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2019 Annual Report

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Our Mission & Vision 1

2019 Highlights 3

Snapshot of Ongoing Activities 4

Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) 5

Programs at the Aurora Cultural Centre 6

Live Performing Arts 6

Gallery Programs 8

Educational Programs 11

Kaleidoscope in the Schools 11

Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall 14

Free Community Events 16

Community Rental Partners 17

Governance 18

Board Governance & Nominating 18

Committee Report 18

Accountability & Transparency 19

Volunteer Program 20

Organizational Key Performance Indicators 21

2019 Patron Base 21

2019 Program Growth 22

2019 Program Statistics 22

Financial Snapshot 23

Finance & Audit Committee Report 23

Treasurer Report 23

2019 Financial Position 24

Metrics 25

Fund Development 27

Fund Development & Outreach Committee Report 27

Donors 28

Sponsors & Funders 29

Organizational Leadership 30

Board of Directors 31

Cont

ents

1 AuroraCulturalCentre.ca

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Vision

Strengthening the social fabric of our community through the transformative power of arts and culture.

Mission As a cultural leader, we bring vitality to the heart of Aurora through:

Core Values Excellence, Collaboration & Accountability

Our Mission, Vision & Core Values

Excellent and innovative professional visual and performing arts

programs and educational opportunities;

Opportunities for meaningful social interactions and artistic community

arts programs in our welcoming and inspiring venue and beyond; and

Inclusivity by reaching out into our diverse community,

recognizing that the arts are both universal and unifying.

As a partner of the Town of Aurora, we play a leading role

in the realization of the Town’s cultural objectives.

AuroraCulturalCentre.ca 2

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Eric Acker, President

Governance has always been a key area of focus in not-for-

profit organizations as public perception and actual roles and

responsibilities in charities appear unclear from outside the

institution. The Board of Director’s role is to make sure that these

things are clear to those who work with us and to accomplish the

roles we have. Imagine Canada standardizes these expectations

through its rigorous accreditation process and we are proud to

have received our five year re-accreditation in 2019 at level 2- a

level higher than required by their rules. While a lot of work for

our small volunteer Board, it proves valuable in having systems,

policies, and guidelines in place when navigating the sometimes

complex world of governing a not-for-profit organization.

One such complexity is the nature of relationships with major

stakeholders. Our key stakeholder is the Town of Aurora who

provides sustaining funding for our operations, and a venue to

host programs for the community. This year, the Town asked us

to participate more deeply in planning their upcoming cultural

infrastructure project, Library Square, which would see a new

addition on the beautiful heritage building we occupy and

activate. The Board and particularly our Executive Director

Suzanne Haines and her dedicated staff have responded to and

supported the project in a multitude of ways including a significant

shift in our strategic priorities when it became clear in May 2019

that we would be unable to stay on premises during construction.

The Town continues to be an excellent partner as we navigate this

project and its impacts. Thank you also to the Town of Aurora for

their continued support and partnership. The Board of Directors

are very hard working volunteers who staff committees which

include additional community members. I am ever thankful for

their time, dedication, talents and insights as we work together to

support Suzanne and her staff in delivering exceptional cultural

programs for the community of Aurora.

Suzanne Haines, Executive Director

2019 put us on an incredible ever-shifting roller coaster of

possibilities at the Aurora Cultural Centre. This was a year of

growth in programming as outlined in our strategic plan with

additional live performances, greater diversity in educational

programs and increased number of gallery events. In addition, we

launched an in-school program of professional live performances

and workshops called Kaleidoscope in the Schools. This new

initiative was fully subsidized by new and existing partners and

jointly delivered by events and education staff into publicly

funded elementary schools in Aurora. To support this growth,

we launched e-commerce to streamline processes and attract

new audiences, developed internal structure and IT connections

to better serve the work, updated our website, and shifted

resources to build up our volunteer program. These strategic

shifts also made it possible to join the Town of Aurora in their

design conversations for the addition to 22 Church street, and

governance of Library Square, as requested. Through these

discussions it became clear that we would need to move into the

community for two years to present our artistic programs. The

Town worked with us to find funding and space to support our

operations through the construction period. We see this move as

an enormous opportunity to bring our programming out further

into the community and build audiences in preparation for the

larger venue, which offers more opportunities to present world

class cultural events and art. Mid-year, there was a shift in the

venue rental market that affected our ability to rent the facility.

This resulted in lower attendance figures and rental revenues. As

we closed out our 9th year of operation, we were honoured to win

the Aurora Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award for

Non-profit of the Year.

