The Friends of the Markham Museum Foundation Board

Meeting No. 5

Mount Joy School, Markham Museum

Wednesday, August 4, 2010 – 5 p.m.

 

 

In Attendance:                                                         Regrets:

Bob Baird, Meeting Chair                                       John Buie

Councillor Carolina Moretti                                                Vince Tortorici

Randy Barber                                                           Glenn Schick

Gunter Langhorst                                                    Martha Mingay

Ardy Reid                                                                  Genny Landis

 

 

Staff:

Janet Reid, Curator                                                 Brenda Librecz, Commissioner

(Recording Secretary)                                             Community & Fire Services                                                                                                           John Ryerson, Director Culture

Cathy Molloy, Director, Markham Museum

Pam Cook (Recording Secretary)

 

 

1.    CALL TO ORDER & OPENING REMARKS

 

The Meeting of the Friends of the Markham Museum Foundation Board was called to order at 5:10 p.m. by Bob Baird.

 

2.    BOARD EDUCATION – Museum Business Plan

 

The Museum Curator reported that Cathy Molloy, Museum Director will present on the three-year Museum Business Plan and the status of the strategic plan prepared by Lord Cultural Resources at the September meeting.

 

3.    REGRETS

 

Regrets were received from John Buie, Gennie Landis, Martha Mingay, Glenn Schick and Vince Tortorici.

 

4.    ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF MEETING

 

Quorum was not achieved until the end of the meeting. The minutes of the previous meeting were not approved.

5.    ADDITIONS / CHANGES TO THE AGENDA

 

The Chair indicated that the following issues have arisen. They will be more fully considered by the Executive and brought forward for discussion at the next Board meeting in September

a.    Composition of the Board in 2010/2011, board accomplishments in this first year of the Foundation and the development of a process for monitoring Board member attendance, in accordance with Town of Markham Guidelines

b.    Outstanding information requests and affidavits relating to conflict of interest for Foundation Board members as requested by Clerks.

c.    Draft Policy Respecting Citizen Appointments to Boards and Committees

d.    National Quality Index – PEP III – award received by Town of Markham

 

6.    DECLARATIONS

 

There were no declarations for this meeting.

 

7.    BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

 

Ardy Reid confirmed that she was invited to join the Cultural Plan Committee – Building Creative Markham.

 

8.    DIRECTOR’S REPORT

 

Janet Reid, Curator, Markham Museum presented a brief verbal report to the Foundation Board. 

 

Construction for the Collections Building is moving well and we anticipate achieving substantial completion on August 20th. Turn over and occupancy of the building will take place approximately four weeks later. The main driveway and entrance will remain closed through August, but we expect to have the parking lots available for Applefest.

 

Staff are working on the plan and contingencies for the move of curatorial offices, the public reading room as well as the priority artifact and archival collections during the fall and winter. Staff will work simultaneously on the inaugural exhibitions. Board assistance will be required to engage community members to participate in the inaugural exhibition. Details of the request will be brought to the September meeting.

 

The administrative staff successfully moved into their new offices in Mount Joy. Work to finish the board room, staff room, kitchen, rental client lounge and health room is nearly complete. The new spaces are well received by staff, volunteers and visitors who are using the rooms daily.

 

Curatorial staff are working on the installation of the displays in the Blacksmith Shop. With support from summer curatorial staff and interns from the University of Toronto’s Museum Studies Program, we completed data entry of the backlog of paperwork from the digitization project commenced five years ago (approximately 2500 records). Object by object inventories of the framed works and textile collections are now complete and the material is ready for packing and relocation to the new facility. Staff will work with the archival collections in August to complete a similar type of inventory. Each of the collection types will be processed in a similar manner prior to relocation to new storage areas. This process will create an up to date and accurate inventory of the museum’s holdings over a three to five year period.

 

Museum programs continue to be well received. Our summer camp program is operating at near capacity levels (80 youth per day) and in some instances these numbers were exceeded. Our other leisure style programming for recreational groups are popular and we have received a number of visits from private schools. The program staff are working on new camp programming enriching the experience for youth by incorporating more special guests. Object based experiences have also been increased and in particular the new Print Shop is being well received.

 

Museum events are well attended, weather permitting. The Board was reminded of the upcoming Rotary Car Show (Saturday August 7) where our newly tuned up Durant Star Car will be on display. The care of the car is now in the hands of Markham Cruisers and can be rented by wedding groups for photographs on the grounds for an extra fee. Markham Doors Open is scheduled for Saturday August 28 this year and will feature public tours of the recently completed Print Shop.

 

Our facilities rental program is now under the direct supervision of Enzo Greco who is streamlining the booking process and working on enhancing our marketing package. This past weekend 1200 visitors (400 cars) were successfully managed for a picnic organized by the Chinese Jamaican community as part of Caribana.  

9.    SECRETARY’S REPORT

 

No report at this time.

 

10. TREASURER’S REPORT

 

The Treasurer, Ardy Reid, noted that the Board requires stationery to use in correspondence with potential donors and for receipt of gifts. The Foundation will use Museum letterhead until proper items are prepared to avoid delay of acknowledgments.

 

11. COMMITTEE REPORTS

a.    Executive Committee – a meeting will be scheduled in the next month

b.    Museum Collection Committee – a meeting to review the draft Collections Policy will take place in the last two weeks of September.

 

c.    Development Committee – a meeting is required of the whole committee and they will endeavour to schedule it for the first week of September. A small working group is looking in to the planning for the Gala and the corporate logo.

d.    Volunteer Committee – nothing to report until the scope of work for the Gala is defined.

 

12. OTHER BUSINESS

 

None.

 

13. NEXT MEETING

 

The next scheduled meeting of the Friends of the Markham Museum Foundation Board will be held on Wednesday, September 8th at 5 p.m. at the Mount Joy School.

 

14. ADJOURNMENT

 

Moved by Gunter Langhorst

Seconded by Councillor Moretti,

 

THAT the August 4th meeting of the Friends of the Markham Museum Foundation Board be adjourned, the time being 6:14 p.m.

 

CARRIED