The Maurice Young Millennium Place Society recently re-elected three members to its board and continued to move toward integration with the Whistler Arts Council (WAC) to form one body that oversees the development of arts and culture in Whistler.
Sue Adams, current chair of the board, was re-elected to the board along with Carson and Tim Wake at the society’s annual general meeting on Oct. 20.
Adams and Doti Niedermayer, WAC executive director, meanwhile, both stated their support for the initiative to unite the two groups. The initiative came as a result of recommendations from a report completed by consultants after a functional review of Whistler’s arts organizations and facilities in 2008.
“All three partners — the RMOW, Whistler Arts Council and MYMP Society — are working diligently to join the Whistler Arts Council and MYMP societies to create one entity that will develop and oversee arts and cultural development and programming in Whistler as well as the operation of the facility MY Place,” Adams said in a statement.
Louise Lundy, Millennium Place interim general manager, said she and Niedermayer are sharing resources and jointly working toward building the model for the new integrated organization that will be known as the Whistler Arts Council at MY Millennium Place.
“Together, we are identifying capital improvements needed such as office and theatre equipment upgrades, staffing requirements, future branding and programming strategies and developing an integrated budget to align our resources for a better stronger organization,” Lundy said. “There is much to be done, but our integration task list is getting shorter every month.”
An initial integration date was set for Jan. 1, 2010, but given the challenges for both groups in preparation for the Olympics, it is now likely that they will remain technically independent until May or June 2010, officials said.
Lundy also reported that MY Place has improved its financial position in the past two years by reducing the number of performances it produced and operating strictly as a venue for bookings.
Lundy is also reviewing all pricing and operational policies that may be creating barriers for community user groups, officials said.
“Our goal is to build a financial model that will cater to our commercial bookings while providing significant discounts to our local community non-profit groups, making it affordable for local groups to use the facility, as it was always intended,” she said.
