Minutes of AGM 17 Feb 2000

Held at The Museum of London, after a guided tour of the Museum’s 'London Eats Out' exhibition.

1. Chairman’s report

The summary of activities for the year 1999 was prepared by the Secretary and presented to the AGM by the Chair, Alex Werner. The Chair also mentioned that Mireille Galinou was leaving the Museum of London.

Members attending the AGM had the opportunity to see the ‘millennium’ object which will represent the London Arts Café in the Museum of London collection, through the initiative ‘Collecting 2000’: the extraordinary Drawer City by Jiro Osuga is written up in Newsletter No7. Jiro’s 3D painting stars in the promotional leaflet prepared by the Museum of London with a print run of 10,000.

2. The treasurer offered her apologies for not being able to attend the AGM. In her absence, the charity’s accountant and auditor Mark Longley, presented a summary of accounts. The comments made at last year’s AGM were taken on board and a more detailed breakdown was provided. Mark Longley specified that the accounts had been examined, not audited.

A discussion followed on some of the ways to increase membership and LAC’s finances. Some members felt the London Arts Café really gave good value for money and that it would only be fair to increase the membership fee. The Secretary expressed concern about such a proposal. The London Arts Café is not an organisation for professionals, its overall intention is to attract ‘ordinary’ members of the public and it would be difficult to entice people to join a little known organisation with no obvious professional benefits if a higher fee was adopted. The Secretary invited people to vote on this issue. The result was overwhelmingly in favour of keeping the present level of membership fee. It was added that anyone willing to give more to the London Arts Café could do so by means of donations.

3. The Secretary explained how the LAC committee had developed and now consisted of 6 participants, 3 of whom were Directors. The original team of three, Alex Werner, Karen Lyre and Mireille Galinou had enrolled further members: first Dr Cathy Ross, Head of the Later Department at the Museum of London, then Michael Heindorff, painter who recently left the Royal College of Art after many years of teaching in the Painting Department. Finally, Dr. Michael Kauffmann, formerly Director of the Courtauld Institute, and unable to attend the AGM, was the latest recruit.

4. Voting.

As the rules require, the committee stepped down to be re-elected. All three Directors were voted back in. The proposer was Peter Marshall and he was seconded by Ken Baldry. The accounts were signed by the Chair and adopted by members with Peter Urbach as proposer, and Alec Worster as seconder. Finally Mark Longley was re-appointed as auditor and the Directors authorised to fix his remuneration. Proposer: Sheila O’Connell, seconded by Avis Salzman.

5. Peter Marshall who had offered to devise a website for the London Arts Café at the last AGM presented his efforts on the members’ behalf. The website will be discussed at a forthcoming committee meeting and the Secretary will forward appropriate photographs to Peter Marshall. The presentation generated a certain amount of excitement. The prospect of having ‘on line’ exhibitions at very little cost was particularly appealing.