September 2007

OPENING CEREMONIES

The meeting was called to order at 8 pm on September 9, 2007 at the home of Chris Riemer.

Roll Call

Present were Lois DeRitter, Jim King, Andy Koenig, Barbara Moo, Bobbie Rosengarten, Mark Schaffer and Jim West (Trustees), Mike Agranoff, Paul Axel-Lute, Lori Falco, Larry Flanigan, Ken Galipeau, George Otto, Brad Pryor, Sandie Reilly, Chris Riemer, Pam Robinson and Bob Safranek (Other Board Members) and Rick Thomas (Guest).

Absent were Bob Isaacs, Evelyn Maurer, Elizabeth Lachowicz, Tom Pylant, Pat Rolston, Jean Scully, Rivka Willick

Secretary’s Report

The minutes for August were accepted with no corrections needed.

Treasurer’s Report

On the Operational Profit & Loss Statement online you can click on each number and see what was involved in the calculation. If you have a column on this report, i.e. if you have spending authority, Chris asked that you go into the report and verify that the numbers are correct.

Chris said that he wanted to move forward on obtaining Folk Project credit cards. A long time ago we had authorized this action but the bank would not accept our P.O. Box has an address. We did have a credit card when Pat was treasurer that used her address – it came with our overdraft privileges. Chris would like to use his address as the contact and we would have to change this when the Treasurer changes.

The advantages of the cards are:

• • Makes it easier for the Treasurer – fewer checks to write each month.

  • Don’t have to ask volunteers to front money for expenses, which can be considerable, e.g. printing the newsletter costs $500/mo.

Chris would get at least five cards, for Publicity, Newsletter, Minstrel and HSNOI and Festival. The cards would have all different numbers.

Discussion followed. Chris said he doesn’t want to foist them on anyone, but people do routinely put forward their own money. Andy asked, “Whose credit is it? If the bill isn’t paid, whose credit rating gets dinged?” Chris said that he would find out. Chris also emphasized that these are credit cards, not debit cards.

Regarding hiring an accountant, Chris has decided he would like this to be a professional relationship rather than asking an FP member to do it. So, he won’t be putting an ad in the newsletter but he will look into pro bono advisers.

Key Dates

Mike had to deliver attendance figures to the Treasurer for our insurance carrier. This event should be added to the key dates.

Annual Meeting; George will handle details.

Nominations Committee; Mike reminded us that last year we said we wanted to bring in one new trustee each year. He wants to take a hiatus from working on the committee because he needs to devote his attention to getting his new CD out. He would like to resume the position in 2008.

BUSINESS ITEMS

Eisteddfod Festival

All handled. The web is done and we will put something in the newsletter.

Follow-up on Festival Action plans

Ken contacted the camp after our last meeting. We will not have to pay any additional fees until our camp fee is above the camp minimum of $20,000. We can make up the $20,000 fee any way that we would like.

We haven’t done so well with the extra effort and support for the festival committee. Jim K. is working hard on promotion and Margaret Crowl is interviewing newcomers. George Otto is handling promotions and promotional pricing plans.

We haven’t had other people step up. For example, there has been no champion for the round robins. Jim K. suggested that if you’re going to a non-FP activity where it’s appropriate, please take flyers with you. Barbara noted that 16 of 25 people on the Board have gone to every single Festival since they’ve been able to go. “We say it’s important, but the Festival won’t flourish unless we make it happen.”

Jim W. asked if people have been following Mike’s suggestion of encouraging other people to go and what the results were. Mike said people have told him they’re interested, but he doesn’t know what the results will be. Lois said that people won’t commit. George said no one has taken the newcomer discount online. Pam asked if the committee needs ideas or grunt work – Ken said both. Barbara said we need creativity, energy. George will create new flyers that promote the new Saturday only ticket. We also have a new photography contest – info will be on the website.

Barbara said that we need to invest the combined wisdom, creativity and work to get 200 people to routinely attend. The Board needs to take responsibility. The festival is the biggest financial responsibility we undertake, and the festival committee has asked for our help.

Lori said that, unfortunately, there will not be an article in the Star-Ledger. The paper has discontinued the Sussex County weekly section that she thought it could run in and the editor did not see it as a Morris County story. Lois said that the newcomer discount forces 2 people to register together – this might be awkward. George said that the committee decided to implement it that way.

