City council gives AGA $500K to avoid further cuts

City councillors voted Tuesdaytogive $500,000 to the Art Gallery of Alberta but warned there will be no more handouts until the Edmonton facility comes up with a plan to increasefuturerevenues.

Despite making a number of cuts to security and staffing,AGA has been running a deficit since reopening its doors in January 2010.

Twice now, city council has stepped in to bolster the AGAs finances with one-time lump payments.

This latest contribution brings the city's total contributions to the AGA up to $1.6 million. Now city councillors say theyd like to see the gallery take steps to ensure its own future revenue before asking for more money.

"I voted yes for the $500[thousand] but I certainly won't be expecting any more one-time asks going forward from this," said Coun. Tony Caterina.

"Spending the money before you actually have it, sometimes you get bitand I think thats what happened this time around."

Without the citys most recent contribution, AGA executive director Catherine Crowston said the gallery programming would have been facing some some major cuts this year.

"It would have meant closing the art gallery perhaps one or two days [a week]," she said. "We would have probably had to cancel exhibitions."

"$500,000 is a significant amount of money when you consider our entire exhibition budget for the year is only about $800,000."

Caterina would like to see the AGA start planning for a more sustainable future.

"I hope that at this point, this is the last one-time ask from them, and they come up with a good plan in order to go forward," said Caterina.

Drop in admissions

For her part, Crowston is hoping to build revenue through a combination of fundraising and increased retail sales and art rentals.

The AGA will also try to reduce costs by forming marketing partnerships with other local arts institutions like the Citadel Theatre, Edmonton Symphony and Winspear Centre.

Crowston also said she would like to see more regular support for the gallery from the municipal, provincial and federal government.

"I think beyond 2013 is a question, and it's a challenge for us," she said.

"Ideally, we can stay within the budget model were working with this year but of course were going to have to work with city council as the city administration, and with the Edmonton Arts Council to make sure that can happen."

During its first year in the new building, the AGA had more than 87,000 visitors however, 2011 admission rates dropped by more than half (34,000).

Despite low admissions, Crowston said community support for the gallery remains strong.

"We had membership of 900 members in 2006, before the gallery opened," she said.

"That was the same in December of 2009 before the gallery opened. Now our membership is around 5,000 so that's a definite show of support."