Remai board slashes travel budget after council inquiries

Trustees for the Remai Modern Art Gallery have reduced their budget for out-of-province travel.

Construction of the gallery is over budget and behind schedule. This led to raised eyebrows among come councillors when they saw a budget of over $80,000 earmarked for travel in 2016.

Scott Verity, vice-chair of the Remai board of trustees, addressed council on the issue Monday.

He said $43,000 of the proposed travel budget was to send representatives to make arrangements to borrow art from other galleries. Recognizing the gallery’s budget issues, he said the board was able to pare that down to $27,000. He said the board also slashed a proposed trip to send employees to learn art preservation techniques.

Verity said that those cuts, along with other trimming was able to get the 2016 travel budget back under $50,000. He said the difference would be applied to the budget shortfall on construction. 

Speaking after the council session, Pat Lorje said she’d heard from several concerned voters about the Remai’s travel budget. She said she was pleased that the board was able to cut it down to being more in line with other city-controlled corporations, such as the SaskTel Centre.