November 2007

MOTIONS THIS MONTH

• • Pat Rolston moved that we hire an accountant at an annual cost of approximately $500 to $750 to provide oversight and prepare our tax forms and other duties as appropriate. The motion passed unanimously.

  • Mike Agranoff moved that we accept the slate of 2008 nominees named by the Nominations Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

    • Andy Koenig moved that Lori Falco be appointed co-chair of the Festival Committee effective immediately with the intent that she take over the committee upon Ken’s resignation. Lori would now be given exclusive responsibility for all activities after Spring 2008 festival, including planning. The motion passed unanimously.

    • Pam Robinson moved that we have our annual meeting at the Chimney Rock Inn in Gillette, ordering from the limited menu. Individuals will pay $15 and the Folk Project will pick up the remainder. The motion carried with one opposed, one abstention.

    • Mike Agranoff moved that in the announcement for the annual meeting, the President be directed to mention the amount for dinner and that it be made known that if people were willing to pay the full amount, that would be appreciated. The motion was defeated by a vote of 4 in favor, 7 opposed, 1 abstention.

    • Chris Riemer moved that even considering the financial impact, we opt not to share the camp for the coming festival in spring ’08. The motion carried, 10 in favor, 3 opposed, 7 absentions.

    • Elizabeth Lachowicz moved that without establishing a precedent, we reimburse Sandie Reilly for her trip to NERFA for up to $275 and revisit this issue in January when we have time to discuss it. Mike asked for a secret ballot for the vote, to which we agreed. The motion carried, 16 in favor, 3 opposed, 2 abstentions.

OPENING CEREMONIES

The meeting was called to order at 8 pm on November 6, 2007 at the home of George Otto.

Roll Call

Present were Lois DeRitter, Bob Isaacs, Jim King, Andy Koenig, Evelyn Maurer, Barbara Moo and Bobbie Rosengarten (Trustees), Mike Agranoff, Paul Axel-Lute, Lori Falco, Larry Flanigan, Elizabeth Lachowicz, George Otto, Brad Pryor, Tom Pylant, Sandie Reilly, Chris Riemer, Pam Robinson, Pat Rolston, Bob Safranek, Jean Scully and Rivka Willick (Other Board Members) and Rick Thomas, Ruth Wolfish, Ed Roffman, Scooter Ferguson, Jay Wilensky and Bill Cox (Guests).

Absent were Mark Schaffer, Jim West and Ken Galipeau

Secretary’s Report

The October minutes were accepted with no corrections. (Note that after the September minutes were accepted in October, Lois found an error in the description of how the round robins would be run at the fall festival. A motion was passed to accept the September minutes as now corrected.)

Treasurer’s Report

Our CD at the Bank of America matured on 10/8, but the check got lost. The money is now back in the CD.

Pat moved that we hire an accountant at an annual cost of approximately $500 to $750 to provide oversight and prepare our tax forms and other duties as appropriate. The motion passed unanimously. (Pam suggested amending the motion to set a specific period of time, such as a minimum of two years. We determined that this was not necessary.)

Chris explained that he has an accountant in mind and has spoken to her. He envisions her providing occasional consultation throughout the year and keeping us in sync with changes in the law. She could also acquaint the next treasurer with QuickBooks if they’re not already familiar with it. Chris would also like to send her a freebie newsletter.

BUSINESS ITEMS

Nominations Committee Report

Evelyn thanked Jean, Brad and Barbara (unofficial member) for serving on the committee. She presented the slate of nominees, which includes four people new to the Board: Ed Roffman, Jim Gartner, Scooter Ferguson and Ruth Wolfish. Paul is stepping down as chair of Swingin’ Tern; no replacement has been named yet. Lori will join the Festival Committee as co-chair. Ken will focus on the Spring ’08 festival only and Lori will focus on revitalizing the festival.

Mike moved that the Board accept the slate as proposed by the Nominations Committee. Motion passed unanimously.

Andy moved that Lori Falco be appointed co-chair of the Festival Committee effective immediately with the intent that she take over the committee upon Ken’s resignation. Lori would now be given exclusive responsibility for all activities after Spring 2008 festival, including planning. Motion passed unanimously.

Location for Annual Meeting

George suggested the Chimney Rock Inn on Valley Road in Gillette as the site for the annual meeting. He also suggested we order from their limited menu at a cost of $18 per person. The Project usually subsidizes a portion of the cost for dinner.

Pam moved that we have our annual meeting at the Chimney Rock Inn in Gillette and we have the limited menu. Individuals will pay $15 and the Folk Project will pick up the rest of the tab. Motion carried with 1 opposed, one abstention.

