June 2008

OPENING CEREMONIES

The meeting was called to order at 8:03 PM on June 3^rd at the home of Bobbie Rosengarten, by president Mark Schaffer

Present were Lois De Ritter, Scooter Ferguson, Jim Gartner, Jim King, Ed Roffman, Bobbie Rosengarten, Mark Schaffer and Jim West (Trustees), Mike Agranoff, Lori Falco, Elizabeth Lachowicz, Evelyn Maurer, George Otto, Brad Pryor, Tom Pylant, Sandie Reilly, Chris Riemer, Pam Robinson, Pat Rolston, Bob Safranek, Jean Scully, Rick Thomas, Rivka Willick and Ken Galipeau (Other Board Members, and Judy Bubar (Guest).

Absent were Andy Koenig and Connie Crawford.

Secretary’s Report

The April minutes were corrected to show that Ed Roffman had been present at the meeting held at his own house. The May minutes were accepted without change.

Treasurer’s Report

Chris reported that the NJ charities registration form, which we have been filing annually up to now, has been expanded and asks for a lot more information this year. Fortunately, organizations that take in less than $10,000 in contributions are (as a result of another change) exempt from filing. We fit that exemption. The sense of the Board was to take advantage of that and stop filing, but to keep the filing date, June 30, on the “key dates” list to guard against the possibility of the law changing so that we have to start filing again.

Quickbooks won’t reflect the latest changes to the Vanguard account for the next couple of months. This should not be a problem. Anyone who needs the very latest up-to-date figures can contact Chris or Andy.

BUSINESS ITEMS

Pinewoods

Mike reported that Pinewoods has invited us to be an associate organization for their Eisteddfod Festival of traditional music on November 14-16th. This would require that we not schedule any conflicting events. Mike determined that the Minstrel Open Stage and the S’n’T dance on that weekend do not constitute conflicting events, so the proposed relationship will go forward.

REPORTS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES

Membership

Patsy reported that we have 500-525 memberships. Tom reported that we mailed out 417 newsletters last month.

Newsletter

Tom noted that other organizations are not publishing our events. He would like to improve this. If you can help, contact Tom. Ed has distributed a sample of the new online version of the Newsletter to the Board for comments. He asks if we want to keep the Newsletter “members only”, or should we be distributing it more widely as an advertisement for the Folk Project.

Publicity

Nancy has been cleaning the list of publicity outlets. Some were obsolete and have been pruned. Some new ones have been added. George continues to work on modernizing the web site. He’s about 90% done.

Only about 15 photos have been submitted to the Festival Photo Contest. George would consider extending the deadline if he could figure out how to get in touch with people to tell them of the extension. Bobbie is interested in making up a list of outlet contacts for “not the usual” events. Contact Bobbie or George if you want to help.

Merchandising

A member asked about coffee mugs. Brad reported that they are in the works.

Community Affairs

Elizabeth thanked everyone who helped man our booth at the NJ Folk Festival. She will get a revised Performers Resource Directory to George soon. We got our money back from NJFF for the screwed-up ad in their program.

Sound

Bob reported that the new monitors for S’n’T are installed and working. He’s still working on getting the new gig bag for the piano. Mike reported that the bad mike cable at Minstrel will be fixed by Friday’s show.

Minstrel Booking

Mike reported that Red Molly had a sell-out crowd; otherwise attendance has been lackluster. Amy Livingston will be helping with publicity. The Minstrel’s Birthday Party is coming up in July.

A member noted that some indirect Minstrel expenses may not be showing up in the Treasurer’s report as attributable to Minstrel. So, depending on how you look at it, we may be loosing money. Attendance is down, but puzzlingly, Sanctuary’s attendance is up even though their prices are higher. What are they doing that we don’t? Mark noted that perhaps a review of Minstrel is due to figure out what changes need to be made to address this.

Minstrel Staffing

Sandie needs volunteers. Give her a call or send her email if you want to help.

Horses Sing None of It

Ralph says that Stefan Grossman is working on a DVD in which he would like to use some parts of the two HSNOI shows with John Jackson. Copyright issues need to be worked out. It was the sense of the Board to allow Ralph and Sandie to deal with this, but to ask the pro-bono partnership lawyer to look the documents over when it’s all done.

Internal Affairs

Jean reports that June EoM will be at Mark & Robin’s. The July 4th party will be at Eddie and Robin’s. Jean needs a volunteer to host the July EoM on the 11th 12th.

Special Concerts

Pam reported that she had heard good words from several of the workshop attendees. Special Thanks! to Sandie for setting up the workshop series.

Storytelling

Rivka says that Julie Pasquale will be representing the Central East Coast at National.

Festival

Ken officially passed the torch to Lori. Applause all around!

GOOD OF THE ORDER

Brad went camping at Strawberry Park Bluegrass Festival in CT. Pat had a really memorable birthday in a limestone cavern singing for spelunkers. Ken’s son Evan is getting married. Elizabeth will be heading off to Chicago with her son Thomas as soon as school gets out. Rick will be attending the wedding of his niece at his Mom’s home in Washington State. He and Cathy will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary on the 15th. Mike attended an Open Stage for Broadway singers in NYC. He did “Would you rather get a job?” This was really different from the Minstrel’s Open Stage! Mark reports that Robin’s nephew graduated from medical school (first MD in the family), and The Gentleman’s Touring Club visited Niagara Falls. Pam & Bob are about to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Bobbie’s cousin finished the Iditarod. Rivka survived her first Fringe Festival. Her 18-year-old daughter performed on stage. Sandie liked her “century” so much that she will be doing the 270 mile (Boston to New York) Tri State Trek for ALS disease. Judy reports that on Friday, June 13, she was one of five performers asked to perform at the Folk Factory People's Choice concert. The concert was held at the Unitarian Church, Stenton Ave and Gorgas Lane in Germantown PA.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 9:42 PM.

Next meeting will be at Ruth Wolfish’s home on Tuesday, July 1.

– Rick