Art Gallery Legacy - Part 6 of 6

The Future Can Be Much Better for All

A Well Balanced Way Ahead
In 1967 the City of Owen Sound purchased the Tom Thomson Art Gallery (TTAG) from the Grey County Historical and Art Society as verified in a letter from the Deputy Clerk on January 10, 2012. The collection at the time consisted of works of art from artists throughout the county. Such is the case today. It is a collection of works from regional artists as opposed to only Owen Sound artists.

At the time that the city purchased the Art Gallery, Owen Sound had a strong industrial tax base. Industries like Pittsburg Glass, Goodyear, Black Clawson Kennedy and Russel-Hipwell to name just a few. With these industries came good, high paying middle class jobs. Our community was thriving and the population was growing. At the time Owen Sound taxpayers could well afford the luxury of supporting a cultural facility on their own.

The situation today is very different from what existed in 1967. Almost all of those industries, with their high-paying middle-class jobs, have disappeared. The size of our middle class has reduced significantly, to a point where over half of Owen Sound households take home less than $57,600 in after-tax household income. Owen Sound is no longer growing. In fact, our population has 77 fewer residents today than it had 20 years ago. The bottom line is that the community that exists today, unlike the community of 1967, does not have the means to support the Art Gallery’s current tax Burden which is more than $500,000. It was challenging enough in 2018 when the tax burden was $285,000 but it has now reached a point where Council needs to act.

Diverging Interests
There are those in the community who would like to see the city close the Art Gallery and sell the multi-million dollar collection. When you consider the last community survey showed that less than 8% of Owen Sound residents frequented the Gallery, this sentiment is quite understandable especially when you consider this is the direct result of poor management.

The plan would have the proceeds from the sale invested in housing to bring down rents, which have sky-rocketed in the past few years, and to address the many social issues facing Owen Sound by providing a permanent solution for our unhoused.

At the other end of the spectrum we have the Art Gallery supporters who would like the city to build a new or expanded Art Gallery, at a cost that will well exceed $20 million when inflation, contingency and taxes are included. They feel that investing in the Tom Thomson Art Gallery (TTAG) is a matter of public pride. They feel that the TOM gives us a shared sense of belonging and is a place where artists can find inspiration.

These very different interests sets up a “We vs Them” scenario. However, framing these different viewpoints as, “We vs Them”is only necessary when the parties are unwilling to consider the other’s interests. A solution that builds a $20 million Art Gallery, satisfies the interests of the Art Community, but completely fails to understand the interests of taxpayers. Similarly a solution that closes the Art Gallery, and uses the proceeds from the sale of the collection to address housing and other social needs, may satisfy the needs of taxpayers, but completely disregards the interests of the Art Community. However, there are two options available that will avoid a “We vs Them” scenario.

Option One - A partnership
The first solution that addresses the interests of both parties is to spread the burden of this cultural facility among all of the municipalities in the area by having the County assume ownership and management responsibilities for the art collection. This would dramatically reduce the burden on Owen Sound taxpayers and at the same time ensure the continued operation of the Art Gallery with its expanded budget. As well it would greatly enhance the possibility of building a new or expanded Gallery by tapping into the County’s much deeper pockets for support.

Option Two - Improving the Business
Absence of Business Management Acumen
As a direct result of mismanagement, the tax burden of the art gallery has now grown to over $500,000 per year. At the same time, ancillary revenues have been allowed to collapse over the past six years. The 2024 budget anticipates Grants to be only 40% of what they were in 2016 and Revenue from memberships and the Gift Shop to be only 31.5% and 22.1% respectively from what they were in 2018. In spite of the steady decline in ancillary revenues no new revenue streams are identified in the 2024 budget.

The failure to address this problem, coupled with salary and benefits expense growing by 49% since 2018, has resulted in the Art Gallery’s tax burden growing by 91% during this period. This is exactly what has created the problem – the failure to effectively manage this business. Perhaps had they hired a Business Manager, instead of hiring an Assistant Curator last year, they wouldn’t be in this situation where people are lobbying for the Gallery to go the way of the Airport and cease operations.

Past Suggestions for Change
I met with the Director of the Art Gallery early last year. She graciously gave me a personal tour of the many works of art and I have to admit the collection is very impressive. During our post-tour discussions I identified two major hurdles that she needed to address.

the First Hurdle
I suggested that she needed to enhance the visibility of the art gallery in the eyes of the community by rolling out a number of initiatives aimed at winning over the hearts and minds of the community. I suggested that she and her team should do presentations at all Owen Sound schools at least twice a year. Win over the students and they will bend the minds of their parents in favour of the Gallery. As well, the Gallery needs to increase its presence in the community through their involvement in major community events and perhaps creating stand-alone kiosks at the mall or in major retailers, containing a couple of paintings and marketing material. Also consideration should be given to partnering with the Artists’ Co-op for special events. The Artists’ Co-op was established in 1994 by local artists and is very involved in the community developing young artists at our high schools. The TOM could learn from their success in gaining support in the community.

To guide this initiative of winning over the hearts and minds of the community, I suggested that she develop a comprehensive Marketing Plan aimed at marketing the benefits of the Art Gallery to the community.

the Second Hurdle
I then suggested that she needed to address the shrinking ancillary revenues by opening new ancillary revenue streams aimed at reducing the Art Gallery’s dependency on tax dollars.

