January 2007

MOTIONS THIS MONTH

• • Someone moved that we promote the Sound Reinforcement Committee from an Ad Hoc unit to a Standing Committee. This motion was passed.

  • Someone moved that we move the date of the April 2007 Board Meeting to avoid a conflict with Passover. This motion was passed.

OPENING CEREMONIES

We had planned to meet at the home of Pam Robinson and Bob Safranek, but changed it at the last minute to the home of Barbara Moo and Andy Koenig, due to the recent passing of Pam’s mother. The meeting was called to order at 8:03 p.m. on January 2, 2007.

Roll Call

Present were Jim King, Evelyn Maurer, Barbara Moo, Lois DeRitter, Bobbie Rosengarten, Mark Schaffer, Bob Isaacs, Andy Koenig and Jim West (Trustees), Mike Agranoff, Paul Axel-Lute, Elizabeth Lachowicz, George Otto, Rivka Willick, Sandie Reilly, Pam Robinson, Pat Rolston, Bob Safranek, Jean Scully, Tom Pylant, Larry Flanigan, Chris Riemer, Ken Galipeau, Lori Falco and Brad Pryor (Other Board Members), and Allan Kugel, Ruth Wolfish and Rick Thomas (Guests). Note that Brad was attending via conference call.

Bobbie Rosengarten was absent.

President's Remarks

Barbara noted that the Project is in good shape. We have strong committees and are financially in the best shape we’ve ever been in. We’re in a rare position to think strategically and innovatively. She proposed that we try to keep the meeting short and hold an optional brain-storming session afterward to discuss how to keep the organization going strong into the future by reaching out to the younger generation.

Secretary’s Report

The minutes for December were accepted with the following amendments:

• • The information about the Valentine’s Day Extravaganza should have been listed under Internal Affairs instead of Community Affairs.

  • The minutes erroneously stated that the 2006 profit for Swingin’ Tern was $1467. That actually was the net revenue for the Harvest Hoot, and this should have been listed at the end of the Swingin’ Tern report.

  • Lewis Perlmutter’s first name was misspelled.

  • The minutes said that the August headline performer for the Minstrel made $609. It should have said that the average feature performer’s pay for 2006 was $609.

Andy has incorporated the corrections he received into the April 2006 and May 2006 minutes. It was moved that we accept those minutes as corrected. Motion passed by acclamation.

Treasurer's Report

The monthly balance is negative because we are not currently showing any income for the Cherish the Ladies concert - approximately $6,315 should be forthcoming from the Bickford, which will change the bottom line to a net profit of $1725.56. The bank balance as of 12/29 was $15, 844.23.

The CD was valued at $10,272.60 at the last addition of interest on 12/8. This CD will mature on 1/8/07. The Ramat account totaled $84,582 as of 11/30.

Pat and Chris are working on the transfer of responsibilities. The treasurer’s e-mails will go to both for now. Chris reported that we are moving to the server version of QuickBooks. He also said that we will be changing to accrual based accounting. Andy: “Hello accrual world.”

NEW BUSINESS

Formalize Status of the Sound Committee

The sound committee was never formally changed from an ad-hoc to a standing committee. A motion was made to make it a standing committee. This was passed by acclamation.

Grant Allocation Working Group

We have been awarded an ACMA grant for $2000 for the entire organization. Pam, Mark and Chris have formed an ad-hoc committee to decide how to best spend the money.

2007 Meeting Calendar

A motion was made to move the date of the April meeting from 4/3 to 4/10 because 4/3 conflicts with Passover. Motion passed. We discussed moving the 7/3 meeting, but decided to leave it as is. We determined the following dates and locations for the 2007 meetings:

Date Host(s)

2/6 Paul and Melanie Axel-Lute

3/6 Rick and Cathy Thomas

4/10 Mark and Robin Schaffer

5/1 Pam Robinson and Bob Safranek

6/5 Chris Riemer

7/3 Barbara Moo and Andy Koenig

8/7 Mark and Robin Schaffer

9/4 Chris Riemer

10/2 George Otto

11/6 Lori and Steve Falco

12/4 Annual meeting – site TBA

REPORTS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES

Minstrel Booking

December was not stellar. We averaged 61 people per show, 50 if you include open stage. Chorus Song Night was very lightly attended – only 16 people. The weather was bad that night, which probably played a factor. “But it was lovely,” said Lois. This means a $367 loss for the month.

