Hello everyone,
This past fiscal year (ending on March 31st), it is clear we all pulled together to help achieve a balanced financial position. Thank you to all for your efforts.
Every year, the financial position of the AGO is reviewed by auditors. The AGO is a large and complex institution with an annual budget of roughly $60M. This year, more than ever, the Finance team faced significant challenges, in terms of time and resources, and still completed the audit on schedule while addressing other operational issues. Kristine Medeiros led the audit while on a parental leave and Cindy O helped manage the day-to-day Finance activities in Kristine’s absence. And the Finance team members – Tracy La, Angela McCabe and Katarina Spehar – have all helped immensely during this period. The audit process is a ton of work, and I am grateful for the team’s focus and commitment to seeing it through.
Moving forward to this current fiscal year, which began on April 1st, I need to be clear that we will have significant challenges. With the reduction of federal wage subsidies, increasing inflation and global volatility means that we all need to be very mindful of expenditures and soberly acknowledge that COVID will be most likely be with us for another 24 months. We are doing very well but we’re not out of the woods.
I am struck by the number of employees who have dedicated a good portion of their careers to serving the AGO. One example is Lesley Ashton, Productions & Studio Coordinator, in Education & Programming, who will be leaving the AGO next week after 21 years. Thank you, Lesley, for your contributions to the AGO and for helping to share art making and learning with our public.
Take care,
Stephan