2023-2024 Plans
You may have heard the rumors and added your thoughts about reinventing ACOR to make it bigger and better than ever and we do appreciate it. I say “we” because Ruth Belland (who stepped up to take on the role of Acting President at the beginning of 2023) has chosen to change her status because of the difficulty she’s had with being absent from Oak Run for so many months as a seasonal resident. Her enthusiasm and support of ACOR has been invaluable and we really appreciate her efforts.
Her volunteer “helpers” – Georgette Mercado, C.J. Westrick and Dori Sullivan have tried to fill in the gaps and with Ruth’s help, are developing a new plan. There are a couple of “must do” things listed in our by-laws that are required to maintain our “not-for-profit” 501 tax exemption status. One is the election of officers voted on by the membership and the second is that the vote must be included in our written minutes to authorize the change of signatories on our bank accounts. There are other necessary changes that should be made to update our by-laws, but for now these are the priority.
We have begun to make changes by establishing regular business meetings on the 3rd Wed. of the month throughout the year when there are no classes on that date. (Yes, our by-laws do say only 3 general meetings annually, but we feel too much time and interaction is lost between club-wide meetings – that can and may be changed “officially” with by-law revisions in the near future.)
We have prepared a slate of officers and will, at our September 20th meeting present that slate, in addition to nominations from the floor so a new board can be voted on at our October 18th meeting. In the meantime we will continue without any changes made at the bank and proceed to implement an election of officers with the current volunteers.
We have determined that our annual membership year and dues would be more appropriate run on a calendar year basis. Therefore, no dues are to be paid until our January meeting. We currently have stable finances and the few months “free” membership for our members is a bonus in appreciation of your patience and support.
We have plans for an ACOR Open House and Show and Sale towards the end of October as well as several other ideas to give ACOR more exposure and hopefully help you show the community your artwork and if you want, sell your work. Details to follow. Regarding our finances – at this point the planned “Starry, Starry Night” evening dance/gala is cancelled. The budget for hiring the band, refreshments efforts and the general timing – made it unworkable at this time. As of now, the reservations of the Orchid Club and contract for hiring the band have been removed from our calendar.
Some of the members have expressed support by continuing in their roles as chairpersons or board members for the remainder of the year until officially nominated for office. By mutual consent, C.J. Westrick has volunteered to serve as Acting President until an election is held. Ruth Belland will share duties and then continue as Vice President (class scheduler) and chair of the 2024 Fine Arts Show. Georgette Mercado will act as Secretary and special events coordinator, Heather Doherty will continue as Membership Chair, Joan Sheetz will continue was Treasurer (her signature as well as Dori Sullivan’s are currently checking account signatories). Dori will do part of the publicity duties including the “In Touch”, the Mighty Oaks Gazette, Channel 12, and the SM Citizen for 2024. C.J. Westrick will continue as our website “manager” (https://acor.club ) in addition to developing other internet resources.
Nominations from the membership for the above positions are welcome and can be put on the ballot in September. Volunteers are always needed and you are welcome to be a part of this leadership team as a committee person or candidate/assistant to any of the above offices. Be sure and come to our September Business Meeting (9/20) for the Nomination Report and October (10/18) for the election of officers for the coming year.
As an extra incentive, we have had several art supply items donated to ACOR and we plan to have a simple drawing for those items at both the Sept. and Oct. meetings. We were delighted to learn that Sue Primeau will teach two four week sessions beginning in November. Dori has a signup sheet. Vanessa Fuller Brown has taken a full time job with the Citrus Co. School District and will only be available for classes with us on Saturdays. We’re looking for a site. We’ve been talking to other instructors and hope to have specific dates as soon as possible. In our local art world there have been a lot of changes, and we may be scheduling one day workshops or shorter classes.
We are asking members to complete a survey that will help us to determine what kind of classes you want and learn a bit more about you. In the meantime, working as mentors to newer members, or sharing your skills with small groups on our “Open Painting” days at the Island Club are welcome. Besides, they’re fun. And there is always something to be learned. As a team, we’ve developed a schedule for the next four months – check out our website often (https://acor.club) so you can put these dates on your calendar.
This is a long update and we appreciate your support as we move on making the changes. Stay well, paint often … C.J. Westrick, Georgette Mercado, Ruth Belland and Dori Sullivan.