Andy Cohen was our first guarantee make-up of the year. The guarantee was $400, but that guarantee was for the band originally scheduled. Andy remembered $450, and we kept to it. Coming up: 5/25 – We’re About Nine; 11/16 – Phil Ochs night. January is family month.

We have been going to the Famished Frog after the Minstrel, but they don’t always keep the kitchen open for us. George checked out George & Martha’s as a possible new location, but doesn’t think they are appropriate for us. He will take on the role of liaison with the Frog and see if he can work something out with them.

Minstrel Staffing

Staffing is almost 100% online now.

Swingin’ Tern

The two regular dances in December each had total attendance of about 88. Combined net revenue from those two dances was $314. The New Year's Eve dance went well, with attendance of 111, which is higher than any of the previous five New Year's Eve dances. Expenses were also higher than before -- partly from the higher rent, partly because we had a five-person band this time. So net revenue, at $207, was lower than any of the previous five New Year's Eves.

Paul was asked how many admissions were sold online.He wasn’t sure at the meeting but later confirmed to that there were 30. This was higher then in previous years.

The dance this Saturday will mark the 23rd anniversary of Swingin’ Tern.

Horses Sing None of It

The series is booked through June, but nothing is scheduled for March, because Cablevision will only accept a certain number of reservations and June got booked before March.

Special Concerts

The committee hasn’t met yet, so no report. Chris suggested that we add a “How to Get Booked” section to our website the Special Concerts area of the website, to parallel the content that's already online for Minstrel and Festival.

Festival

We only lost $600 for the year, not the larger amount reported earlier. The committee has talked about how to draw more people and is considering increasing the performer budget by $2,000. The Agranoff Endowment currently allocates to the Festival Performer Budget a limited disbursement (1.5% of the principal or roughly $1,300 per Festival) from the interest it generates. The Committee had planned increasing their budget by up to $2,000, with the thought of covering the possible loss by withdrawing additional funds from the principal of the Agranoff Endowment if need be. It was later revealed that the Festival Committee does not have the authority to tap into those funds for two reasons:

1) Under the terms of the Endowment, the formula for disbursement could not be changed for the first five years. We still have a year to go before the 5 year period is up.

2) The Festival Committee does not have the authority to remove funds from that endowment. That needs to be done by the Board as a whole, even though the current disbursement scheme is allocated solely to Festival.

The Board felt that the Committee does have the power to increase the performer budget with the intent to draw more attendees and without needing to identify where funds would come from if it resulted in a loss. This is particularly true at a point where the Project's finances are healthy enough to absorb such a loss without danger of insolvency.

This increases the risk of losing money, but we decided that this is the matter for the committee to decide – whether to do it and how to handle it. They will deal with it if they need to; they’re proposing taking money from principal if need be. Adding to the incentive to increase attendance, the camp has raised the minimum to 200, 170 must be adults.

Please send e-mail suggestions to Ken for performers you would like to see at Festival.

Storytelling

All ok.

Membership

Barbara and Pat are both being copied on membership e-mails. They’ll work to make the transition smooth.

Newsletter

Kudos to Tom on a great debut issue. A few people mentioned that some of us “old geezers” had trouble with the small font. Tom assured us that this issue will not surface again.

Webmaster

The website has been updated for 2007. Web hits have been slowly declining for December.

George changed the e-mails to encode them. This should decrease the amount of SPAM we receive. He also changed the festival link to next festival so it will work properly if you add it to your favorites. There was a motion in the past to put the performer’s list on the website but it was never done because it was always in the process of being updated. George is willing to do it if he can get an updated copy. Elizabeth promised that she will have it for him soon.

The MySpace page is ready to go.

Merchandising

We’ve started selling the guitar picks at Minstrel – 3 for a dollar. We’ve sold 6 so far. We’re dealing with the “bad pick” problem by letting folks choose their own from a bowl of picks.

