Eduard Wiiralt. Eesti neiu. Akvatinta. From EAC art collection in 2005
Kaili Colford
Suzanne Harrison
Liisa Käärid
Lea Kõiv
Mihkel Kütti
Veiko Parming
Eric Sehr
Urve Tamberg
Peeter Viitre
The Estonian Arts Centre is a 45 year old registered charity that has in the past organized art exhibitions, conferences, seminars, organized art competitions, promoted artistic skills development like printmaking, metalwork, and ceramics, and commissioned works of art. Over time, the EAC amassed a considerable collection of Estonian art.
In recent decades, the EAC had been largely dormant. This changed suddenly on Nov 12, 2019 when a special shareholder meeting was called. A special shareholder meeting had been held on Oct 24 but this had been nullified as insufficient notice had been given for that meeting.
As reported in an article by Eda Sepp on Jan 24, 2020, there had been little activity since the previous Annual General Meeting in 2016. At some point between the 2016 AGM and this special shareholder meeting, 15 new members had been accepted into EAC. One of them was Estonian House in Toronto Ltd. The names of the other new members were not disclosed to the members in attendance. Their proxies were held by existing board members present.
Sepp stated that several decisions were made at the Nov 12 meeting. First, all of the art that the EAC had collected was transferred to the Estonian Studies Centre (ESC). Part of this arrangement was that the EAC would provide financial assets to “inventory, store, and support other necessary requirements”. As well, a new set of by-laws were passed that “terminated all current EAC members and specified that only corporations could be members of EAC.” As a result of the passing of this new bylaw, Estonian House in Toronto Ltd became the sole shareholder of EAC. The underlying reason for these changes was not explained to those present despite numerous questions from members.
As well, the original bylaws required a quorum of five trustees to be present at this meeting to affect changes to the bylaws. Though three trustees were present, it remained unclear whether a quorum of trustees had been reached. Many of the long-time members who were present at this meeting voted against the new bylaws.
The financial statement reported a balance of $168,618 at that time, with $75,760 cash on hand. Unfortunately, the financial statement was not accompanied by an auditor’s report.
The press release stated that the plan for the EAC is to integrate its activities fully with the International Estonian Centre (IEC), to be built on Madison Ave behind Tartu College.
