ANNUAL REPORT 2017

1 BAC Inc. Board Staff

Julia Mulligan Daniel Ballantyne Chair Chief Executive Officer

Phil Nizette Monika McInerney Deputy Chair Creative Program Director

Tom Thornton Philip Piggin Treasurer Creative Program Officer

Bob Clark Ann McMahon Secretary Creative Program Officer

Lyndon Anderson Jack Lloyd University of Business & Operations Director Member Delegate Skye Rutherford Damien Haas Marketing Manager Community Council Pat Miller Member Delegate Finance Officer

Govert Mellink Dianne Libke Lora Shaw Front of House Coordinator

Susan Conroy Damien Hicks Technician Vicki Thompson

Our Purpose To fuel a love of and engagement with the arts. Our Vision To be an outstanding centre of arts and cultural activity in the ACT and beyond.

Background artwork by: Dianne Firth. The Board and Staff of Belconnen Arts Centre wish to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land where we meet and work, the Ngunnawal people. We wish to acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.

Contents

Chair's Report 4

Chief Executive Officer's Report 6

Creative Program 8

Treasurer's Report 12

Financial Report 2017 13

Our Thanks 14

Chair's Report 2017 has been a watershed year for Belconnen Arts Centre Inc (BAC) with the ACT Government advancing completion of the original vision for an outstanding centre of arts and cultural activity on the shores of . This is the most significant strategic development since the arts centre came to life in 2009. BAC’s facilities and business operations will effectively double and planning is well underway. I thank ACT Minister for the Arts Gordon Ramsay, many on all sides of government, artsACT and Procurement and Capital Works officers and members of the community for their support. Attention to site functionality, program capability, business opportunities and the challenges of transition are key elements for focus in the year ahead. Whilst preparing for this expansion we have continued strengthening our governance, furthering our commitment to the Belconnen community and improving stakeholder relationships and business capabilities. BAC is in the third year of its five-year strategic plan and its creative program continues to produce remarkable creative, educational, social and health outcomes as it engages and transforms many lives. BAC has hosted events of national significance notably the National Ausglass conference (r)evolve and the Doug Moran Prize for Portraiture. Under Creative Program Director Monika McInerney’s leadership, the arts centre’s galleries were full throughout the year, exhibition openings continued as major creative and community events and art sales exceeded expectation. More workshops were presented than ever, and classes oversubscribed. We employed more artists across the creative program than in any previous year. BAC is a leader in community arts and cultural development practice

4 Above: Tribute 2017 exhibition by Kemarre Arts Indigenous Women's Group. focussing on access and inclusion. Program highlights include IGNITE: Alternative Arts Academy and Dance for Wellbeing. Under Ann McMahon’s thoughtful guidance, IGNITE is increasingly being recognised for its elements to inspire and motivate participants with all levels of disability. Philip Piggin’s work is extraordinary in taking Dance for Wellbeing from strength to strength as an offbeat and vivacious program changing lives for those with long term health conditions. These and other programs are leading to more creative collaborations, new strategic partnerships and expansion of offsite activities. BAC’s facilities house resident companies including Musica Viva, The Young Music Society and the Griffyn Ensemble and the dance studio is a base for small business arts organisations growing dance and movement for wellbeing practice. Business and Operations Director Jack Lloyd and Front of House Coordinator Di Libke have worked tirelessly ensuring sustained hire of our quality venues. I acknowledge the depth of experience and professional expertise provided by our Board in their delivery of outstanding governance during this exciting time of transition. It has been a pleasure to welcome Treasurer Tom Thornton onto the Board and I thank him for his refinements to our financial reporting systems. I am sad to see Lora Shaw, Vicki Thompson, Bob Clark, and Lyndon Anderson stepping down. I thank them and all Board members for their fine governance, professionalism, valued work for BAC and their support for me personally. Your efforts are especially appreciated considering the additional pressures with BAC’s exciting transition whilst balancing competing family and work demands. On behalf of the Board I particularly thank BAC’s management team led by our energetic CEO Daniel Ballantyne, who advocates our strengths across the ACT, and with Monika and Jack, attends to BAC’s creativity and operational imperatives to ensure BAC delivers community expectations in an exceptional way. Thanks also to all the staff, tutors, casuals and contractors, our wonderful volunteers plus BAC’s growing network of partners, supporters, sponsors and public funding bodies, each playing a vital and integral part in ensuring the delivery of such inspiring arts and cultural activity.