Mike moved that in the announcement for the annual meeting, the President be directed to mention the amount for dinner and that it be made known that if people are willing to pay the full amount, that would be appreciated. Motion defeated by a vote of 4 in favor, 7 opposed, 1 abstention.

Select Location for January Meeting

The January meeting will be held at Pam and Bob S.’s house. Because New Year’s Day is the first Tuesday of January, the meeting will be held on the second Tuesday, January 8.

Follow-up on Festival Action Plans

Barbara handed out a chart showing the financial situation for festival. We would have lost about $2,000 on fall ’07 regardless of the camp minimums. For spring ’08, we are spending $2,400 more on performers than usual. Assuming we will not be increasing the registration fees, do we direct the festival committee to do anything differently from fall?

If we opt to share the camp, it would lower the minimums required by Fairview Lake and, therefore, lower our camp fee. The camp would rent out some of the space we usually use to another group, which they promise would be a compatible one. We discussed whether, if we shared the camp, we would need to notify festival goers in advance and the impact of not having the facilities that we usually have access to. Sandie had concerns about the logistics of doing sound checks in a shared camp.

Chris said that we don’t want to make even one person say that they never want to go to festival again based on sharing. He moved that even considering the financial impact, we opt not to share the camp for the coming festival in spring ’08. The motion carried, 10 in favor, 3 opposed, 7 absentions.

Jim K. said that whatever we decide, we’re taking a gamble, but we do have enough in the treasury to cover our bets.

Ken will talk to staff about turning back their scholarships. Performers contracts are not out yet; there is no cancellation clause in them. Barbara said that we’re investing in the festival to rebuild it, not spending. We will tell the festival committee that we’re behind them as long as we’re investing. It is not her sense that the Board’s motions were meant to say that it’s okay to lose money. We should tell the committee to sharpen their pencils and try their best to save.

Mike said he felt that if the festival lost $500-$1,500 per festival, we can easily make that up. He would be okay with that. Barbara said that would be a good discussion to have, but she didn’t want to have it at that time. Chris said that the data show a steady decline in attendance, five years in the making. Factors involved include distance, time, and people getting older. He doesn’t expect attendance to turn around and doesn’t think marketing will change that. We have to move to a smaller space. Scooter said that this speaks to the problem of growing the Folk Project with younger people. Larry suggested we might have to raise our fees. Sandie offered to have more activities for kids and a place for them.

REPORTS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES

Minstrel Booking

October was a semi-lackluster month except for the last show. We lost $90 for the month. Good November coming up – Mad Agnes, Phil Ochs Night and the Divas. Jean Ritchie is booked for 12/28.

Evelyn asked if there had been any feedback on the change in start time. Mike said no, but it is a rush to get the sound set up. The breaks are more leisurely. Pam said that more people go back in when the break is over.

Minstrel Staffing

Sandie needs volunteers!

Swingin’ Tern

The one dance in October had unusually low total attendance of 46, and a net loss of $256. YTD the dance has a positive cash flow of $391. On Saturday, 11/3, they had average attendance of 80.

HSNOI

Horses is back on the air in LaVerne, CA starting November, 6:00 PM Fridays http://www.ulv.edu/lvtv/. We taped 4 exceptional shows in Oct. Kudos to Sandie for doing an excellent job on the sound engineering for Jim Murphy & the Pine Barons under challenging conditions (bluegrass band playing full volume while the vocals were not clearly audible in the room, but they're out front in the recording).

Sandie told us that she goes to NERFA every year to seek out new performers for HSNOI at her own expense. It is becoming more difficult for her to spend the $250 to go. She plans to volunteer at the event to earn back 50% of her registration fee, and asked that the Board consider covering her expenses. Mike always attends NERFA as well, at his own expense. Ken has gone on occasion and festival is part of the reason.

Elizabeth moved that without establishing a precedent, we do reimburse for Sandie’s trip to NERFA up to $275 and revisit this issue in January when we have time to discuss it. Mike asked for a secret ballot for the vote, to which we agreed. The motion carried, 16 in favor, 3 opposed, 2 abstentions.

Special Concerts

The Dan Keding event was wonderful, people had a great time. The audience sat riveted to Dan's every word. The stories were not all that scary in and of themselves but they conveyed the feeling of the season that we wanted. The music jam that followed the concert was lively, well received and went until about 1:30 in the morning.

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped make the event happen and for giving up their free admission to the event to help with costs. Special thanks to Mark & Robin not only hosting the event but for housing Dan for 3 nights.

The event had a small loss of less than $175. I think this is a grand outcome for a first ever event. We had 38 attending the Keding concert. Keding’s fee was $800.

Festival

The Fall Festival was a great festival, an excellent time. For spring, Jim K. and Bill Cox will work hard to promote it and will be asking for volunteers to help them.