Message from the President & Executive Director

2019Highlights• 192 artists exhibited in the galleries in 10 exhibitions

• 55 gallery exhibition community events with 1,342 participants

• 10 artist receptions, 39 guided tours

• 19 Live Professional Performing Arts Events

• 25 artists engaged as instructors

• 74 educational programs with 703 students from ages 4+

• Launched a new in-school fully subsidized program that introduced the ‘Journey of the Child’ model of educational engagement

• 2 artist groups engaged in 8 new in-school live professional young audiences performances with 12 artist directed workshops and 2 professional development teacher sessions impacting 2162 participants

• Winner of the 2019 Aurora Chamber of Commerce Non-profit of the Year Business Award

• Introduced e-commerce to our business in July 2019 for all programs

• Exceeded 2018 fundraising by 105% in grants outside municipal funding and 54% in private sector support

• Partnered with Aurora Historical Society and Museum & Archives for Culture Days and Doors Open

• Partnered with the Town of Aurora and Museum & Archives for Doors Open

• 700 activations of the building

• 26,114 visitors to the Centre

• Reaccredited with Imagine Canada at Level 2 for excellence in governance

• Increased summer student employment opportunities

• 2019 clean audit with no management letter of recommendations

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Snapshot of Ongoing Activities• Professional music concerts

• Professional children’s and family theatre

• Professional live performing arts for young

audiences in schools

• Professional visual art exhibitions

• Student visual art exhibitions

• Educational arts classes for all ages with

professional artists

• In-school performances and workshops with

professional artists for grades JK – 4

• Professional development for elementary school

teachers

• Summer visual and performing art camps

Educational lectures, talks and demonstrations with

professional artists

• Special community events

• Free community programs

• Multi-cultural events & showcases

• Host site for community fundraisers and

marketplaces

• Mentorship and skills exchange with industry

• Collaborate, host and facilitate programs with

community partners

• Volunteer opportunities

• Community facility rentals

• In-house management of all facility rentals,

activities and events

• Bookkeeping, accounting, audit

• In-house marketing and communications

• Customer services

• Maintain active website and all social media

platforms

• Board of Directors assume fiduciary responsibility

for the governance of the Centre and provide broad

oversight of the Centre’s operations

• Create, review and administer policies and

procedures

• Develop & review strategic plans

• Oversee all aspects of the organization

• Oversee compliance, legal and reporting protocols

• Ensure compliance with Canada Revenue Agency,

Imagine Canada Standards, Provision of Cultural

Services Agreement (PCSA), Strategic Plan, Ontario

Corporations Act

• Serve as a resource to Town of Aurora for various

cultural studies, committees etc.

Programs Administration

Governance

KPI (reference to PCSA) How Calculated Measure

1a Customer satisfaction with Program mix Question in Annual customer satisfaction survey**

95% satisfied or extremely satisfied

1b

Customer Satisfaction with Quality Level

Question in Annual customer satisfaction survey**

In 2019 we asked about each program to see how those using them found their quality (ranked satisfied or extremely satisfied)

1. Educational Programs 92%

2. Gallery Programs 94%

3. Live Performing Arts Programs 91%

4. Special Events 87%

5. Volunteer Program 68%

1c Public perception of how well the Aurora Cultural Centre is governed


61% give high and very high rating33% were unsure

1d Customer Recognition and Awareness of Centre


Our Net Promoter Score (NPS) is +66. Of the total survey respondents, 72% are ranked as Promoters of the Centre (with a score of 9 or 10 out of 10 in response to the question).

2 Programming spending vs. total spending Programming Spend /Total Spend

81%

3 Programming hours per capita Programming hours / population 49%

4 Town Grant as % of Total Revenue Town Grant / Total Revenue 48%

5 Town Grant per capita Town Grant/ Population $6.81

6 Number of Partnerships Current year partners 63

7 Volunteer hours as a % of total hours to operate the Centre annually

(Paid + Volunteer hours)/ Total volunteer hours

39%

*The Aurora Cultural Centre is required to report on key performance indicators (KPI) identified by the Provision of Cultural Services Agreement with

the Town of Aurora. Additional organizational KPIs can be found on page 21. **Customer satisfaction information is gathered through an annual survey

distributed in the spring of the following year of operation. The 2019 survey occurred during the coronavirus pandemic which may skew results based on the

significant impact that the pandemic has had on normalcy in our community. +e-commerce was launched July 22, 2019.

Key Performance Indicators(KPI’s)*

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Live Performing Arts

The main programs offered to the public are live performing arts events, gallery

exhibitions and educational events, educational camps, classes, workshops and courses

for ages 4+ and community rentals.

We presented a newly branded Signature Series in Brevik Hall with a diversity of genres

outside classical music. We host jazz, blues, holiday, country, pop, rock, calypso,

culturally specific music, and beyond. John Sheard, past music director for Stuart

McLean’s Vinyl Café on CBC, brings us three themed concerts annually which introduce

new artists and show off some established artists in our intimate 150-seat venue.

Great Artist Music Series was born from the inspired programming of Grammy award

winners Bonnie & Norbert Kraft. With a carefully chosen Yamaha C7 piano, the co-

artistic direction team has been programming exceptional classical concerts that leave

the audience spellbound and breathless as the music washes over them. The series has

evolved from piano concerts to include a diversity of solo artists and chamber ensembles

that bring a diversity of classical repertoire to the acoustically charming Brevik Hall.

