Letter from our President Hello CHAC Members, My name is Tony Ankele, let me introduce myself to those I have not had the pleasure of meeting yet. I have recently been elected CHAC’s Board President, by our distinguished board members. I am also a CHAC member and artist that has enjoyed showing in CHAC’s gallery and have participated in art venues for many years. I would like to take this opportunity to inform you of changes that will occur at CHAC this year. First and foremost, I am informing all members of our Executive Director Crystal O’Brien’s departure. Crystal was an extraordinary asset to our organization and was vital to CHAC’s success, advancements and daily operations. We are in great appreciation of her outstanding work and dedication throughout her career with CHAC, the countless hours and nurturing of both our Cultural Arts and educational programs that serve our community. She had galvanized countless friendships that will no doubt continue for many years to come. We look forward in continuing an incredible relationship with this honorable leader and wish her all our best in her future accomplishments. We look forward to and are confident in our search to acquire a qualified person to fill this position. CHAC will continue to be a vibrant Cultural Gallery displaying and giving artists a platform to show their works. We will continue to serve our community and provide quality educational and cultural experiences. We will have future announcements on topics and changes that will be coming to CHAC. Today’s political climate will no doubt have an impact on CHAC as we are a non-profit organization that is greatly affected by the stability of the political climate. This impacts the way government and private funds are delegated. Grants and private donations are affected by political agendas. The depletion of Art and Cultural departments within our government are being changed by executive order and/or legislative changes that will impact CHAC and the way we will continue to pursue funding. These executive decisions are also having a great impact on our indigenous brothers and sisters that are a vital part of our community and cultural mix. These tensions dictate how people and businesses allocate funds to non-profit organizations such as ours. We are confident that we will create and seek out resources to keep CHAC operating as a vital asset to our artists and our community. We invite all CHAC members to an open forum that will have a Town Hall Meeting type agenda so that you can share in these announcements and voice any concerns or opinions on any of these topics. The meeting will be held on Thursday, March 23rd from 6-8PM at the gallery. A schedule of additional meetings will be released in the near future regarding further changes and new membership guidelines. We look forward to seeing you there. Sincerely
Tony Ankele
CHAC Board President | 