The Collective would like to express our appreciation to Lianne Payne, who has been with Gallery Gachet as Administrator and then Acting General Manager for over 2 and a 1/2 years. Having supported a smooth transition, Lianne will be moving on to other adventures as yet to be determined but remains committed to this neighbourhood. We wish her the very best.

With farewells, there are hellos. The Collective is very pleased to welcome Michelle Kopczyk and Lara Fitzgerald as Operations Director and Programming Director respectively. Michelle and Lara each bring a diverse set of skills and experience to contribute to the staff and collective team efforts.

Lara Fitzgerald
Lara has over 11 years experience working in the film and TV industry in Canada and the UK. Originally from London, she worked there on TV shows and documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4, until she relocated to Vancouver 7 years ago to work for CBC Television. For more than 3 years, she was the Live Acts Producer on the acclaimed, cutting edge CBC TV series, ZeD, creating over 300 music video performances. Leo nominated twice, Lara produced short segments and conducted interviews with famous bands, from Blur to the Black Eyed Peas.

She has directed documentary series for Global TV, story produced a lifestyle series for W Network, directed a documentary on addiction, produced music videos and news story segments for an online news network, and taught a documentary film class at the Art Institute.

Lara is heavily involved in the arts community, having been a Board Member at grunt gallery for 18 months, and being actively engaged in her own art practice. She hopes to deepen her work in the arts community by taking on the role of Programming Coordinator at Gallery Gachet.

Michelle Kopczyk
Michelle is originally from Toronto, but has spent a good chunk of time in San Francisco and London, England. Recently, she and her husband moved to Vancouver, where she enjoys looking at the mountains, trees, flowers, spying on animals and painting and drawing.

Her own art work is based on characters that she has floating around in her mind. (Secretly) their anthropomorphic lives mirror her life and ideas. She has an interest in the Victorian era, so this creeps in one way or another.

Over the past 15 years, she has taken on a variety of roles in business and non-profit settings. She has been a book keeper with a disability firm, and a film production company. Her work with non-profits (mental health and learning disabilities) has largely been internal communications (systems and information), equal opportunities, human resources and strategic planning (sustainability, quality of services and change management). What drives her is a passion for equality in society and empowerment of individuals. Devising and implementing equal opportunity and service models is very important to her.

We are fortunate to have Gillian Cole join us for the summer as the Communications and Sales Coordinator, thanks to the HRSDC Summer Student Program.

Please drop by the gallery to meet them. And thank you to all the applicants for your interest.

Message from Outgoing Acting General Manager
In this final week, I am reflecting on almost three years of learning, laughter, creative expression and intensely rewarding community dialogue and collaboration. Gallery Gachet is a vibrant, socially dynamic exhibition and production facility providing those who identify with and support our mandate a place where they can advance their skills as professional artists and contribute to an active artist-run centre. Guided by a dedicated collective, and enriched by the volunteer pool, Gallery Gachet makes a significant and integral contribution to the city?s cultural and social fabric. But most of all, it is the people ? and I thank each of you who provided such fine company on this wild and wonderful ride!