We offer pre-show talks and demonstrations made possible by individual donors to our

Fortissimo! fundraising campaign.

Kaleidoscope Family Series reflects the diversity of experiences we wanted to bring to

school-aged children and their families. Primarily a theatrical series, the series continued

to grow audiences with pre and post show refreshments and artistic activities related

to the themes in the show. The fall performance was linked to the Kaleidoscope in the

Schools program to link in-school experiences with family cultural outings.

Meridian Magic Carpet Series introduces toddlers (and up!) to performing arts

experiences and the collective joy and wonder of live performance. Continued with the

generosity from Meridian Credit Union, the program geared to our youngest audience

had shows spanning music, theatre, dance and puppetry. We invited youngsters to

take flight on our wondrous magic carpet, where wiggling, wonder and laughter is

encouraged. The fall performance was linked to the Kaleidoscope in the Schools

program to link in-school experiences with family cultural outings.

Programming at the Centre

Charles Richard-Hamelin, pianist with Bonnie Kraft, Co-Artistic Director, Great Artist Music Series


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Live Performing Arts

Charles Richard-Hamelin January 18, 2019 Great Artist Music Series

John Sheard Presents Ella & Louis January 25, 2019 Signature Series

Kobo Town February 14, 2019 Signature Series

Peter & the Wolf March 14, 2019 Kaleidoscope Family Series

John Sheard Presents Best of the West March 22, 2019 Signature Series

Fantastic Musical Imaginations April 6, 2019 Meridian Magic Carpet Series

AYR Trio April 12, 2019 Great Artist Music Series

Coig April 26, 2019 RBC Emerging Artist Series

Rolston String Quartet May 3, 2019 Great Artist Music Series

Flying Hearts June 1, 2019 Meridian Magic Carpet Series

John Sheard Presents The best of Simon & Garfunkel June 7, 2019 Signature Series

Snow White August 21, 2019 Kaleidoscope Family Series

Rum Ragged October 4, 2019 Signature Series

River of Words October 26, 2019 Meridian Magic Carpet Series

Celil Refik Kaya November 8, 2019 Great Artist Music Series

Laila Biali November 22, 2019 Signature Series

Yamo! Yamo! with Fana Soro November 23, 2019 Kaleidoscope Family Series

Christmas with Patricia O'Callahan & Friends December 5, 2019 Signature Series

Cinderella in Muddy York December 7, 2019 Kaleidoscope Family Series

Kobo Town


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Gallery Programs: Exhibitions

From Memory Society of York Region Artists Juried Exhibition & Sale

January 5 - 26

Mayor’s Celebration of Youth ArtsYouth Art Exhibition

February 2 – March 2

WatershedsciArtists and Scientists responding to environmental concerns and the state of our waterGroup Exhibition & Sale

March 9 - April 2

Running ForwardSolo Exhibition by Daniel St. Amant

March 9 – May 25

We are still here! Solo Exhibition by Deron Ahsén:nase Douglas

May 9 –August 3

PortlandSolo Exhibition by Jon Oelrichs

June 1 – August 24

View from the PinesPine Tree Potters Guild’s 40th Anniversary ExhibitionJuried Exhibition and Sale

August 10 – September 28

Light Grows the Tree Group Exhibition by Yannick Anton, Liz Ikiriko, Ebti Nabag & Dainesha Nugent-Palache

August 31- November 23

She Flourishes / Creating a Vision for A Peaceful World Solo exhibition by Gaia Orion

October 5 - November 16

Curious Minds Society of York Region Artists Juried Exhibition & Sale

November 29 - January 25, 2020

Gallery Exhibition: Deron Ahsén:nase Douglas | We Are Still Here!


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Exhibition Events

Walkabout with Watercolour artist Nancy Newman Wednesday January 16

Docent in the Gallery: Multi-media artist Michele Carlino-Tamane Friday January 18

Figure drawing session with live model Saturday January 19

Docent in Gallery Kevin McBean Saturday January 19

Conversation with SOYRA President and photographer Linda Welch Wednesday January 23

In Conversation with Bill Thompson Wednesday March 20

Artist Demonstration with Daniel St-Amant Saturday March 30

In Conversation with Jennie Clark Wednesday April 17

Debbie Balika, Water Quality Specialist from Kawartha Conservation Saturday April 13

Deron Douglas, Uxbridge School Tour Tuesday May 22

The Artist in Conversation – Deron Douglas Wednesday June 5

Alla Prima Portrait Painting Demo Wednesday July 10

Summer Camp Tours – campers participated in guided tours July 3, 5, 11, 19, 24, 25, 31, August 7, 15, 21, 22

Jon Oelrichs in Conversation Wednesday July 17

Pine Tree Potters with Ann Wilkinson Saturday August 10 (morning)

Pine Tree Potters with Hazel McPhee Saturday August 10 (afternoon)

Guided Tour with Curator for Portland Wednesday August 14

Pine Tree Potters Guild Reception and awards ceremony Saturday August 14

The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.