Julia Mulligan Chair, Belconnen Arts Centre Incorporated 5 Chief Executive Officer’s Report 2017 opened with optimism, witnessed great creative achievement and then closed with an exciting prospect. Long anticipated projects came to life, leaving beauty and new insights on how to fuel a love and engagement with the arts. 2017 also proved that strategic focus and sticking to a plan works. Monika McInerney leads BAC’s outstanding creative program team of Ann McMahon and Philip Piggin who, with their burgeoning community of artists, teachers, producers and energetic volunteers, delivered their program onsite and throughout the Canberra region that was designed, evolves from and is delivered through community arts and cultural development practice. Ann McMahon’s stewardship of IGNITE Creatives proved how a well- conceived and resourced project becomes truly transformative. Seven artists living with disability met with a professional collaborator each week for six months to develop their creative practice and prepare for entry into mainstream arts. All IGNITE Creatives artists experienced major advances and since have attracted awards, funding or have travelled nationally and internationally. A conspicuous highlight was Katie Senior and Liz Lea receiving the Canberra Critics Circle 2017 Dance Award for That Extra ‘Some. BAC’s celebrated Dance for Wellbeing grew exponentially thanks to new ACT Health funding and Philip Piggin’s astute application of principles developed through his stewardship of Dance for People with Parkinson's. Philip’s team of dance tutors led classes across the ACT taking participants beyond the therapeutic and social to an engagement where all become creative beings. Philip’s contribution was recognised with a 2017 Australian Dance Awards nomination for Services to Dance. 6 Top: Liz Lea and Katie Senior perform That Extra 'Some. Image: Lorna Sim. While the IGNITE: Alternative Arts Academy and Dance for Wellbeing are exemplars of a wider integrated approach, the creative program team’s constant attention to arts practice development, collaboration and community engagement also yielded the art sale, gallery hire and workshop income contribution to 2017’s positive financial result. Independent artists and cultural entrepreneurs continued to be crucial and thanks go out to the many dance studio/creative workshop based small businesses and event makers who choose BAC’s facilities. Jack Lloyd leads BAC’s business and operations team who exercise BAC’s main strengths; our people, our facility and our brand. 2017’s renewed marketing effort under Rachel Hollier, and then Skye Rutherford, combined with Diane Libke’s outstanding customer focus drove the trading income turnaround detailed in BAC Treasurer Tom Thornton’s report on page 13. Many others also contributed; Pat Miller in finance, technician Damien Hicks, the always buoyant front of house casuals and BAC’s amazing and remarkably consistent volunteers whose skill and teamwork grows year on year. Of all BAC’s wonderful volunteers it is our talented board chaired by Julia Mulligan who lead us and are defining how the ACT Government’s $15 million funding for BAC’s Stage 2 development will transform our site into a true multi-arts facility. Construction will commence in the second half of 2018. As we prepare to be transformed, the people of Belco and beyond are expectant and ready!

