Village Squire, 1974-12, Page 6Perth and Huron counties are very fortunate
to have this kind of facility, and it's all been
paid for by Rothmans."
Getting along without the support of
Rothmans is going to be "slightly difficult"
says Mr. Swain. "We don't want to retreat on
our standards," he says. "We're going to
need, in the first couple of years, at least
$100,000 to operate, and of course as inflation
goes, we'll need more. We had been
operating on a budget of $127,000 and I had
asked for a lot more for the coming, year so
we are retreating to a certain extent."
"A lot of the money goes into operating the
plant, which is sad; it should really be going
into programs."
"I think one of our problems is that our
image is such that it doesn't allow peoples .
participation here. That's something that
would like to see; to encourage people to see
that this facility is here and they might as well
use it"
Mr. Swain admits that it will be quite a
struggle to keep the gallery operating at its
present level without the Rothmans support.
Helping along the way is an extra $5000 from
the Ontario Arts Council, a $6000 emergency
fund from the National Museums policy and
Rothmans is paying the maintenance on the
building for 1975 which amounts to about
$30,000. There is also receipts from the
summer visitors, though it is never certain
how much this will amount to. The Women's
Committee is raising money and the board of
directors will be approaching private business
for money, as well as the City of Stratford.
The support of the city will be essential,
Mr. Swain feels. "We cannot get money
everywhere else, it seems to me, unless we
get money from the city, because we can't go
and say 'support this local gallery' when the
locals aren't helping.
"One of the problems with this sort of
institution and the way it is set up is that it is
expensive to maintain. It has a very expensive
base. The political base, unfortunately, is
relatively small.
"The City,"" he says, "has not had any
requests in the past for capital funds and they
are not likely to have for many years. They've
had this thing given to them, you know it's
worth almost $2 million now, and there is this
kind of facility and it seems to me an economy
to maintain it and not to let it fall down."
Mr. Swain feels that since the city is
expecting to grow, and especially since it is
trying to develop into something of a
convention centre, this sort of alternative
entertainment centre is badly needed. He
doesn't expect the city to pick up the whole
tab for operation, but feels that at least it
should make a gesture of support.
The gallery hosted about 60,000 guests
during the last year. There are lots of
galleries in cities of a couple of hundred
thousand population, he says, that don't get
that kind of support. The bulk, of course, is
during the summer season when the Festival
draws crowds of people to the City, but
during the winter about 2000 people a month
go through the gallery for nearly one third of
the total visitors. Though the local attendance
jewelry
tiffs
On Christmas morn and
all through the years...
your lovely gift of jewelry
will light up the days with
beauty for someone
• pecial...
SCHMID'S
Give her a truly fine gift of a birthstone
ring or pin...but to avoid
disappointment order early.
JEWELLERY AND
CHINA
LUCKNOW
OWNERS -W. JOS. AND
DEAN AGNEW
_ , •
•
4, VILLAGE SQUIRE/NOVEMBER 1974
If you belong to a club, church
group or other organization that
is interested in raising money
for your own club or charitable
activities, Village Squire may be
able to help out. Your group can
earn money by selling subscript-
ions in your town. Contact
Village Squire, Box 10, Blyth or
call 523-9696 for more details.
GIVE A BOOK
a gift wor h Iookirtg irtto
HARRIS
STATIONERY
WINGHAM
357-3191