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Exhibition Events

Pine Tree Potters with Ann Wilkinson Saturday August 17

Hazel McPhee: Play with Clay Saturday August 17

Pine Tree Potters with Deb Riley Saturday August 24

Pine Tree Potters with Josee Pirri Friday September 6

Pine Tree Potters with Paoletta DiFillipis Thursday September 12

Pine Tree Potters with Rhonda Uppington Saturday September 14

Pine Tree Potters with Jane Whitaker Wednesday September 18

Pine Tree Potters with Paoletta Di Fillipis Thursday September 19

Pine Tree Potters with Rhonda Uppington Saturday September 21

Pine Tree Potters with Diane Jupp Tuesday September 24

Pine Tree Potters with Cheryl Milne Saturday September 28 (morning)

Pine Tree Potters with Brenda Zysman Saturday September 28 (afternoon)

Pine Tree Potters with Linda O’Toole Saturday September 28

Kawartha Potters’ Guild Tour Saturday September 28

Explore your Creativity with Gaia Orion Saturday October 5

Light Grows the Tree – Artists in conversation Wednesday October 9

Artist Workshop Unleashing the Creative Spirit with Gaia Orion Wednesday October 23rd

Deron Ahsén:nase Douglas | Artist’s Reception


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Educational Programs: Kaleidoscope in the Schools

A collaboration between the education and events departments of the Aurora Cultural Centre, the Kaleidoscope

in the Schools program launched in September, 2019. A fully subsidized program by our generous funders enabled

four professional live performances to be programmed to deliver in the 2019-2020 school year in all publicly funded

elementary schools serving Aurora JK – grade 4 students. Teachers were offered professional development to

support further understanding and engagement for the student, and promote confidence of teachers in their delivery

of the arts curriculum. The pedagogy for this program is deep in understanding how shared experience specifically

in live performance breeds tolerance, community and shared understanding in disparate communities. We went

further to connect the performances to the Ontario curriculum and support the students’ conversations with artists,

teachers and their families. On page 12 is the journey that each child could access through our program.

Fana Soro | Yamo! Yamo! Greetings from West Africa


Journey of the Child: Kaleidoscope in the Schools

Pre‐show in-class activity

Family discussion

Post-show class activity or workshop with the artist

Performance

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Supported by Teacher Professional Development and planning to engage the student.

Family outing to the Aurora

Cultural Centre


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Educational Programs: Kaleidoscope in the Schools

Plastic / Plastique by Puzzle TheatreOffered in French and English • October 22-25, 2019

• École élémentaire catholique Saint-Jean (French)

• Lester B. Pearson Public School (French)

• Northern Lights Public School (English)

• Wellington Public School (English)

Performances provided to 762 students and 37 teachers

Professional development live workshop delivered to 49 teachers by four artist facilitators that included strategies

for engaging students with arts approaches in delivering all aspects of the curriculum and outlined how to use the

performers’ teacher study guide before and after a live performance to enhance outcomes for students.

The professional development session was created and delivered by Marjie Chud (lead), Arthur Burrows,

Djennie Laguerre, and Erica May.

Yamo! Yamo! Greetings from West Africa!Offered in French and English • November 19-22, 2019

• Aurora Grove Public School (English)

• Devins Drive Public School (Bilingual)

• Our Lady of Grace Catholic Elementary School (English)

• St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School (French)

Performances provided to 943 students and 51 teachers

Two of the performances and workshops occurred in 2019.

KITS PD Workshop with Elementary Teachers

Educational Programs

• Art Around the World; Ages 4-6

• Faces & Places; Ages 7-10

• A Journey Through Art & Time; Ages 11-15

• PA Day; Ages 4-12 18-Jan

• PA Day; Ages 4-12 01-Feb

• March Break-Art Lab; Ages 4-6

• March Break-Comics, Cartoons & Superheroes;

Ages 7-12

• Drawing & Sketching

• Ukulele for Beginners

• Beginning Guitar

• Start Painting now with Acrylics

• Expand Your Horizons in Acrylics Level 2

• Exploring Watercolours - Morning

• Exploring Watercolours - Afternoon

• Watercolours: Basics & Beyond

• The Art of Calligraphy

• Art in Stories; Ages 4-6

• Famous Artists & Their Styles; Ages 7-10

• Faces & Places; Ages 11-15

• PA Day; Ages 4-12 03-Jun








• Smartphone Photography

• Negative Floral Painting

• Monogram Wood Sign

Winter

Spring

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Educational Programs

• Young Artist Studio – Ages 4-6 (6 camps)

• Mixed Media Mashup – Ages 7-12 (8 camps)

• Themes for visual art camps below:

