Earlier this month, confusion erupted over Facebook after it was announced that the Gardiner Gala—planned as part of Victoria University’s Frost Week—had been postponed.
The Gardiner Gala, considered a tradition for Victorians, is an event regularly held each year during the first week back at school after winter break. The Gala is held at the Gardiner Museum next door for Vic students, faculty, and staff members. It is funded and planned by both VUSAC and Victoria University, with the Dean’s Office holding most administrative planning responsibilities including communication with the Gardiner Museum (though VUSAC was kept in the loop and included in correspondence), catering, and the booking itself. In the words of Scarlet and Gold Commissioner Stu Norton, VUSAC handled the “finer details” like booking the DJ, planning the program, and communicating with VicXposure and Vic Records. The event itself is looked forward to by both students and faculty, and includes museum tours, cash bar, snacks, dancing, and more.
The planning for the event began in late November and extended through the exam and winter breaks. Representatives from VUSAC, in an interview with The Strand, discussed details of the planning process. They alluded to communication issues between the Dean’s Office, VUSAC, and the Gardiner Museum, that Norton says resulted in a “collapse of communication between all appropriate parties.” Emails were sent from VUSAC to the Dean’s Office in order to confirm details but were never responded to, and communication became difficult over the winter break for all groups. Since administrators are not required to check their email over the break, and Bergita Petro, Campus Life Coordinator, was out of office for a while, correspondence became difficult.
Eventually the Gardiner Museum contacted VUSAC and the Dean’s Office in late December in confusion about whether or not the event was still happening, as they had not received any follow-up or confirmation from Victoria University. While the event had been booked, no catering or bar prices had been confirmed for the Gala. The Dean’s Office responded with more information and suggested planning a meeting or a phone call. What Norton believes happened next is that the Gardiner said they could make the event happen, but since Victoria had taken so long to confirm details, they, in Norton’s words, “pressured the administration” by saying they would put on the event only if Victoria College agreed to pay whatever they requested. Their conditions also stipulated that there would be no input on Victoria’s part about drink pricing and catering decisions. Anticipating that this would result in higher costs, and wanting to avoid going over budget, Dean of Students Kelley Castle declined to hold the event at its usual time.
Castle told The Strand that on January 5, she “received a message from the CEO of the Gardiner saying that they didn’t have enough information about the event, and that it was too late for us to be able to have our usual review and negotiations regarding the details and cost of catering, staffing and rentals”. She added that this “would have meant that we would just have to go with what they had proposed and any additional costs incurred, which could have been quite expensive, and exceeded our budget. That was not acceptable for us, especially given the fact that every year there is a fair bit of negotiation back and forth regarding what we offer and how much we want to spend.” In summary, “It was too late for us to be able to have our usual review and negotiations regarding the details of catering, staffing and rentals.” Castle stresses that the Gala has not been cancelled: “I didn’t cancel the Gardiner Gala, I postponed it”.
Norton mentions that although he and Arts and Culture Commissioner Sumeeta Farrukh recognized that planning was going slower than they anticipated, they were still surprised and confused by the postponement, especially after attempts were made on their part to reach out during the break. VUSAC co-president Ben Atkins also adds that all of this communication was “not clear at the time” and VUSAC “did not know any of the reasoning” behind the postponement. On January 4, they had received emails from Petro as well as the email thread with the Gardiner saying the event was still going on, which allowed VUSAC to go forward with advertising. Norton says that following the January 5 email, together with Farrukh and co-presidents Atkins and Gabriel Zoltan-Johan, he began “strategizing” and following-up with both the museum and the Dean’s Office just to figure out what had happened to lead to the postponement, as everything remained “very unclear.” VUSAC also expressed frustration over their inability to confirm details with the Gardiner, which was outside of their authorisation in planning the event.
Already having a Facebook event created for the Gala in anticipation for Frost Week, VUSAC was committed to finding out all of the details before cancelling it. “We are accountable to students first, and I think we were really concerned to cancel the Facebook event without any reasoning that didn’t make sense to us,” says Norton. “That is why we decided on the Saturday to release the statement.” VUSAC was asked by the Dean’s Office to send the statement to them prior to posting, but instead, VUSAC believed it would be in the best interest of students to post it before the coming Monday. Thus, the statement was posted on Saturday, without sending it to the Dean’s Office, in order to prevent confusion on Monday, when they expected students would arrive at the VUSAC office to purchase tickets.
Recognizing there was a gap in Thursday night events for Frost Week, the Dean’s Office fast-tracked planning for a replacement event (“Aurora: An Evening at Goldring”) after VUSAC expressed frustration with the postponement. The event was held in the Goldring Students Centre, with free tickets, appetizers, and a cash bar. VicXposure, who had planned an art gala for display at the Gardiner Gala with submissions from Victoria College students, displayed the exhibit at Aurora instead. Norton adds, “the Dean’s Office did do a great job of getting everything taken care of.”
Following the misunderstandings with the Gala, Norton says that VUSAC has been in communication with both the Dean’s Office and the Gardiner Museum attempting to clear up any confusion and go forth anew in re-planning the Gala. Norton says it “hasn’t been confirmed yet, but we are looking at around early February, definitely before March,” for the 2016 Gardiner Gala. Norton explains they are also planning to bring in themes from the current exhibit at the Gardiner and integrate them into the event, to connect the Gala more to the museum’s culture.
Victoria students can still look forward to the rescheduled Gala. VUSAC maintains that they are committed to improving approaches to planning between them and the Dean’s Office. “We are in a dialogue about how to now move forward when we are planning events, because we are two separate institutions in this institution, and we do come together, and we do collaborate,” says Norton, “Now we are re-approaching how to go about planning the future events.”
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