Barbara hoped she’s made people think about what they can do to make the festival something that everyone puts on their calendar.

Digital Picture Frame

Mark got the digital picture frame and it has been at the Minstrel; Barbara said she’s seen people pick up flyers near it. The MCs have been doing a good job of plugging the festival. We raised the question of whether Swingin’ Tern would like a digital picture frame; Paul said he would ask the committee. For Mark to buy one for Swingin’ Tern we would need a new motion.

REPORTS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES

Minstrel Booking

Pretty good month overall. Two really well attended shows on for the Kennedys (143) and, unexpectedly, for Dugan's Hooligans (169). Oddly enough both July and August were generally strongly attended months. This was due more to the specific acts booked than to a general attraction of the Minstrel itself, Mike believes. When relatively unknown acts were booked, our attendance has been relatively low.

We made almost $1,200 in August. Mike wrote to the Kennedys’ agent and said to forget about the mix-up with their fee – we don’t want any money back.

Sanctuary Concerts will be using MUF on Sunday – we made arrangements to have an FP person there and have our digital picture frame and festival flyers out.

Minstrel Staffing

Sandie did not get to the meeting in time to give her report. She had called Barbara and said that she needs volunteers. Rick suggested that if you’re volunteering as much as you can, perhaps you know somebody who might be interested in volunteering.

Swingin’ Tern

Reading from his email report, Paul told us that the August 4th dance had relatively low total attendance of 58, and incurred a loss of $82. The August 18th dance more than made up for it, though with modest attendance of 70, because it was an open-mike so the callers were not paid, and the band was just two persons, so there was net revenue of $180. The workshop for beginning callers presented by Melanie Axel-Lute before that dance was attended by seven persons and was well received; one of the attendees, Joel Remde, called his first contra dance later at the open mike, and we are hopeful that at least one of the attendees will join our guest caller rotation.

The dance floor was refinished just before the August 18th dance, and we were asked to try to keep the dancing on the lesser-used two thirds of the floor farther from the stage, to even out the wear. The Committee has requested the Treasurer to make a contribution of $750 to the church toward the cost of the refinishing, as we have done in the past; the cost this year was $1,800. Per the Treasurer's report, Tern currently has net year-to-date revenue of $317.

At the meeting, Jim K. noted that the $317 profit was recorded before the disbursement of $750 for refinishing the floor. This puts the dance in the red.

HSNOI

We're not sure if LVTV in LaVerne, CA will continue to carry the series. They returned all our tapes, but have not responded to email inquiries as to whether to send more. It could just be pre-semester vacation or they're very busy.

In August Sandie ably took over the Director's duties for the vacationing Bob Fivehouse and we produced two fine episodes (Eden's fiddling is quite remarkable.). Otherwise the tapings continue.

Special Concerts

The committee is presenting a House Concert event called Dark Spirits and Savage Truths - Haunting Tales for Adults featuring stories and songs by internationally known storyteller Dan Keding. This event will take place on Saturday October 27th at 8pm Advance tickets are $15 and at the door they are $18. A music and story jam/round robin will follow.

Tickets will be available at Minstrel and Swingin’ Tern. George has set it up so people can buy tickets through PayPal.

Festival

We have 25 people now registered. Margaret has had 3-4 people apply for scholarships. They are people who regularly attend festival, but not people who had told us that money was an issue. No one else has contributed to the fund.

The round robins will be moved to the Nature Lodge. Leaders will be Amy Livingston and Dave Sherman. The old timer’s jam may be moved, perhaps to the Beaver Lodge. We want to insure that more people get to play. The traditional round robins are moving to the Nature Lodge and being run by George on Friday, and Lois on Saturday. Amy and Dave are running “participatory jams" (minus the ability to make a request) in the Program Lodge on Friday, and the dining hall on Saturday.

For the next festival, we’ve booked Cheryl Wheeler as the headliner. She will be there for Saturday only. Cheryl’s fee is $3,000 – more than any other performer in the past for the whole weekend except Wild Asparagus, who did the dance and a concert. We talked about having a second contra band, but this idea doesn’t have a champion. Barbara emphasized that we don’t need suggestions so much as we need the whole package.