• A, Bee, C’s of Art

• Art & I

• Art Time Travel

• Animation Exploration

• Globetrotting with Art

• Art Experiments

• Outer Space & Art Exploration

• Colour Around Us

• Around the World with Art; Ages 4-6

• Famous Artists & Their Styles; Ages 7-10

• A Journey Through Art & Time; Ages 11-15

• PA Day; Ages 4-12 23-Sep

• PA Day; Ages 4-12 21-Oct

• PA Day; Ages 4-12 15-Nov

• You Can Uke It! ; Ages 8+


• Wood Carving




• Expand Your Horizons in Acrylics Level 2




• Photography

• The Process of Portraiture

• Hand Building 101

• The Art of Calligraphy

• Make Your Own Stained Glass Holiday

Summer

Fall


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Free Community Events

We hosted 3 free community events:

Doors Open

March Break Crafternoon

Culture Days

1

3

2

Community Rental Partners

• Addiction Services of YR

• AIDS Committee of YR

• Aurora Community Band

• Aurora High School - student grading & recital

• Aurora Music Academy

• Bah’ai Community of Aurora

• Canadian Mental Health Association YR

• CHATS

• Christine Harrison - student piano recitals

• CIBC

• Family Services of York Region

• Friends of the Greenbelt

• Gran Aurora

• Immigration Canada

• International Dialogue Institute GTA

• Irina Poljakova - student piano recitals

• Judith Thompson-Bouchard -student piano recitals

• Katalin Frohlinger - student piano recitals

• Keller Williams Real Estate

• Kerry’s Place

• Krasman Centre

• Paskke Quartet

• PRIVATE Davies

• Pickering College

• Pine Tree Potters

• PRIVATE Stephenson

• PRIVATE Thompson

• RBC

• Sandgate Women’s Shelters

• Sheila Vandikas - student piano recital

• Sir William Mulock SS - student recital

• Soroptimists

• SOYRA

• Third Age Learning

• Tim Hortons Franchisee

• Town of Aurora

• Valeriu Kytzak - student piano recital

• York Childrens’ Aid Society

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Governance Board Governance & Nominating Committee Report

The Governance and Nominating committee manages governance and compliance for the

organization; the membership on the Board and committees; and the health of the Board.

The accreditation renewal for Imagine Canada was submitted in December 2018 and

received in March 2019. This five year accreditation has annual compliance reporting on

standards of governance, financial accountability, fundraising transparency, human resource

management and volunteer management.

The committee recruited five additional Board members to join the Board and committees

during the year and completed a Board self-evaluation that highlighted communication and

process improvements. Thank you to our hard working members of the committee who

support the health of the organization through risk management and policy controls.

Mike Kennedy

Aurora Chamber of Commerce 2019 Business Excellence Award for Non-Profit of the Year.


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In 2019, we received a five (5) year accreditation with the trustmark of Imagine Canada at a level 2 status which

compares us to organizations with an employee base up to 50 FTE and $10 million in revenues. Imagine Canada

is a national standards program for not-for-profit governance in Canada. The Aurora Cultural Centre was one of

the first organizations to be accredited and we continue to hold this trustmark for our operations. The standards

test the Board of Directors’ integrity in Governance, Financial accountability and transparency, Fundraising

policies, practices and transparency, Human Resource Management, Volunteer Management.

• As a Registered Charity and a party to the Provision for

Cultural Services Agreement (PCSA), the Centre maintains high

standards of accountability and transparency.

• Reporting to Federal and Provincial governments (e.g. Canada

Revenue Agency, Ontario Charities Directorate, OnCorp)

• Reporting to Town of Aurora Council (quarterly reports, annual

budget presentation)

• Compliance with PCSA reporting and submissions

• External third party annual financial audit

• Continuous oversight of Finance & Audit Committee & Treasurer

• 11 Aurora residents volunteer as the Centre’s Board of Directors

• 2 Town of Aurora Councilors on Centre’s Board of Directors

• Regular minimum monthly meetings with Director of Community

Services

• Documents and operational information widely available to

public on Centre’s website

• Quarterly Public Meetings

• Accountability and reporting to our individual and corporate

donors as well as grant providers (Ontario Arts Council, Heritage

Canada etc.)

Governance Accountability & Transparency

Volunteer Program

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The volunteer program is a significant part of our operations. We rely on the support of community

members who donate their time to help us with administrative and event related activities.

