A lot has happened since our last AGM in March 2009. At that AGM, we elected a Board to oversee the governance of the Society. As I think most of you know, this has not been without problems, which relate to the inclusion, or rather feelings of exclusion, by members of the previous management committee, most of whom are now prevented by artsACT’s funding guidelines from serving on the Board. Discussion of these issues has taken up a lot of the Board’s time.

These problems were added to by further constraints in the 2010 funding guidelines, which state that Board or staff members also cannot benefit from the organisation’s programs or services. The Board wrote to the Chief Minister regarding this and, consequently, Robert Piani of artsACT attended our meeting last month, at which he advised us that, despite the contentious guideline, artsACT is satisfied with the way we are currently operating. The guidelines will, we are told, be modified for 2011, though at this stage we don’t know exactly how.

As I have already said to those most concerned, I regret if anyone has felt left out as a result of the change in management arrangements. But these turned out to have far more implications than I anticipated. In hindsight (which is always easy), perhaps we should have retained the old committee as a subcommittee and superimposed the board over that.

However, in the last week, I have met with some of our teachers and activity organisers and after this AGM the Board will be establishing a formal Activities Subcommittee to ensure that our program of activities for members continues, and no one is left in the cold to do anything alone. Also, I hope it will act as a general forum for airing issues that ideally would be the responsibility of a General Manager or Director, but in our current situation are ending up on the board’s agenda.

During the year, the Board also set up an Education Subcommittee to address, amongst other things, the teaching of OH&S. This issue resulted in the Board commissioning Gail Nichols to conduct an audit of the Society’s OH&S. I received Gail’s report this week and the Board will be setting up an OH&S Subcommittee, as a high priority after this AGM, to consider how best to implement Gail’s recommendations. Under new ACT OH&S legislation, we are required to consult with our ‘workers’, a term which now includes staff, members and students. This subcommittee should, therefore, also satisfy that legal obligation.

The Education Subcommittee also resulted in a new questionnaire that was distributed to adult students at the end of term 4.  The questionnaire generated a good response, and the data make interesting reading. They also will be considered in detail in the new year.

Likewise, a survey of members earlier in the year also produced some interesting results regarding the types of activities preferred by members and the best times for holding these. I thank the members who responded, and Jane Crick, who is acting on the results of the survey and working to give members a diverse and interesting program of events. Maryke Henderson and Chris Harford are also planning to increase the number of workshops and short courses, which members requested.

An interesting program of workshops and members’ events was held last year, thanks to Maryke and Jane, all of which has been reported in the newsletter.

The Society’s program of classes continued to be the backbone of our financial strength, thanks to Chris Harford and Bhavana Moylan, and the teaching team of, Chris, Jane Crick, Maryke Henderson, Cathy Franzi, Alex DeVos, Garry Palecek, Kaye Pemberton and, lately, Jackie Lallemand. Paul Dumetz is a valued teaching assistant, who is employed specially to help Vicki Scheerer and other handicapped students during Chris’ Tuesday morning class. Paul also provides valuable help in the workshop and, he and Garry do the bulk of kiln packing and unpacking. Such is the popularity of our classes that we now have a waiting list for vacancies.

If our classes are the backbone of our financial success, then Sara Hogwood, as Office Manager and Program Manager, is my backbone. No President’s report would be complete without a vote of thanks for the great work she does, not only as a staff member, but as a volunteer, attending every exhibition opening, and putting in many extra hours in the office and at home. Thank you Sara.

The exhibition program last year was outstanding, with two major ceramic exhibitions, The Secret History of Blue and White (opened by Robert Bell) and Recent Ceramics by Owen Rye (opened by Janet Mansfield), in addition to our now regular Bald Archy Prize and EASS award exhibitions. I can’t resist also mentioning the outstanding success of the 2010 Bald Archys, which finished only recently, and which attracted a record crowd of 5425 paying visitors, who also contributed to record sales in the shop.  The growing shop sales are also a tribute to the quality of the work on sale. Thanks to the shop members and others who minded the gallery during this busy period and throughout the year.

We held another successful annual Members’ Exhibition, thanks to Jennifer Collier, Robynne Carey and Maryke Henderson. The opening was an especially lively event thanks to selector and judge John Freeland, who chose a piece by Jacqueline Lewis for the Doug Alexander Memorial Award. This year’s exhibition will be coordinated by Linda Davy.

The annual Open Day in June was ably managed by Caroline Reid, and, as always,  attracted a good crowd. This is a valuable community support building exercise for the Society, and we need a volunteer to manage it this year.

The Canberra Potter, our monthly newsletter, so essential for keeping members informed, has been well edited by Bridget Anderson. After 2 years as editor, Bridget has decided it is now time for someone else to have a go. So if there is anyone out there who fancies themselves as an editor, now is the time to show yourself. We have just the job for you.

Carol Kenchington resigned as librarian during the year, pending a spell in Africa. Thanks to Carol for her work as librarian over several years and to Sarah Hendriks, Julie Day-Lewis and Maryanne Devey, who have taken over management of our excellent library.

I would also like to acknowledge Ingrid Adler, who with Roger, looks after our lovely garden, and Megan Lewis and Alex, who have had the never-ending task of trying to keep the workshops clean and tidy. Megan resigned during the year, owing to her graduating from university and starting fulltime work as a teacher at Erindale College. We wish her good luck. If she is half as good a teacher as she was a cleaner, she’ll be brilliant. Chris seems to have found an admirable replacement in Sarah Buckley. Welcome to the team, Sarah.

Our Christmas party was the best ever, if numbers are anything to go by. Thanks to Maryke, we now have our own pizza oven, which was commissioned for that event.

I  would like to make special mention of Judy MacDonald, who continues as Chief Steward of the Pottery Section at the Canberra Show. The Society sponsors the Pottery Section in the Canberra Times Craft Expo, and this year Judy received a record 183 entries. Fantastic!

I express thanks to my fellow Board members, Andrea Ho, Patsy Hely, Janet Fieldhouse, Virginia Walsh, Peter Mobey, and Roger Ellyard, who probably weren’t expecting quite the angst and arguments that seemed to come from nowhere. I especially thank them for agreeing to serve another year – except for Virginia, who is unable to – and I welcome Allen Black, who, subject to your approval, will join the Board from today. I promise them an easier time this year!

Special thanks to Roger Ellyard, for doing a brilliant job as Treasurer, and also for his assistance with numerous maintenance jobs and upgrades round the place, not least installation of the flues for the kilns, including the whirlygigs on the kiln shed roof. We now have five electric kilns and three gas kilns.

Unfortunately, we were not successful with our grant application to the Australia Council, for funding for a class for visually impaired students. We will apply again this year, as we were successful in obtaining a grant for three new workbenches and a dozen stools for the workshop, in anticipation of running the class. The new furniture should be here soon.

Finally, I acknowledge the support that the Society receives from the ACT Government. This takes the form of rent-free occupation of the Watson Arts Centre, assistance with maintenance and improvements, and some staff funding. And of course, there are five new studios and an artist’s residence in the pipeline.