BGAC announces new proposed bylaw changes and a unique way of holding annual meeting

BY SUSAN HANAFEE
 
Best to avoid too much of the free wine when attending an opening night at the Boca Grande Art Center next season.
According to their recent annual meeting notice, the Center is suggesting that members will have to be on their best behavior if they want to be part of the organization.
A change to the bylaws referencing conduct was presented to members for a vote as part of the one-page mailing that went out the end of last week. The proposed new bylaw said that the Art Center could “refuse or revoke membership and/or deny admission to its facility for noncompliance with applicable rules and terms or for inappropriate conduct.”
Art Center Executive Director Tonya Doherty said the bylaws revision is not a major change “as until this addition, our current bylaws only included this clause for exhibiting artist membership status. It will now include membership terms for all members.”
She said other island groups, including the local chamber of commerce and the duplicate bridge club, have similar membership terms.
The letter to members also noted that this year’s annual meeting would be held via e-mail on April 16, giving the Center’s 345 household memberships a week to vote on the bylaws change.
Doherty said the group’s board of directors has been holding all of its meetings via Zoom because of COVID restrictions but decided against using it for the annual meeting.
“As a non-profit and with the loss of revenue to the Art Center through the cancellation of workshops and live proponents of our program, we had to tighten all of our office expenses,” she said.
Zoom also allows only up to 100 participants, which would exclude most of the members from participating in this type of meeting, Doherty pointed out.