Years later, art collection sale still funds thousands of dollars in scholarships at the EMSB

Proceeds from the sale of an art collection several years ago have and will continue to provide scholarships in the thousands of dollars to English Montreal School Board students for many years to come.

For decades, the former Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal (PSBGM) collected paintings through the generous donations of many benefactors, as well as the purchase of some. It was maintained by the PSBGM Cultural Heritage Foundation.

There were more than 100 works of art and some were on display at the school board and various schools.

A decision was made to give the collection to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. But the museum only wanted some of the pieces. Those who cared for the art preferred that if the collection was to be viewed, it should have been in its entirety. Instead, a decision was made to auction off the work and create scholarships to benefit students.

The artwork, more than half of the collection, sold for $1.4-million in March of 2013. Since then, 46 high school students have received scholarships worth $1,000 each while 100 elementary students have received $100 scholarships.

The collection included:

- A Quebec Village/Winter, St-Fidele by A.Y. Jackson (Group of Seven member)

- North River Near Ste-Margarets by Maurice Cullen (landscape artist)

Foundation Chairman George Vathilakis said the purpose of selling the art was very straight-forward. "The purpose was in order to raise funds so we can give the awards to the children,” he said. “It was serving no purpose to have those paintings in different offices. Nobody bothered to look at them, nobody came."

The foundation's curator, Angelo Komatsoulis, concurred. "The beauty of the collection," he said, "is to be visible, people can see it. The only people that saw it are us who were working in the building."

Discussion to sell the collection began in earnest in 2012 before most of the art, about 60 pieces, was sold the next year. Most of the art that wasn't sold was donated to various institutions including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Canadian War Museum, the Black Watch–Royal Highland Regiment of Canada and the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery at Concordia University. Fewer than two dozen paintings remain with the foundation, of these five are located at Hampstead Elementary, one is in the EMSB Board Room and the remainder are in storage.

The scholarship fund money will last for years to come.

"If we continue at the same rate, let's say $46,000, plus $10,000, it will take 73 years in order to deplete the capital," Mr. Vathilakis explained.

"You should see the face of a child who gets $1,000," he added. "Smiling, they're excited. That money, staying in the bank, it doesn't give anybody any happiness."

"It was a great feeling," Mr. Komatsoulis said of seeing so many students receiving scholarships.

They are awarded for academics and/or perseverance. And there is also the potential of increasing their value in the coming year.

For more information log on to http://www.psbgmchf.org.