Storytelling

The ’08 Storytelling Festival will be held on the last Sunday in September at Grounds for Sculpture. We should have about $2,200 – 2,300 coming in from our share of the gate for the ’07 festival.

Membership

Under control.

Newsletter

Under control.

Publicity/Webmaster

RSS is going like gangbusters – 168 hits/day. George is adding regression testing to the web page. He received 1,350 entries to the photo contest, submitted by 9 people. Ken took over 1,000. George has 185 that are really great and he will pass these on to the outside judges.

Merchandising

We sold a bunch of t-shirts at the festival, about 20. Also, Rick discovered a bunch of old bumper stickers. So we have many stickers to sell.

Community Affairs

Under control.

Sound Reinforcement

A Sound workshop is scheduled for Saturday January 5th, 2008 from 3pm til 6pm at Ogden Memorial Church. Alison Boardman and Bob Safranek will run the workshop. Space is limited, call 908-771-0187 or pam@gsp.org to make your reservation. A Swingin' Tern dance will follow the workshop.

Brad suggested a sound workshop for people in front of the mike. Bob S. didn’t feel qualified to teach that subject, but Mike volunteered to coach people.

Internal Affairs

We are so happy to announce that Winter Weekend will be held on February 22-24 at the home of our beloved friend Patty Lee Parmalee in upstate New York. For those members who don't know, Patty was struck by a car and severely injured over the summer; it's been a long road back but she is truly a warrior and we are so happy that she wants to share her home with us again.

For reporting purposes, Jean will be updating the Board on any developments, but is also thrilled to announce that the uber-capable Liz Pagan will once again be doing all the real work. My kind of job: I talk, someone else sweats.

The December Evening of Music will be the Holiday Party, held at the home of Marie Trontell. Pam suggested reinstating the grab bag for the Holiday Party. Jean will consider it – if you have feelings about it, please e-mail Jean.

GOOD OF THE ORDER

Pam reported that the Daily Record ran a story about Joanne Herb on 10/28 about her second career moonlighting as a poet. Jim K. is doing his first opera, “The Medium” by Menotti. He is also doing “Gloria” by John Rutter with the Hunterdon Chorale. It is a work for chorus, brass, percussion and organ. The performance is 12/9 at 3 pm at the Clinton Presbyterian Church, Clinton. Jean’s daughter, Siobhan, is in a marching band that placed 4th in the NJ State competition. She also said that Marie Trontell put together Folk Project performers and others for the WPRB radio show Dr. Cosmo’s Nocturnal Emissions (103.3 FM) broadcast Fridays 10 pm – 2 am. Brad came to the Board meeting having done a test for 19 hours and not having slept since he got up Monday morning. Rivka, Ken and Carol Titus are doing a Tellabration in Mt. Tabor on 11/9. Rivka said that Ken was a hero the weekend before and filled in a spot at the last minute. Lois went to the opening of the Prudential Ctr. in Newark and saw Bon Jovi there. “It’s a nice venue – very beautiful”. On a sad note, her 92-year old godmother has developed some serious health problems. Pat Rolston and husband, Ken, were in Oregon in September at a Village Harmony singing camp, practicing for 7 hours every day. It was exhausting but “the most fantastic thing we’ve ever done”. On Sunday, Andy, along with Liz Cabrera, Kris and John Lamb, and Joanna Hoty Russell played one of the strangest gigs that he has ever played – a Bar Mitzvah at Medieval Times. He also had some computer trouble recently, and, by following the advice from the manufacturer, managed to turn his PC into a doorstop. Fortunately, he had made a complete back-up of his system and “did not lose so much as a single email message.” He also documented the advice and the manufacturer has agreed to buy back the PC at the price Andy paid 4 years ago and will give him a 15% discount on a new PC. Barbara added, “It’s wonderful to live at home with tech support”. Mike is almost fully recovered from his recent car accident. Thinking his car was totaled, he had bought a new one, and then learned that his old one was not totaled, so the old one will be repaired and sold. Mike has a new CD out and a formal showcase at NERFA, where he was one of 14 selected from a field of 150 performers. He also advises us to not buy Norton Antivirus – buy McAfee or something else. Larry confessed that he always wanted to put fish in the creel at the Minstrel. At Mike’s performance on 10/26 he deposited a can of sardines in there. He thanked Mike for the opportunity. Andy then nominated him for the Henny Youngman Diplomacy Award.

ADJOURNMENT

Meeting adjourned at 10:20 pm.

The next meeting is the Annual Metting to be held on December 4 at the Chimney Rock Inn in Gillette.

Respectfully submitted,

Lori Falco

Secretary