Killarney Guide

Arts council seeking ways to generate more revenue to cover operating costs

BY KIM LANGEN

It’s vibrant, it’s beautiful, and it needs more operating cash.

The Heritage Home for the Arts, created within the tastefully recreated residence built for the Demonstration Farm manager of 100 years ago, desperately needs to secure funding and increase its revenue.

Jane Ireland, arts administrator at the gallery, says this next year will make or break the arts centre financially, and she is fighting tooth and nail to solve the issue.

“This year will be the telling year,” she said. “If we run another deficit, then we will have to close the doors.”

Operating costs for the Heritage Home for the Arts run at around $50,000 a year, said Ireland, who took up the new role just over four years ago.

“We have no operating funding, except for $5,000 from the Municipality of Killarney-Turtle Mountain annually,” she said. “Hydro alone costs us $4,000 a year. Our average fundraising each year brings in around $15,000 to $20,000. We need to raise $35,000 more each year, through fundraising and other ways, to keep things going.”

It’s a big ask, but Ireland and the arts council board members are putting it out there.

This includes monetizing the painting, ‘The Audience,’ which was created live on stage last Thursday night, during the MTC’s presentation of Assassinating Thomson, performed by painter and actor Bruce Horak (photo below).

Newcomers to Killarney, Al and Cindy Babiuk, pitched the winning bid on the painting, and snapped it up for $450, said Ireland.

The couple then attempted to present the painting to Jane herself.

“They gifted the painting to me, which was so overwhelming,” said Ireland. “I decided that I would rotate it around the community, to be on show in various locations. The Oak and Owl will be the first stop, and it should be there soon. The reason I am doing this is to try and solicit donations, in other places where people go, because our financial situation is not good. There will be a donation jar with the painting, and I hope people will donate to the Heritage Home for the Arts.”

Another revenue stream is the use of the heritage house itself. Not everyone is aware that the gorgeously restored residence can be rented on a reasonably priced daily or hourly rate.

“We can rent out the entire main floor, and this has been very successful,” said Ireland. “We have had weddings, showers, class reunions, and we have had a wedding, and a funeral reception, here on our lawns. We have had events on the porches. All the rooms upstairs can be rented, on a four-hour basis, for the whole day, or for an evening. The prices start at $45 for the sunroom, for four hours, and the main floor, with its kitchen and washroom, is $350 for the whole day. And we are licensed for liquor.”

Each month there is an exhibition at the gallery, and a rental of the main floor just means moving the pictures into storage for the day, she said.

Cost for the exhibitions, which usually feature new and emerging artists – many of them local – are not a high cost venture, she added.

“We pay artists an small honorarium of $150 for a solo exhibition,” said Ireland. “Around once or twice a year we feature a professional, highly renowned artist, usually with a MAC grant, and that is $2,200.”

Top fundraisers for the arts council begin with the numerous performing arts events, followed by the many workshops, gift shop sales, and the rental of the Heritage House space. The house itself belongs to the Municipality of Killarney-Turtle Mountain, she added.

“So many people love the Heritage Home for the Arts, and what we are doing here,” said Ireland. “It means so much to so many.  We know it has become a tourist attraction from all the feedback we get in the summer and winter months. We have people in this community who have come to almost every single gallery event and performing arts event we have showcased. I don’t think you can measure the loss to this community, for individuals and businesses, if this has to end.  I sincerely hope we can find a way to keep operating.”

To contact Jane Ireland about the Heritage Home for the Arts – for more details, information, prices, and ways or ideas about how to support the arts council and its programs – call 204-554-0023.

AVAILABLE FOR RENT – The Heritage Home for the Arts has all of its rooms available for part or all-day rent – including the beautiful sunroom upstairs (pictured here with arts administrator Jane Ireland). The price varies from $45, up to $350 (for the whole main floor, below). It’s just one of the ways the arts council is striving to meet their operating costs and keep the doors open.

KIM LANGEN/KILLARNEY GUIDE PHOTOS

ASSASSINATING THOMSON COMES ALIVE – Relating the strange and mysterious tale of the death of famous Canadian painter Tom Thomson was ‘legally blind’ performer Bruce Horak. Having survived Bilateral Retinoblastoma as a child, a cancer that appears on the retina, Bruce’s treatment left him completely blind in one eye, and with just nine per cent vision in the other. He paints while he entertains, and this master of storytelling wove it all together during the second HyLife Performing Arts Series event held last Thursday evening at the Shamrock Centre.

‘THE AUDIENCE’ – Actor and painter Bruce Horak (left) poses with delighted art enthusiasts Cindy and Al Babiuk last Thursday evening. The Killarney couple nailed the winning bid, at $450, for Horak’s inspired painting of the audience, which he created onstage during his wonderful performance of ‘Assassinating Thomson.’ The money will be donated to support Guide Dogs for the Blind. 

JAY STRUTH/KILLARNEY GUIDE PHOTOS

ROOM WITH A VIEW – Another lovely room available to rent on the upper level of the Heritage Home for the Arts.

KIM LANGEN/KILLARNEY GUIDE