The Saturday schedule is on the website but not on the brochure – the brochure was printed before we decided on the Saturday only tickets. The flyers will be revamped in the future. Jim K. said that Sanctuary Concerts is having Cheryl Wheeler on 12/1 – we should have flyers at that concert.

Storytelling

Rivka didn’t make the meeting, but, the schedule for the storytelling festival is out. It will be on 9/30 at the Grounds for Sculpture, rain or shine.

Membership

Under control.

Newsletter

Tom is still at his Mom's in NC, and will be for another week or so. He extended (via email) his most profound thanks to Barbara, Andy, Elizabeth, and all the others that helped distribute the newsletter! And as always, he would love to get feedback on the newsletter...

Publicity/Webmaster

RSS feeds are up to 100 hits/day; festival page hits are up to about 36 hits/day. A page has been set up for the house concert. As Ken requested, George jazzed up the festival promotion section. George got approval to do a photography workshop at the beginning of the festival.

People have sent updates for the Performers Resource list and it hasn’t been updated in a timely fashion. George will try to fix this. Elizabeth proposed a more extensive list of keywords and George is looking for feedback on this. He asked that we send feedback to him and Elizabeth. The first page has representative artists and George asked Mike to update it. If you have ideas about this, please talk to Mike.

Bob S. said the Independent Press still has the Minstrel starting time as 8:30 pm. Pam said the same paper has a nice article on Swingin’ Tern this week.

Merchandising

T-shirts should be here by Oct. 1, in time for festival.

Community Affairs

Elizabeth was absent, but summarized developments via an email report.

George said that the Long Hill Twp. library is having a concert series and looking for musicians. He will look into it.

Gwen Orel’s father passed away recently.

Sound Reinforcement

Bob will put an ad in the newsletter to try to sell the old Swingin’ Tern sound board.

Internal Affairs

Jean was absent, but the Evening of Music for this month is at Liz and Dave’s. Mark said the bands for the Four Divas concert are starting to get together.

THE IN BOX

Pam and Lois are interested in going to the Pro Bono workshop. Either or both should give us plenty of coverage.

Chris said the Somerset YMCA is having a volunteer dinner that we can attend. He gave the info to Lori.

GOOD OF THE ORDER

Elizabeth Lachowicz’s sister, “the” sister (as in Nun - & she's a relative of Betsy Rose - go figure!)... has moved to Brooklyn. Dave Kleiner and Liz Pagan, along with Dana & JoAnn Cooke, had a lovely time in Ireland seeing many sights, and meeting the wonderful Irish people, including the Mayo Mountain Rescue team and the staff of Mayo General Hospital, who were most helpful after Dave fell and broke his ankle on the way down Croagh Patrick, Ireland's Holy Mountain. Apparently the mountain doesn't like Jews. Pam reported that Scott Ross and his girlfriend, Leslie, are engaged. Pam and Bob had a lovely trip to New Hampshire recently. Sandie is busy training for a 100 mile bike trip to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Barbara recommended her entertaining blog about her training experiences at http://sandiereilly.blogspot.com/. Lois had a great week at the Meadowlark music camp with her daughter and for the talent show had the thrill of doing the 'Live Free or Die' number she did at the birthday show, accompanied by Peggy Lynn, an instructor at the camp, who has recorded the song. Mark had a good trip to Cooperstown with Dave Sherman. Mike’s third CD, “Ain’t Never Been Plugged” is fully recorded and will have its release at the Minstrel on 10/26. Andy has been unwittingly collecting varieties of computer malfunctions that he never knew existed. George worked the hospitality tent at the Philly Folk Fest and found it quite exciting. Bobbie participated in collating the newsletter last month and thanked Barbara and Andy for their great job hosting the collating party. Ken spent a few days with Bob McNally on his boat off Long Island. Ken’s son, Evan, is now attending University of Pennsylvania to study for his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. Five years ago this month, Chris announced that he had started Knowledge Street LLC (http://www.knowledgestreet.com/) and it’s still a going concern. Brad read a tribute to Margaret Crowl that thanked her for graciously having him stay with her while he recuperated from knee replacement surgery last year. He and Margaret recently went to the Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival together and had a great time.

ADJOURNMENT

Meeting adjourned at 9:57 pm.

The next meeting will be held on October 2 at the home of Bobbie Rosengarten.

Respectfully submitted,

Lori Falco

Secretary