On June 13, 2009, at the Plymouth Center for the Arts, MGNE held its Annual Meeting. President Susan Denniston welcomed all members, with a special welcome to Beverley Edwards, founder of MGNE, and thanked past officers and board members who worked so hard to keep MGNE viable and healthy for 24 years. She thanked the current Board of Directors for all of their hard work over the past year and welcomed seven new members to the board.

Denniston reported on the accomplishments of the past year and the goals for the upcoming year:

“We have strengthened, streamlined, and refined our infrastructure as we continue to raise our profile.”

“We have done the hard work to accomplish what is expected of the board.”

• The Board of Directors held six meetings and our Annual Meeting.
• Four full-color and informative newsletters were mailed to the membership.
• A four-color Directory of members was produced and mailed.
• We added many new members and built our membership to 250 members.
• We held a fully enrolled workshop by noted Santa Fe artist Ron Pokrasso.
• Financially, we are doing well, with total assets of $17,798.
• Our income for the fiscal year to-date (6/12/09) is $19,613 and operating expenses to-date are $18,892.
• We held an exciting juried exhibit at Lynn Arts Center and our Members’ Show is currently on view concurrent with the Annual Meeting.

“Additionally, MGNE has really stretched and grown in new directions!”

• We held our first National Exhibit of Monotypes and Monoprints at the Attleboro Arts Museum.
• We published a catalog of the national exhibit and posted all images on the website.
• We launched a new, compelling, and easy to navigate website.
• Our 20th Anniversary Coming of Age portfolio was accepted into the fine art print collection of the Boston Public Library.
• We have kept in contact with the membership through “constant contact” e-mail messages.
• The membership database was converted from a word document to an excel spreadsheet.
• The membership form was redesigned and included in the spring newsletter.
  

“During the next year, we will be celebrating our 25th Anniversary!”

• We will host our second National Exhibition of Monotypes and Monoprints in an outstanding space at the Fitchburg Art Museum from September 2010 to January 2011.
• We will be planning other ways to recognize, promote, and celebrate our 25th Anniversary.
• We plan to establish a presence on Facebook.

The report submitted to the Board and to the Membership may be seen here.

MGNE officers and board members gather at the Plymouth Center for the Arts just before the start of the 2009 Annual Meeting. Standing, left to right: Board members Gail Bos, Wendy Converse, Corinne D'Italia, Alice Merlone, Ann Forbush, Lucy Rozier, Mary-Ann Agresti, John Avakian. Seated, left to right: Helen Broderick, Treasurer; Susan Denniston, President; Peter McDonald, Vice President.