New faces at HARTZ

The Hedland Arts Council held its annual general meeting on May 23 and welcomed several new members.

HARTZ chairwoman Sangita Daniel said although she hoped for more people to attend the meeting, participation was bigger than last year after nominations and votes for members via email.

“Last year we had to reschedule the AGM once because we couldn’t get a quorum,” she said.

“We covered budgeting, GST, accounting procedures, forecasting, our constitutions and also decided we have to redistribute tasks within the organisation so HARTZ culture and personality is broader and I can focus on finding us some money.”

Ms Daniel said things were looking up for the organisation after eight new members joined the group and two members joined its committee.

However, HARTZ still needs more committee members.

“We struggle to man all the opportunities for community engagements,” Ms Daniel said.

“Last year we had to limit ourselves to the North West Festival, recycling trash into art workshop sponsored by FMG, monthly art workshop and our weekly open studio.”

“There is so much more we could do for the community if we just had enough hands and heads.”

“Moving forward we want memberships to meet these expenses so we don’t pay for them out of our diminishing savings.”

HARTZ’s next workshop will be held by pastel artist Val Brooks on June 24 and 25.

The workshop is open to adults and mature children of all artistic skill levels but is best suited to beginners and those wanting to learn a new skill.

Ms Daniel is seeking more sign-ups for the workshop to cover costs and ensure the organisation can continue to facilitate workshops hosted by visiting artists.

For more information, visit hartz.org.au.