2,198 hours in 2019

29,333 hours to date (Jan 2011 – Dec 31, 2019)

• Wayfinding

• Ticket taking/scanning

• Ushering

• Special event setups

• Board Governance duties

• Administrative support

• Reception support

• Processing registrations and sales

• Planning and supporting events

• Marshalling audience

• Supporting Education programs

• Supporting Summer Camp programs

• Concession ticket sales

Assist with:

Volunteers Doug & Leonard

Organizational Key Performance Indicators

Why did people visit the Aurora Cultural Centre?OT H E R V I S I TO R S

R E N TA L S

G A L L E R Y

AC C E V E N T S / E D U C AT I O N

OT H E R V I S I TO R S

R E N TA L S

G A L L E R Y

AC C E V E N T S / E D U C AT I O N

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2019 Patron Base

96%

of patrons visit venues outside Aurora and visit Aurora Cultural Centre

22%

of patrons find themselves attending Aurora Cultural Centre more often

52%

of patrons now use e-commerce with the Aurora Cultural Centre to purchase their programs

3,535

10,879

10,219

1,486

35,000

30,000

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

2 0 1 4 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 7 2 0 1 8 2 0 1 9 *0

TOTA L

*2019 reduction in patronage due to significantly fewer rentals and artist cancellation of classes and events


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Program Revenue Growth

Program Revenue

Types of Activation Direct Revenue

C O M M U N I T Y R E N TA L S

P E R F O R M I N G A RT S E V E N T S

G A L L E R Y

E D U C AT I O N A L A RT C L A S S E S

C O M M U N I T Y R E N TA L S

P E R F O R M I N G A RT S E V E N T S

G A L L E R Y

E D U C AT I O N A L A RT C L A S S E S

O U T R E AC H ( K I T S & S P E C I A L E V E N T S )

2 0 1 9

2 0 1 7

2 0 1 8

2 0 1 6

Organizational Key Performance Indicators

700cultural activations – all occurred in the venue except KITS Outreach.

120,000

100,000

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000

G A L L E R Y R E V E N U E L I V E P E R F O R M I N G A RT S

E D U C AT I O N R E G I S T R AT I O N S

FAC I L I T Y R E N TA L S

0


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Finance & Audit Committee Report

Treasurer’s Report

Financial Snapshot

The Finance & Audit Committee meets monthly to assess the

financial position of the Aurora Cultural Centre. The 2019 budget

was created in October 2018 and revised in March 2019 when the

Town of Aurora finalized its budget. The Town made a two-year

commitment to our special project, Kaleidoscope in the Schools

that launched in September 2019. There was no increase in the

base budget from the Town of Aurora in 2019. The operating plan

required a monetary commitment from the Centre’s reserves

to right-size the organization to achieve the programming and

strategic plan. The year resulted in a small surplus due to success

in fundraising and staff leave-taking affecting expenses. Thank

you to the dedicated and knowledgeable committee members

who give of their time to support our financial wellbeing.

Eric Acker

Each year, the Aurora Cultural Centre has an external

audit. The 2019 audit was clean with no management letter

recommendations. The Aurora Cultural Centre changed

bookkeepers in May which resulted in improved reporting and

reduced workload for staff. The Board of Directors approved

two reserve fund transfers. The Great Artist Music Series

experienced a small deficit which was supported through a

transfer from the Classical Music Fund Reserve. The small

year-end surplus was transferred to the Contingency Reserve.

Investments were renewed at current rate in June 2019.

Laura Hostick, CPA, CA


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Revenue 2019 Budget 2019 Actual

Town of Aurora Operating Grant 415,700 43% 415,700 48%

Town of Aurora KITS contribution 50,000 5% 50,000 6%

Fundraising: Grants, Donations and Sponsorships 226,500 24% 189,789 22%

Programs 234,345 24% 214,903 25%

Total Income 926,545 97% 870,392 100%

Expenses 2019 Budget 2019 Actual

Adminsitrative salaries and benefits 85,000 9% 81,210 10%

Program salaries and benefits 550,002 57% 486,503 57%

Program Expenses 239,735 25% 197,474 23%

Professional fees 19,500 2% 33,274 4%

Fundraising 4,000 0% 2,306 0%

Other (Office, phone, equip lease, bank, insurance etc.) 58,708 6% 53,563 6%

Total Expense 956,945 91% 854,330 100%

Excess/-Deficiency of Revenues over Expenditures* (30,400) 3% 16,062

Amortization (10,338)

Program Surplus (Deficit) 5,724

Transfer to Contingency Reserves (5,724)

Net Surplus (Deficit) 0

Contingency Reserve Funds 152,724

Classical Music Reserve Funds 69,267

Special Project Reserve Fund 20,000

*Budgeted Deficit was to be paid from ACC Contingency Reserve • Full Audited Financial Statements available at www.AuroraCulturalCentre.ca