Daniel Ballantyne Chief Executive Officer, Belconnen Arts Centre Incorporated

Above: Offbeat – Dance for People with Parkinson's class. Image: Lorna Sim. 7 Creative Program Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) Community arts and cultural development practice is at the heart of delivering all of BAC’s programs, events and creative engagements. 2017 witnessed the realisation of taLK bLAK : Take II delivered in partnership with the Ted Noffs Foundation – Street University with funding provided by the Eldon & Anne Foote Foundation and the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund. Participants enjoyed real life music industry experience through a suite of professionally led development engagements, resulting in the production and distribution of their compilation CD taLK blAK Radio. BAC’s program, IGNITE: Alternative Arts Academy, thrived in 2017 due to its responsive and flexible approach to delivery. IGNITE responded to artists with disability or lived experience of mental illness in 2017 by focussing on generating an expanding spectrum of opportunities for participants to engage in and explored their creative practice while building their understanding of the local arts industry from entry level through to professional practice. The IGNITE: Creatives major project came to fruition in 2017 thanks to combined funding from artsACT’s Community Arts and Cultural Development program, the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australian Government’s Catalyst program. With 26 weeks of one to one engagement, the Creatives project was specifically devised to support the professional development of artists with disability through collaborative development of new bodies of works and position each for entry into the mainstream arts arena. The seven collaborations generated inspiring new work. Paul Dumetz and Maryke Henderson produced a new collection of functional ware.

8 Artworks by (top left to right): Penelope Pollard and John White. Katie Senior in partnership with Liz Lea devised a new dance work, That Extra ‘Some. Kathy Leo and Marzena Wasikowska developed a self- published collection of poetry and photographs. Justin Ray worked with Rob Nugent and Aaron King in the production of Slices of that Pie, a short film capturing and sharing the story of the IGNITE: Creatives journey. Other collaborations focussed on industry and practice development to establish the foundations for new work to be generated into the future. In 2017 the IGNITE: Alternative Arts Academy program culminated in a wonderful collaborative celebration, DETONATE, from 1-3 December. We joined forces with Canberra Symphony Orchestra, AusDance and a suite of artists and organisations to present collective celebration of the community’s creative vibrancy. The event firmly positioned artists with disability within the mainstream as integral contributors to the Canberra region’s artistic and cultural vitality. Exhibitions 2017 continued to attract a broad spectrum of audiences to experience a vibrant suite of 39 exhibitions, from individual retrospectives to arts collectives, all infused by the rich assortment of mediums and cultural backgrounds. We started the year with two stunning exhibitions in glass, Intrinsic Properties/Inherent Vice and Ontogenesis, coinciding with the 2017 National AusGlass conference (r)evolve through a wonderful collaborative presentation with ANU School of Art and Design Glass workshop and AusGlass, funded through the Australia Council for the Arts. Other highlights included the inaugural presentation of 2016 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize here in Canberra, 2017 CAPO Curatorial Internship Award/CAPO Emerging Artists’ Prize and our exhibitions from the Emerging Artists Support Scheme Award recipients. We continued our commitment to the community with our annual open exhibition, Traces II, the annual ACT Tenants Union exhibition and College Express, our uniquely curated survey of emerging artists from north Canberra colleges.

Artwork above by: Francisca Karsten. 9 Dance 2017 continued to applaud another dynamic series of opportunities for the community and professionals to engage in and contribute to the ongoing development of the region’s dance practice. • Dance for Wellbeing – funded with support from ACT Health (3 years) this program commenced for people with Parkinson’s, people with Dementia and for people with Multiple Sclerosis. It is also presented at Arts Centre (TAC), and in partnership with Parkinson’s ACT, Dementia Australia, MS Society, and the National Health Co-op. • Dance on the Edge – celebrated Dance Week and featured six new commissioned works from emerging and established independent dance artists. Workshops In 2017 we continued presenting a vibrant range of workshops across the spectrum of visual arts practices for all ages. The number of workshops grew by 32% while income grew 63%. Events In 2017 the Belconnen Arts Centre indulged in 69 events enriching the artistic fabric of the Belconnen community. Two major collaborative celebrations were; • NAIDOC by the Lake: Our Languages Matter on Saturday 8 July – this was our second collaborative presentation with West Belconnen & Family and Child Centres, ACT Education Directorate, Belconnen Community Service and Uniting Care Kippax celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture through songs, stories, dance and ceremony for all the family. 2017 celebrated record attendance and participation from the community.

