Hello, for those of you who were not at the Annual General Meeting on July 13, 2013, I have posted my report below:
President’s Report
July 13, 2013
I am happy to report that Theatre BC has had a very successful year and we are on track for restoring a lot of the programs and services that had to be curtailed during the economic downturn. It has been a pleasure working with the Zones Chairs, Board Executive and the staff to work on rebuilding Theatre BC. The City of Kamloops has been instrumental in this process as well with their ongoing financial, operational, and facility support that has provided us the needed stability both in terms of office space and having a five year home for Mainstage. Providing a home for Mainstage has allowed us to grow our sponsorships and local audiences and to keep the costs of Mainstage down.
Theatre BC saw substantial and continuing growth in the fiscal year 2012/2013, with grants awarded in various categories, another successful Mainstage, and at a 25% growth in revenue from last year. We were able to re-launch the Playwriting Competition, and have a grant to see the return of ACToberfest.
The Theatre BC office staff have been hard at work, investing time in ensuring that the organization standardizes its procedures, and is available to assist and be able to support its various programs, and better its communication with membership, clubs, and the zones.
This year has also seen a complete overhaul and re-development of the Theatre BC Website, and after Mainstage we are going to redo the site www.tbcmainstage.ca site and include online event registration.
As you know, this year we have a full 10 zones participating in Mainstage, for the first time in 5 years. While many of you have heard, not everyone may be aware that at the full Board meeting last year we approved the amalgamation of the SKZ and CIZ zones. It was the intention of the Board to merge the zones to allow clubs that wanted to participate in a festival but that had not had the opportunity to do so in the past few years, to be able to do so.
Unfortunately our intentions were not properly and fully communicated to the Skeena Zone and there was understandably much consternation and confusion about the decision that was made by the board, including the CIZ Zone chair who had not been able to attend the board meeting due to a previous commitment. I accept full responsibility for this poor communication and apologize to the members of both Zones for this. Fortunately, former TBC President Marianne Broup-Weston stepped in to offer to work with the Executive and with former member clubs of the Skeena Zone on a proposal to restore the zone. She worked very closely with Allison Haley during the fall of 2012 and leading up to board camp in January of 2013. At the Board camp, based on the proposal from Marianne for a new zone executive and to hold a zone festival, the board unanimously voted to restore Skeena Zone.
I would like to extend my thanks to Allison and Marianne during that period to ensure the restoration of the zone and the successful festival, as well as an instructor tour that was held for the zone.
Although we may have turned a corner with Theatre BC both financially and operationally, we must focus on the future and the sustainability of our programs. We cannot always depend on grant funding, and we must find ways to make the Zone Festivals and Mainstage financially viable. In the past I have thought about Strategic Planning for TBC taking us in new and different directions, I believe now that the Strategic Planning that the board must undertake should focus on sustainability and preserving the programs and services that our clubs and members continue to want.
It is incumbent on the new Executive Board that will be elected on July 13th to work with the Zone Chairs to set the course for the next few years.
Respectfully submitted;
Sincerely,
Glen Miller
President