating their time and energies to the ongoing growth and preservation of the Archives. There are some 30 volunteers behind the scenes who make this organization function, and although I cannot thank each and every one of you, know that your efforts are acknowledged and appreciated. I would like to publicly acknowledge a few particular volunteers - Bill Pusztai who graciously stepped into take the lead on the Archives publication layout, following the resignation of former volunteer Sal Nensi in September 2003, Jennifer Coffey who stepped in to copy edit our Lesbian and Gay Archivist publication, and Harold Desmarais, who has been working with the Board on a potential fundraising idea. As well, Gerry King who has assisted in keeping the volunteers coordinated, documented, and tracked accurately and efficiently, until which time we are able to find a replacement. This has been a challenging year for relations between the Board and volunteers - the Board has worked hard to clear up longstanding communication issues and mend some fences with our volunteers and members of the Operations Committee in particular. In March 28, 2004 we hosted an afternoon at the 519 Community Centre, and shared as a group in the thoughts regarding our organization, volunteer roles and responsibilities, and ideas for the future. Thank you to those volunteers who took the time and effort to attend this important event. We continue to formulate plans to act on many of these exciting ideas and ride on this positive energy to take us into the future. We continue to actively seek a volunteer co-ordinator, who will stand as a Board member, and act as primary liaison between the Board, operations, and the remainder of the organization as we believe this will enhance communications and goodwill across the organization.
We remain in a stable, but precarious financial position. This is particularly noteworthy given the significant organizational upset we experienced this year. The single issue facing the Archives remains that of our monthly rents. The Board continues to need the help of every interested volunteer, donor and friend to promote the necessity of giving a monthly/annual donation, to facilitate our financial stability. The Board continues to move toward setting fundraising as its top priority – during the course of the last few months, thanks largely to the efforts of our Board members Jonathan Sceeles and Mary MacDonald, we have been able to secure a small award ($3,500) from the Lesbian and Gay Appeal, that will be used to fund a new software program that will assist in our coordination and fundraising efforts enormously. Our gratitude is extended to the panel of the Appeal for consideration of our application. We have also been working closely with the Trillium Foundation on a recent funding application, and hope to be able to report success on that in the near future.
Other fundraising efforts over the course of the 2003-04 year include the following:
- A donation of computers for the Archives by Terrie Miller at the RBC.
- On October 16, 2003, an event entitled “Sex and Music” was held at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, to mark the CLGA’s 30 th Anniversary, and Buddie’s 25 th Anniversary. It was launched by former CLGA Board member Sal Nensi, in conjunction with business liaison Richard Stoltenberg of Move Sound & Design and a host of community volunteers who donated their time and in kind talent and services. It was attended by City of Toronto councillor, Kyle Rae, who handed the “key” to the new building at 34 Isabella Street to then President Matt Hughes. The event, although disappointing in its attendance, did help to raise the profile of the Archives, acknowledge the receipt of the new building, alongside a net donation of a few hundred dollars. Thank you to Sal, Richard, and their crew of volunteers for their efforts in this regard.
- Carole Pope held an event at Hugh’s Room on November 13, 2003 with intentions to donate profits from the event to the Archives. Given the very last minute notice, and relatively poor turnout despite best efforts to get the word out, there resulted in no actual proceedings to the Archives. However, we appreciate her consideration of us as her charity of choice, and would gladly work with her in the future on a similar fundraising event opportunity.
- In November 2003, the John Damien Educational Fund approved that all funds on hand transfer to the CLGA – and there was a subsequent cheque for $10,000 issued, alongside a copy of the resolution of the Trustees. This donation will be used exclusively to establish a fund bearing the name of John Damien to provide grants or scholarships to individuals conducting research into queer history or issues so that the attainment of rights for gays and lesbians may continue to be recognized into the future.
- The Operations Committee held its annual Book Sale in November 2003, with proceeds estimated at approximately $800. Thanks to all those who volunteered for this event, as well as donated material.
- In January 2004, Kazik Jedrzejczak from the Polish Gay and Lesbian Association of Toronto and their fabulous “Polish Night” at Woody’s. This was its usual huge success, and after all expenses, was able to raise $4,000 for the Archives, including onsite donations. Thank you; again, to Kazik and his crew, for a fun evening of authentic polish food, music and dancing, and consideration of the Archives for their generous donation.
- In January 2004 Mr. Leatherman Toronto 2004, Remi Colette, alongside fellow titleholders Alan Anderson and Toronto Boot Black 2004, slave boy Dave, has named CLGA as one of two charities of choice through their title year. This will no doubt be of significant fundraising importance to the Archives, given that Mr. Leatherman Toronto 2003, Paul Ciantar, raised $11,000 for the PWA Foundation.
- Ian Turner (a.k.a. Bootblack at the Toolbox) selflessly donated his tips in February 2004 for $70.00.
The National Portrait Committee, with Chair Marie Robertson, held another very successful installation at the SAW Gallery in Ottawa on November 22, 2003, with inductees including Toronto’s own Harold Desmarais, and David Kelley. The Committee, now Chaired by Zak Bailey, will hold another ceremony in Toronto sometime in fall/winter 2004, with the induction of five new individuals – Bev Lepischak, John Duggan, Kyle Scanlon, Christine Donald, and John Alan Lee.
Our Website Committee continues its good work to keep the looks, appearance, and ease of access to information found at the site, and welcomed a new webmaster Lyle Beaman in December 2003. He has made an immediate impact on our web operations, including acting quickly on one of the exciting new ideas, coming out of the volunteer conference in March 2004: two new list serves for volunteers at the organization, to help facilitate communication within the organization:
- CLGA-friends: Typical postings include CLGA press releases, upcoming events, newsletter summaries, etc. Before messages are sent out to the list, they must first be approved by the CLGA volunteer who moderates the list.
- CLGA-volunteers: meant for CLGA's current active volunteers only. All new CLGA volunteers are encouraged to join this list to keep informed. Typical messages include the announcement of new CLGA volunteers, requests for newsletter items, and internal discussion of CLGA activities.
We continue to work toward succession of the new building at 34 Isabella, and it has been a busy year of contacts with the City, Toronto Children’s Aid Society, and developer Urban Strategies. More details will follow in the committee report.
It has been a busy, but gratifying year for the organization. Some of the projects initiated in 2002-03 were forced to be put on hold due to the reconfiguration of the Board following Matt’s unexpected resignation, and necessary energy required to manage our day-to-day business. However, the Board has really come together as a solid group and has a lot of positive energy and enthusiasm for the future. For example, in 2003-04 we hope to revive the nearly completed project with Xtra! and Ken Popert, President of Pink Triangle Press, entitled, “Who Am I?” We look forward to follow up on many of the ideas for the growth of the organization coming out of the visioning exercise in August 2003, and the more recent volunteer conference in March 2004. We look forward to your help as members, volunteers, and friends to come forward to participate in the operationalization of these fine ideas – we are only as strong as our weakest link – and need your support to attend meetings, join committees, and actively participate in the organization.
Respectfully submitted,
Patricia Swerhone, Acting President
Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives
May 30, 2004 |