10 Above: Open Dance for Wellbeing class at DETONATE. Image: Lorna Sim. • DETONATE – the collective celebration of the community’s creative vibrancy, 1 – 3 December in recognition of International Day for People with Disability (IDAY). This weekend celebrated the capabilities of the region’s artists with disability and how they contribute to the vibrancy of our creative sector and lifestyle, brought together by Belconnen Arts Centre, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, AusDance and the region’s artists, with support from the ACT Government and Ginninderry. Resident Companies BAC’s three resident companies, Griffyn Ensemble, Musica Viva and the Young Music Society, made a wonderful impact presenting concerts, Winter school, teacher professional development workshops and building our reputation as a music education and fine music hub. Arts Employment In 2017 BAC engaged paid artists, curators, arts workers, arts technicians and creative producers to the value of $284,000 and a significant increase on 2016’s $140,000. In addition, artists received $52,395 for work sold through the Gallery exhibition program. Volunteers BAC enjoyed 2,658 hours or $101,004 in value in Board member, volunteer, intern and other unpaid support, equivalent to an additional 1.5 full time equivalent in work activity. Volunteering and community support remained diversified in 2017 as a result of working with secondary schools, work experience placements, employment agencies, internships, English as second language colleges and with that outstanding organisation, Volunteering ACT. We thank and are especially grateful to all our volunteers and community supporters. * Applying notional $38 per hour rate method (communitydirectors.com.au, 2017)

Artwork at left by: Matt Adnate. Right: Crafting at DETONATE. Image: Andrew Sikorski. 11 Treasurer's Report 2017 was the third year of Belconnen Arts Centre’s (BAC) five year strategic plan and budget. BAC recorded a surplus of $21,157 for the calendar year, which represents a significantly positive turnaround for the organisation from the 2016 deficit of -$15,431. The initiatives that drove this turnaround include: • curatorial choices that resulted in higher than anticipated art sales commission and gallery hire income; • workshop enrolment growth resulting from more accessible term dates for families, timing of artist-led workshops with their exhibitions and increasing the diversity and number of adult workshops on offer; and, • hire income growth resulting from an increase in marketing effort, including the launch of a new website and the creation of a customer service focused role. BAC's asset position on 31 December 2017 was $817,457 compared to liabilities of $699,022, which largely comprised 2018 operating grants invoiced in advance. Adjusting for these grants, BAC held an adjusted asset to liability ratio of 2.03:1 that is greater than the 2:1 artsACT benchmark. Equity of $118,435 as a percentage of $1,183,919 in total income is 10%, which is in line with the artsACT guideline. Based on these factors, and as at 31 December 2017, the financial position and financial performance of BAC is strong. The immediate financial future of BAC is largely linked to the ACT government’s announcement on 15 May 2017 of $15 million to complete the Belconnen Arts Centre. This will double the size of the existing facility, which is a hugely positive development for the Belconnen arts community. Since this announcement, the Board and staff have been working closely with the ACT government to anticipate the impact of construction on BAC’s activities and financial position, as well as the need to fund transformation of the organisation’s capabilities to fully activate the expanded facility.

Tom Thornton Treasurer, Belconnen Arts Centre Incorporated 12 Financial Report 2017 1 January – 31 December 2017

Income and Expenditure Income $1,183,919 Expenditure $1,162,762 Surplus / (Deficit) $21,157

Balance Sheet Assets $817,457 Liabilities $699,022 Equity as at 31 December 2016 $97,278 Equity as at 31 December 2017 $118,435

Sources of Income artsACT Core Grant $412,439 artsACT CACD* Grant $167,760 Program & Project Grants $209,518 Galleries & Workshops $140,851 Events & Venue Hire $153,294 Other Income $100,057

* Community arts and cultural development

13 Thank you to all our supporters and friends during 2017! Belconnen Arts Centre Inc. Members

Funding Bodies

artsACT Communication & the Arts Health Prime Minister & Cabinet Education & Training Regional Arts Fund

Philanthropic Supporters

Eldon & Anne Foote Trust

Supporters

Belconnen

14 Creative Program Partners

Gungahlin and West Belconnen Child & Family Centres

Resident Companies

15 Belconnen Arts Centre is supported by the ACT Government.

118 Emu Bank, Belconnen ACT | (02) 6173 3300 www.belconnenartscentre.com.au