Financial Position

2019 Reserves


2 0 1 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T

Metrics

2 0 1 0 AC T UA L 2 0 1 8 AC T UA L 2 0 1 9 AC T UA L

89%

55%48%

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

0%

Town Grant as a % of Total Revenue

Town Operating Grant compared to Aurora Cultural Centre Budget


382,496

722,594854,330

415,700415,700

340,000

900,000

800,000

700,000

600,000

500,000

400,000

300,000

200,000

100,000

0

AC C B U D G E TTO W N G R A N T


2 0 1 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T

Metrics

Aurora Cultural Centre Earned Revenue as a percentage of Town Grant

Program and Administrative Expenses

AC C B U D G E T


97%

82%

120%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0

11%

20%

80%

A D M I N I S T R AT I O N

P RO G R A M E X P E N S E S


2 0 1 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T

Fund DevelopmentFund Development & Outreach Committee Report

The Fund Development & Outreach committee supports the staff team in individual and corporate fundraising

and marketing outreach including brand awareness. Committee members were visible in the community at Town

events and with outreach at the GO Station. Fundraising included prospecting, corporate connections, stewardship

to donors, and supporting an application to the Town for additional funding. Grant and foundation applications are

handled by staff. The committee led the organization to new connections in the community and substantial growth in

fundraising for the organization. Thank you to all of our incredible committee members for all of your time and efforts

to support the Aurora Cultural Centre’s needs. A very special thank you to our donors, sponsors and grant funders

who make all of our programs possible.

Damien Chan


Corporate

• Eric Acker

• Camille Anderson

• Marlene Ash

• Nicole Asquith

• James & Sharon Bradley

• James and Carol Campbell

• Joao Canhoto & Suzanne Haines

• Damien Chan

• Heather & John Cooper

• Arthur & Judy Craig

• Patricia Crawford

• Kent Dinning

• Ava Disanto

• Roxana Farrell

• Katalin Frohlinger

• Rosalyn & George Gonsalves

• Rebecca Haggith

• Ronald & Marguerite Haines

• Linda Hollingworth

• Sharon Kelly

• Mike Kennedy

• Christina Kerr

• Gay King

• Victoria Kinniburgh

• Bonnie & Norbert Kraft

• Marylou Kumagawa

• Amy Lane

• Laura Lawrence

• Carol Mather

• Craig Mather

• Christopher Mercer

• Heather Miller

• Patricia Murray

• Stan & Mary Neal

• Christa Nimmo

• Mary Jeanne Oliver

• Mr G Leslie & Mrs Mary Jeanne Oliver

• Jan Oudenes & Isobel Ralston

• Frank Pulumbarit

• Elizabeth Ramsell

• Jo Anne Richardson

• Anne & David Rosevear

• Parisa Sabet

• Sandra Smith

• Eric Stangl

• Jane Taylor

• Kristle Thorpe

• Patricia Wallace

• Peter & Louise Walter

• Doug & Linda Zack

• Accelteon Partners Inc

• Anonymous

• Certas Home & Auto Insurance Company

• LMH Professional Corporation

• Maple Cross Fund

• RBC Foundation

2 0 1 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T


Donors


2 0 1 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T

Sustaining Partner

Naming Partners

Program Sponsors

Hospitality Sponsors

ERIC SKILLINS & KELLY HOOKEY

Sponsors & Funders

Organizational Leadership

Canada Revenue Agency& Ontario Charities Directorate

Administrative AssistantJennifer Marrocco

Bookkeeper(Contract)

Designer (Contract)

13 Board of Directors

Executive DirectorSuzanne Haines

Volunteer & Visitor Services Coordinator

Katie Epp

White boxes indicates staff

Operational Volunteers & Youth Outreach

Performing Artists & Technical Support

(Contract)

Gallery, Event & Marketing Coordinator Stephanie Nicolo (Maternity leave)

Communication & Events Manager

Jane Taylor

Administration & Operational Services Manager

Carol Sharp

Facility SupervisorsLaura Beaton

Christina Di PaolaEmma Kakush (+ FOH)

Education & Outreach ManagerLeanne DiMonte

Instructors (Contract)

Gallery Assistant Christina DiPaola

(Temporary PT)

Gallery ManagerClare Bolton

Gallery Artists(Contract)

December 2019

2 0 1 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T



Board of DirectorsExecutive:

President • Eric Acker

His professional career began in the early 1970s in the political

milieu of Ottawa. He then spent sixteen years in the aerospace

industry followed by fourteen years in the health sector. Eric retired

after serving as President of one of Canada’s largest behavioural

health companies where his focus was on operations including

human resources, information technology, finance, customer

relations, and service delivery. Born and educated in Nova Scotia,

Eric made Aurora his home in 1989.

Treasurer • Laura Hostick

Laura Hostick is the owner of a local Accounting and Bookkeeping firm,

LMH Professional Corporation. Laura founded LMH in 2013 with the

goal of making a larger impact to her clients while being more client

facing. Her team has since expanded to include a number of accounting

and bookkeeping professionals. Laura has been in the accounting

business since 2007 and has always worked with small to medium

sized businesses, working with business owners to teach them about

accounting, taxes and how to see beyond the numbers. You can always

strike up a conversation with Laura about running, wellness and her

two daughters, Isla and Maren.

Secretary • Sharon Kelly

Educator with 42 years of experience with the Toronto Catholic

District School Board. Served in a variety of roles: elementary

and secondary teacher, department head, consultant, program

designer and administrator. Spent 10 years at Covenant House

developing in-house school, Chair of Project Work and a variety

of board committees with the focus of integration for students

with developmental and/or physical disabilities. Member of the

community colleges’ advisory committees.

