The Friends of the Auckland Art Gallery Incorporated (“Friends”) has been in wind-up mode since the last annual meeting of the Friends on 25 October 2016. We write to update you on this process and to invite you to schedule in your diaries an annual general meeting for the Friends in the evening at 6:00pm on Tuesday 13 February 2018.
The Committee
The Committee elected at the October 2016 meeting is Andrew Green (President), Graeme Conning, Mary Joy Simpson and Andrew Smith. The Friends’ Rules were amended at the October 2016 meeting to enable further Committee members to be appointed by the Auckland Art Gallery (“Gallery”). The Gallery appointed Craig Goodall, Christiane Pracht and Sue Sinclair to join the Committee.
The Committee has met quarterly this year.
Membership
The membership programme is now fully managed by the Gallery. All subscriptions and donations go directly to the Gallery.
As a Founding Member, when you renew your membership you remain a member of the Friends of the Auckland Art Gallery Incorporated.
The new Auckland Art Gallery Membership Programme has presented many exciting opportunities to engage with the Gallery and support the enjoyment of the arts in Auckland.
Financial
The financial operations of the Friends have been wound down. There are no longer any employed staff. Our only assets of the trust are the BNZ bank accounts totalling approximately $43,000 at the time of writing this update. Some of these funds relate to the Marchant Bequest (see below).
A copy of the financial statements for the Friends for the year ended 31 March 2017 is available from the Charities Services website (www.charities.govt.nz). We are also happy to email or post the financial statements to you on request.
Marchant Bequest
As former president Raymond Scott noted in his report at the October 2016 meeting, the Friends received a significant bequest under the will of former Friends member, Joy Marchant. Joy and her husband Harold had close links to the Friends in the 1960s when they were living in Auckland.
This significant bequest has enabled the Friends to purchase ‘Spanish Jars 1935’, oil on canvas by Frances Hodgkins. This major work has been gifted to Auckland Art Gallery and will be part of an upcoming exhibition of Hodgkins’ work.
The Friends of the Auckland Art Gallery Acquisitions Trust
The Friends of the Auckland Art Gallery Acquisitions Trust (“Acquisitions Trust”) filed an application in the High Court in August 2017 to vary the trust deed to enable the capital of the trust fund to be expended in the acquisition of art works for the Gallery and any remaining sum that is too small to reasonably use to acquire art works to be paid to the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation.
The Court has directed that those proceedings be served on the Attorney General, who has an overarching oversight of New Zealand charitable organisations. The Attorney General (through the Crown Law office) was served with the proceedings in August. We are awaiting a formal report from Crown Law and will report when this is available.
Annual Meeting
We wish to hold a further Friends’ Annual Meeting in conjunction with a presentation of the Frances Hodgkins work ‘Spanish Jars 1935’. We anticipate having friends of Joy Marchant in attendance at the presentation. Please pencil Tuesday 13 February 2018 in your diary.
A formal invite will follow in the New Year.
We wish you and your family all the best for Christmas and the year ahead!
