The other day I was getting some numbers together for a grant application, and I decided to calculate our gallery’s visitor count for 2012.
I added the weekly totals for the whole year and pressed “Enter.”
11,594. What? 11,594 people visited the Kariton Art Gallery last year? Our little red house on the lake?
I returned to the spreadsheet and added the numbers again. 11,594.
I looked at each weekly total and ensured all the numbers made sense, that some typo was not erroneously inflating the count. After about a half hour of review and multiple returns to the spreadsheet, I finally began to accept this new revelation.
As far as art galleries go, this number may not be particularly significant to some however, the fact that the total is over 5,000 more than the previous year gave me cause for wonder.
I find it incredibly inspiring that so many members of the Abbotsford community support the local artists whose artwork is showcased at the gallery year-round, and that so many come out to enjoy the amazing talents of the local musicians featured in the Envision Concert in the Park Series in the “backyard” of the gallery each summer.
I’d like to thank the members of the Abbotsford community, your support of our local artists.
Your presence is so important to them and to the insurance that opportunities will continue to be available for artists to showcase their talents in the future.
Many say that the arts are sorely underfunded, and this statement is unfortunately quite true. However, all the funding in the world cannot compensate for the value that the community brings. Thank you, members of the Abbotsford community, for your valuable support of the arts.
Gail Gromaski, Executive Director, Abbotsford Arts Council