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 councillors when they saw a budget of over $80,000 earmarked for gallery staff 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. The board also cut a trip to send employees to learn art preservation techniques.
Verity said the board was able to cut the 2016 travel budget back to under $50,000 overall. 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 the board got the travel budget more in line with the SaskTel Centre, another city-controlled corporation.