If you haven’t stepped forward to participate in any one of our vibrant committees, you’re missing something special.

It’s been two years since you, our members, told the then Board what you want our Society to do and become when you answered the strategic plan questionnaire. You said we needed better publicity, a stronger connection to the community and other arts groups, and improved educational and professional developments through programs, workshops, studio visits, and demonstrations.

Thanks to the hard work of the previous and current Board members and officers, and a surprising number of non-board, non-officer volunteers, we are achieving many of these goals, some at breakneck speed. I am honored to serve with these people. We have all benefited from the diligence and tenacity under which they labor to make the BSA all that it can be, with more exhibitions per year. Our annual summer venue, Artpark, now gives us over three months of exposure and hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars of free publicity through collaborative presentations with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, writers, and exposure to thousands of viewers and potential buyers. We have taken in many new Associate Members. Some cleared the first hurdle toward becoming Exhibiting members when their work was accepted into the Spring Show. One, Steve Rovner, won second place. Our congratulations to him, and to all the award winners, including, of course, first place winner Jacqueline Welch. By the end of the Roosevelt Carriage House opening, two works were sold. And as of this writing, two works sold out of Betty’s and one from Artpark. Though there’s supposed to be a recession going on, and no matter what the economic climate, works seldom sell out of our shows, could it be that our increasing presence in Western New York is paying off?

Our annual spring membership meeting at the Burchfield-Penney was a productive and informative gathering. We would have liked more members to attend, but there’s no taking for granted any gathering of some 40 BSA members at a non-exhibition event. What we did achieve was the administration of a membership survey given to ascertain the market for workshops, museum tours, demonstrations, and seminars, and the willingness of our members to share their knowledge and skills with the membership and community. What we found is that 1) many members don’t like to take surveys; and 2) of those who answered, most are willing to participate – as long as someone else does the work of organizing the activity. It’s a familiar refrain in organizations. I’m happy to say, we already have over 40 people working to bring our many programs and activities to fruition. But there’s always room for more member participation. If we spread the work out, we can sustain the enthusiasm and avoid burnout.

Fundraising is going quite well, with several theme dinners planned for the rest of the year and into the next; most seats were filled before we got the publicity out to the whole membership. Thank you, Nancy Cerny, Rita Argen Auerbach, Stephen Houseknecht, Gerry Mead, Coni Minneci, Paula Sciuk and Catherine Tillou for stepping up to the plate (pun intended). We are currently making plans for a series of programs on professional development in conjunction with the Burchfield-Penney, the first of which will be a seminar on estate planning for artists.

And finally, the website. It promises to be very user-friendly and navigable. It will be the face of the BSA to the world. Mark this target date on your calendar: July 1. This will be our first show juried by digital images, and yes, we all would have liked it if the site had been up a few months before trying this, but life happens. The prospectus, thanks to the grueling attention to detail that Beth Pederson and Barbara Evans paid to its writing, spells out what you will need to do to enter and who you can turn to for help should you not be as computer savvy as you’d like to be. Read your 113th Annual Fall Juried Catalog Exhibition Prospectus carefully!

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