Internal Affairs

Jean is working on having workshops on the same day as the Evening of Music (EOM). For February she is trying to arrange one with Andy Goessling. Chris will host the February EOM, but the workshop will not be at his home. She is hoping to have a workshop every couple of months. Since we raise money from the Valentine show we could use this to pay the instructor, but it hasn’t been decided.

Chris asked why we are tying the workshops in with the EOM. Mark explained that attendance has been down at the EOM and it’s difficult to get good people to play. The plan is to educate beginners and intermediate performers with the workshop. He also explained that the idea of the workshop was decided before Chris agreed to host the Feb. EOM. Jim West noted that holding the workshops and the EOM at different places might reduce attendance. Jean said that ideally they would both be held at the same place.

Mark reminded people to sign up to perform for the Valentine’s Day show at the Minstrel. We will have the jazz and rock bands again. He has asked Rivka and Julie if some of the storytellers might want to participate.

Community Affairs

We sent a card to Pam Robinson and Elyse Turner, whose mother passed away on December 27. We also sent one to Brad Pryor who is recuperating from knee replacement surgery.

It’s time to update the performer’s list. Elizabeth will put a notice in the newsletter. She will also get an updated copy to George for the website. Mike suggested that we add photos for the web.

Sound Reinforcement

The upgrade for the Swingin’ Tern sound system has been ordered, but it has not yet arrived. Bob is hoping to do training at the dance next month.

Reports of Ad-Hoc Committees and Special Work Groups

Archive Management

Bobbie has completed the process of handing off the existing documents to the archive, and is in the process of completing the hand-off of DVD copies of festival skits and other performances. All that remains before we can close out this ad-hoc activity is to determine what future items will be sent to the archive. This will include defining:

• • What items (e.g. flyers, newsletters, publicity items, official records such as minutes or treasury documents, etc.) should go into the archives.

  • When these items should be sent from active storage into the archives.

  • Who will collect the items and who will coordinate with Rutgers.

Bobbie, Pam and Barbara will get together to propose a retention/archive schedule and process to present to the board in February or March. Bobbie noted that we still have some questions about copyright law with regard to the skits DVDs of "other performances." We can't donate things that we don't really own, and while this is PROBABLY not a problem with skits, it might be a problem if someone has recorded a professional's performance. Barbara has taken this as a transitional item.

The Key Date Index

For the Key Date Index, Bobbie has collected the information. What remains is to figure out how to use these dates for monitoring our on-going activities. Most dates that were submitted are important to the internal operations of individual committees. These dates will serve as a documentation aid during transitions, but are not of interest to the board as a whole. Those dates that should be monitored by the board (such as tax filing deadlines) will be incorporated into the board’s agenda.

Document Retention Developments

Please send copies of all 2007 contracts to Pam.

Good of the Order

In honor of President Moo’s first meeting, Larry Flanigan threw an “inaugural ball” by writing “Inaugural Ball” on balls for the cats and tossing them around to the assemblage. (You had to have been there). George Otto was promoted to Chief Technical Officer at work, which means he is also the proud owner of his own parking space. Elizabeth Lachowicz has completed her classes in Human Resources and is now all set for HRCI certification. Pam Robinson thanks everyone for helping out when her mother passed away, and to Barbara Moo for taking over and hosting the Board meeting at the last minute. Fortunately, no one was lost in New Providence. Robin Schaffer, her mother and oldest daughter Devan recently spent some time in Italy shopping. “They also visited a museum or two”, said Mark. Jean Scully’s house in Asbury Park is coming along and she is learning the true meaning of the term “Money Pit”. Sandie Reilly’s daughter is selling Girl Scout cookies. Lois DeRitter’s car hit 100,000 miles just before Christmas as she was driving right in front of the dealer where she purchased it. The mileage was accumulated mostly through going to folk events. Ken Galipeau’s son, Evan, is engaged. Through Ruth Wolfish, Bobbie Rosengarten says hello from sunny Florida. Brad Pryor, who was still in the hospital, delivered through Barbara Moo a heartfelt tribute to Rick Thomas, thanking him for his help, support and encouragement as Brad struggled through some difficult times over the last year.

ADJOURNMENT

We adjourned at 9:24 pm. and then held the brainstorming session. The next meeting will be held on February 6 at the home of Paul and Melanie Axel-Lute.

Respectfully submitted,

Lori Falco

Secretary