Directors:

Director • Nicole Asquith

Nicole Asquith founded Nicole Asquith Consulting in 2011; providing

business consulting services to small and medium organizations in the

private sector as well as not-for-profits and social enterprises. Prior

to this Nicole was the Global Head, Engagement at ME to WE Social

Enterprises and the Vice President, Education at EF Education First.

A Past-President of the Student and Youth Travel Association as well

as an active volunteer with the Central York Girls Hockey Association,

Nicole has been a resident of Aurora since 2005.

Director • Nitin Bagga

Nitin has 15+ years of experience in marketing, advertising and

strategy. As the Chief Operating Officer and Head of Strategy at

Barrett and Welsh, he leads brand strategy and analysis, development

of brand strategy and strategic direction, market & competitive

assessments and project management. He earned his degree in

engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering and his MBA at

Rotman School of Management. He is an award-winning planner with

multiple wins for Marketing Awards, Summit Marketing Effectiveness

Awards, and a Midas Award for Financial Advertising. He has been

ranked as a top 200 planner in Canada by Strategy Magazine 2019 and

2020 Creative Report Card.

Director • Damien Chan

VP Personal and Small Business Technology at CIBC with

responsibility to transform the client experience in the

Banking Centres. Prior to this, Damien was a Client Director

at HP Enterprises and IBM Canada. Damien is also a mentor at

Futurpreneur Canada for young entrepreneurs.

Director • Mike Kennedy Currently Partner and Principal, arc Health Management. Active

volunteer as coach and trainer in Aurora Minor Hockey Association and

Newmarket Ball Hockey Association.

2 0 1 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T


2 0 1 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T

Director • Victoria Kinniburgh

A resident of Newmarket for over 40 years, she has worked in the

public sector as an HR professional for over 17 years. Currently

employed as an HR Consultant at the Regional Municipality of York.

She has previously served on the Hemophilia Ontario Board and the

Toronto and Central Ontario Hemophilia Board.

Director • Amy Lane Amy Lane manages Marketing, Communications and Proposal

Development for the Ontario Clean Water Agency, where she has

led many community outreach/educational initiatives over the past

decade. Previously she worked with the broadcast division of Alliance

Atlantis in various communications roles. She holds a B.A. from

Ryerson University (Radio and Television Arts), as well as a post-grad

certificate (Public Relations) from Humber College. Originally from

Montreal, she has been a proud Auroran since 2011. She encourages

everyone who will listen to ditch the plastic and drink tap!

Director • Christopher Mercer A resident of Aurora for the last 8 years Christopher Mercer has

worked with various technology companies including Salesforce, and

Amazon Web Services to help clients achieve their goals. Chris has

worked with various private and non-profit organizations to help solve

complex technical issues to improve business performance. From

an educational perspective Chris has a Honors degree from Wilfrid

Laurier University and a Masters from the University of Waterloo.

Director • Parisa Sabat Award-winning composer Parisa Sabet writes music that is

commissioned and performed internationally. Her distinctive

musical language springs from her Iranian roots, Western education,

and passion for socially engaged arts. Interweaving sounds both

recognizable and new, her compositions evoke

emotions, conjure images, and relate stories, often about pressing

social issues. Sabet earned the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of

Music degrees in composition from the University of Toronto, where

her honors included the Mirkopoulos and Miller/Khoshkish fellowships

and the Tecumesh Sherman Rogers Graduating Award given to a

musician on the cusp of making important contributions to the field.

She completed her Bachelor of Music degree with honors at Roosevelt

University in Chicago. Among her teachers are Christos Hatzis,

Keith Tedman, Kyong Mee Choi, Ka Nin Chan, and Stacy Garrop. Her

adventure with music began at age 9 with piano lessons in Shiraz.

Director • Councillor Wendy Gaertner Wendy Gaertner has been a resident of Aurora since 1987. She has

served on Aurora Council since 2003. Councillor Gaertner sat on

the Cultural Centre Board last Term. She is currently one of the two

Councillor Representatives on the Centre’s Board. Wendy has been

a strong supporter of the Church Street School since its inception.

She was also Chair of the Culture Committee which provided

Recommendations to Council on the formation of the Centre.

Wendy Gaertner has a history of service to the Community including

providing a drop in for Youth, HOT SPOT, for 18 years.

Director • Councillor John Gallo Resident of Aurora since 1996. Member of Aurora Council - 2007-

2014, 2018-present. Director at Aurora Cultural Centre since 2015.

Past chair of Central York Fire, Environmental Advisory Committee,

Trails and Active Transportation Committee. Director at Aurora

Soccer Club. Vice Chair, St. Jerome Catholic Parent Council. Principal

in a Property Management since 2005. Bachelor of Arts Degree from

U of T, Architectural Technologist from Humber College.

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2019 Annual Report

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