One idea I suggested was that she leverage the beauty and ample spaces of the Gallery by opening the art gallery up to special events in the evenings. Obtaining a liquor license and opening the gallery for wine & cheese social events will begin the process of developing new ancillary revenue. The gallery provides an ideal environment for business socials and office parties particularly around Christmas, New Year’s and other occasions. The Ottawa Art Gallery for example offers a variety of venues for private functions including weddings. Such events would give the art gallery many opportunities to upsell the attendees through the gift shop and provide other promotional material. To make this happen I suggested that she develop an aggressive business plan.

a No-Cost Solution
To develop both the marketing and business plans I suggested she needed to reach out to MBA Schools with a proposal for an MBA Project aimed at developing business and marketing plans for the TOM. MBA schools are always looking for viable projects for their MBA candidates. This strategy will address both of these hurdles and result in the gallery obtaining $30,000 business and marketing plans at no cost to the Art Gallery.

New Suggestions for Change
The Art Gallery Supporters tell us that the art gallery is a major attraction in the area that brings tourists to Owen Sound. If people travel great distances to come to Owen Sound to view the art collection at the Tom Thomson Art Gallery, then they certainly would not object to paying a small entrance fee. Many Ontario Art Galleries and Museums charge an entrance fees. For example, the Grey Roots Museum and Archives charges adults $8.00 plus tax to visit the Museum; the Art Gallery of Ontario charges adults $30.00 for a day pass to visit the gallery and the Art Gallery of Hamilton charges $15.00 per visit.

Tourists pay $10.00 to park and visit Inglis Falls, but the Art Gallery doesn’t charge for admission. Given the popularity of the Art Gallery as destination attraction this is clearly a missed opportunity. The Gallery tells us that they have at least 10,000 visitors per year. At this rate they could offset the tax burden by as much as $100,000 if they charged $10.00 per visit.

There are also opportunities to host Painting and ‘Wine & Cheese’ social events. Attendees are given an introductory, “Bob Ross” style painting lesson where they create their own painting using Bob Ross techniques while they socialize with friends and colleagues over a glass of wine. Such events would also go a long way toward improving the Gallery’s image in the community.

These are just a few of many special events and revenue generating opportunities that the Tom Thomson Art Gallery could have been doing to offset the declining revenue from grants, membership and gift shop sales over the past six years. During this period of ancillary revenue decline, the TOM had ample opportunities to learn from other galleries on how they could increase their ancillary revenues. Given that no new ancillary revenues are shown in the 2024 budget it doesn’t look like they have made any effort to address this problem, nor, have they addressed the need to improve their image in the community.

A Balanced, Two-Pronged Solution
Council needs to pursue both of the above options. First, they need to direct the Art Gallery to increase revenues by implementing initiatives to grow ancillary revenue and at the same time take steps to improve their image in the community. Both of these actions are necessary because there is no guarantee that the County will be receptive to assuming the responsibility for the Art Gallery. So, it is incumbent on the TOM to reduce their dependency on municipal support and increase their popularity in the community with a view to improving their appeal as a potential County resource.

Once this is achieved, to a reasonable level, the city should then negotiate the transfer of the Tom Thomson Art Gallery to the County. As stated above, this step will dramatically reduce the burden on Owen Sound taxpayers and at the same time ensure the continued operation of the Gallery.

Implementing the Solution
All that needs to happen to implement this solution is to convince Council that this compromise solution is in the best interests of all Owen Sound residents. When you consider the number of Art Gallery friendly motions that have been approved, I think it’s safe to say that we currently have a ‘Art Gallery-Friendly’ Council. This will not always be the case in the future. Therefore, it would be wise for Art Gallery supporters to encourage members of council to support such an initiative while they still have an Art Gallery friendly Council to influence.

Epilog - Critical Council Restraints Needed

In Part 2 we saw that Council in 2017 had drafted 25-year lease agreements to literally give away tens of millions of dollars in Owen Sound assets to a private corporation. This was a Council that was elected for a four (4) year term and did not have a mandate to make such a discretionary decision to encumber millions of dollars of city assets. No Council should have the power to tie the hands of future councils by making unnecessary, non-emergency, discretionary decisions to commit assets for a quarter of a century.

This can happen again. Four members of that 2017 Council are members of our current Council. Here is a hypothetical situation to consider.

A future Council decides to sign a 25-year lease with a private corporation for the exclusive use of Harrison Park with an annual lease payment of one dollar – sound unbelievable? Well, this is exactly the lease agreement that Council approved in 2017 for the Art Gallery building. It can happen again!

If this were to happen our only recourse would be to vote them all out of office in the next election. However, the damage will have already been done. It would likely be irreversible since the lease for Harrison Park will be legally binding and the cost to break the lease would be unaffordable. As a result we would lose our Park for 25 years, just like we were about to lose our multimillion dollar building and Art Collection for 25 years had Council signed the lease they prepared in 2017.

Although, it’s highly unlikely that a future Council would attempt to lease Harrison Park, there is nothing currently that would prevent them from doing so. Hence, we need legislation to prevent Council from making such non-emergency, discretionary decisions in the future.

One way to stop this from happening would be for the current Council to pass a bylaw requiring that discretionary decisions, involving commitments of $2 million or more, be decided through referendum. If you agree call or email members of Council and ask them to mitigate this risk to our community.

Email Council Here