Greg Lindeblom
President, Broward Art Guild

"Connections"

At this year's annual meeting, we had an excellent question from the membership -- why don't you tell us more about what the board is doing and who is on our board? What a great idea! It seems pretty obvious when you think about it, but the board has been working so hard on so many initiatives, it's easy to miss something as important and basic as communication. So this year, we're going to rectify that situation.

Hi. My name is Greg Lindeblom and I was elected President of the Board at our board meeting in June. I want to thank and congratulate Larry Joe Miller for his dedication to the art guild and for the creativity he showed in his year as President. One of our next goals for the web site is to create an area that gives you bios on all the board members, dates and times of board meetings, agendas for the board meetings, and minutes from previous meetings. The corporate buzz word surrounding this is transparency and we intend to be as transparent as possible. All members are welcome to attend any board meeting and we truly would welcome you.

Even though I've been a member of the art guild for six years, I realize that not everyone knows who I am. I'm a photographer. My main themes are architecture, landscape, and figurative work. My paying job is as a professor at Broward College. I teach Economics and Business subjects at the South Campus in Pembroke Pines. I live in Fort Lauderdale, with my partner/husband of 20 years, Michael Pollard Stiles (a painter and BAG member) and our two miniature Schnauzers, Gus and Molly.

Every few weeks, I'll take a few minutes to write about some of the things that are consuming my energy and time. I hope that you'll take the opportunity to talk back to me -- send me an email at greg@glimpsevisual.com, call the guild office at 954-305-1854, speak to me at an intake or an opening or at any one of our events. I want to hear from you.

Each year, the board picks a theme to give form to our action. Last year our theme was "sustainability" which was really just a polite way of saying "survival". We did survive the year -- BAG is stronger now than it has been for a long time. But it took some difficult decisions and some real sacrifices by many people. Most obvious to the membership is that we left the gallery space. Most serious, though, is that we went from 1 1/2 paid staff to 1/2 paid staff. Our executive director is now paid only a part-time salary even though Gerard works feverishly on our behalf. So when you see him, say thanks.

This year, our theme is "connections". We want to build on the many positive accomplishments of the past years by connecting to various parts of the community.

When we say connections, just think of the many different types:

• Members to the Broward Art Guild
• BAG & its members to private art galleries in south Florida
• BAG & its members to public art spaces in south Florida
• BAG & its members to businesses and governments in the county
• Members to other BAG members
• BAG & its members to schools (especially high schools) in the county

How do we plan to enhance our connections this year?

First, by continuing to "take our show on the road", we continue to increase our connections across the county. Last year, our exhibitions were in Oakland Park, Wilton Manors, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and Coconut Creek -- at both private galleries and public spaces. This year, we already have exhibitions scheduled in Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors, Dania Beach, and we're hoping to do exhibitions all over the county. I'd love to see us in Pembroke Pines, Weston, Pompano Beach ...

Second, with our programming we want to increase our connections to schools and the business community. Last year, we inaugurated the very successful "Art off the Wall", where we organized the painting of the NE 15th Street bridge in Wilton Manors by students from Stranahan and Fort Lauderdale high schools. This project was predominantly funded by the A.D. Henderson Foundation and Funding Arts Broward. This year, we're going to continue that with another public art project and perhaps a second one in a health facility. We are introducing a new program called "Art Around Town" that connects individual artists with businesses that want to display artwork in their offices or stores.

Third, we are going to offer more art workshops. The demonstrations we do at the annual meeting have become so popular, we are going to try to do them every 3 months or so.

Finally, we are going to offer more non-art events. Many of these will have a fundraising element to them, but they will be a chance for us to socialize, connect with each other as members, and have some fun.

We want you to have insights into the board's thoughts and actions. We want you to tell us what's on your mind, too. I hope that this is the beginning of a true conversation. I really want to hear from you. You can contact me at greg@glimpsevisual.com.

Sincerely,
Greg Lindeblom, President.