We write to update you on the wind up of the The Friends of the Auckland Art Gallery Incorporated (“Friends”) and the The Friends of the Auckland Art Gallery Acquisitions Trust (“Acquisitions Trust”) and to invite you the annual general meeting for the Friends on Tuesday 30 October 2018.
At our October AGM, Ron Brownson, Senior Curator of New Zealand and Pacific Art at the Auckland Art Gallery will present on:
“Six decades of giving. The Friends of the Auckland Art Gallery”
This will be a wonderful opportunity to reflect on some of the key works that the Friends through the Acquisitions Trust have presented to the Gallery.
The Committee
The Committee is currently Andrew Green (President), Graeme Conning, Mary Joy Simpson and Andrew Smith, together with the Auckland Art Gallery officers Craig Goodall, Christiane Pracht and Sue Sinclair.
The Committee met in February, July and August this year.
Election of the Committee will be held at the October AGM. If you wish to make a nomination, please email agm2018@friends.org.nz. Nomination form is available here.
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 until the Friends is wound up.
The new Auckland Art Gallery Membership Programme continues to enjoy huge success. The Programme has offered many opportunities for members to engage with the Gallery. You can find further information on the Gallery internet site
Financial
The financial operations of the Friends have been wound down. Our only assets are the BNZ bank accounts totalling approximately $37,000 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 2018 is available from the Charities website (http://www.charities.govt.nz). We are also happy to email or post the financial statements to you on request.
Marchant Bequest
Last year, the bequest from former member Joy Marchant enabled the Friends to purchase ‘Spanish Jars 1935’, oil on canvas by Frances Hodgkins. We are pleased to report that with the funds remaining, the Friends will be assisting with the publishing of the catalogue for the 2019 Frances Hodgkins exhibition at the Gallery.
The Friends of the Auckland Art Gallery Acquisitions Trust
In accordance with the resolutions passed at the October 2016 and February 2018 Friends’ AGMs, application was made to the High Court to vary the trust deed of the Acquisitions Trust 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.
We are pleased to report that in July Justice Toogood made orders as the Acquisitions Trust and Friends had requested.
In his judgement Justice Toogood noted:
“The Auckland Art Gallery is a civic, regional and national taonga and I am not persuaded that it would be a proper exercise of the Court’s discretion to decline, on what are essentially technical grounds, to exercise the jurisdiction available to the Court to facilitate the achievement of the objectives of those in whose name this proceeding is brought. It is firmly established by the evidence that much thought and discussion has preceded the making of the application. If the application is granted, the trustees will have the power to divest the Trust of its resources in accordance with the wishes of an overwhelming majority of its stakeholders and for a purpose consistent with the Trust’s purposes.”
The trust fund may now be used to purchase a significant work for the Gallery, which will commemorate the work of the Friends and its significant part in the Gallery’s history.
A copy of the financial statements for the Acquisitions Trust for the year ended 31 March 2018 is available from the Charities website (http://www.charities.govt.nz). We are also happy to email or post the financial statements to you on request.
Annual Meeting
Our next annual meeting will be held on Tuesday 30 October 2018 at 5.30pm. Please mark your calendars.
The agenda for this meeting will be as follows:
o Apologies
o Minutes of the last annual general meeting February 2018
o President’s Annual Report – Andrew Green
o Treasurer’s Financial Report – Graeme Conning
o Progress on winding up of the Friends Acquisitions Trust and the Friends Society
o Election of Officers and Executive Committee
o General business
o Ron Brownson “Six decades of giving. The Friends of the Auckland Art Gallery”
We look forward to seeing you there.
friends of the auckland art gallery inc 