Curator Paul Crawford calls it "far and away our biggest fundraiser of the year."
But in 2023, like so many events and happenings in the South Okanagan, the Penticton Art Gallery's 46th annual Art Auction, scheduled for September, felt the bite of a late summer few of us will soon forget. With fallout from wildfires and landslides and a travel ban raining all around, the Gallery opted to postpone the important event to 2024.
Crawford and company knew the postponement would slam them financially. The Art Auction is traditionally a wonderfully opulent affair, a place to see and be seen. There's top-level food served in top-level surroundings, with great entertainment and plenty of compelling stuff – in and out of the art world – to bid upon.
Guests are often encouraged to come in costume. This year the event was to be rock and roll themed.
But they really didn’t have another choice.
"We had the landslide and the fires and all the do-not-come-to-the-interior messaging," said Crawford this week. "And we had a former employee lose their home in the fires in Kelowna. So it seemed to me at the time that there were so many other immediate needs that for us to muddy the waters with our fundraiser seemed inappropriate."
The good news is that they organized a stop-gap. A smallish, far less extravagant auction to tide them over 'til the full Monty comes back in mid-2024. They called it the 45.5th annual event, thus saving the 46th for next year.
And last Sunday, the 45.5th Art Auction, with free entry and free snacks, and as always with Crawford as the (increasingly masterful) auctioneer, came off as planned. The turnout wasn't particularly big, but perhaps as good as could be expected given the events of the past few months and a nasty economy.
And there were bids, sometimes numerous competing bids, from folks both on site and online.
In the end, Crawford acknowledged that the 45.5th auction made about a third of what they'd initially budgeted for the postponed 46th.
"A significant portion of our annual budget comes from the revenue we make at that event every year," he said, "so it's a big hit to our earned revenue not to have it.
"However, having something is better than nothing. And we held it on a weekend when there were two other huge fundraisers (the "SOS Medical Foundation Gala" and "Business Gives Back"), so we'll take that third over zero. And it's nice to know people are still coming out to support us."
Crawford believes fundraising events will continue to face troubled waters going forward.
"I think it’ll be a tough year for a lot of organizations, ourselves included," he said. "There's fear of a recession. There are a lot of things going on. And it's a really crowded space, so every dollar that somebody chooses to donate to you will be worth so much more just because of that huge demand."
Now the Gallery and its boss set their sights on upcoming events, including the third annual Ignite the Arts Festival, certainly a ray of light after several months of winter, scheduled for March 22 to 31, 2024.
"The biggest thing for us going forward is Ignite the Arts advanced ticket sales," said Crawford. "And this year we have more venues and way more community buy-in. It'll be even bigger than this year."
Even before Ignite the Arts is the Loving Mugs Chili Cook-Off, set for the Leap Year Day of Feb. 29.
"Like Soup Bowls but with chili," said Crawford.
And finally, for those who just can’t wait for the new year to grab some art, the Gallery is currently running its annual "Under $500" sale. Plus, it still has un-bid items from last week's auction.
And Crawford's certainly not above playing the part of salesman. "Come on down and make me an offer," he said with a smile.
For more on the Penticton Art Gallery, go here. For more on the Ignite the Arts Festival and/or to buy early bird tix, go here.
