July 2010

OPENING CEREMONIES

Secretary’s Note: Due to some late arrivals and general perambulations, this meeting did not follow a particularly logical sequence. These minutes have been re-arranged in a way that made sense to the Secretary. He begs the indulgence of once and future readers.

The meeting was called to order sharply at 8:00, at the home of Connie Crawford on a day of record-breaking temperatures.

Roll Call

Present were Lois DeRitter, Scooter Ferguson, Nancy Kelner, Jim King, Alan Kugel, Jim Gartner and Evelyn Maurer (Trustees), Mike Agranoff, Pat Brangs, Connie Crawford, Lori Falco, Elizabeth Lachowicz, Chris Riemer, Pam Robinson, Ed Roffman, Bob Safranek and Mark Schaffer (Other Board Members) and John Redmond and Cody Crawford Chase (Guests). Absent were Carl Croce, Brad Pryor, Bobbie Rosengarten, Jean Scully, Sandie Reilly, Rick Thomas, Ruth Wolfish and Rivka Willick.

Scooter opened the meeting with a formal thank you to Connie Crawford, our hostess with the mostess. He was surprised that this ritualized courtesy hadn’t occurred to him for the past six months, but he intends to make it the first order of business in the future. In support of the Back Office wiki, he also promised that next month the agenda would be distributed as a link, rather than an attachment.

Secretary’s Report

Chris has two corrections this month. The Special Concerts report was mysteriously omitted from the minutes (although clearly there in his notes). Also, Connie’s address was mysteriously listed as Highland Park, instead of Berkeley Heights. The Secretary blames himself.

The minutes were accepted as amended.

Treasurer’s Report

We’re doing OK, in Eddie’s view, as the numbers show. The checking account balance is about $9,700, with $23,300 in the Money Market and another $69,000 in the investment account. The investment account is down about $2,400 for the year, but that’s the way these things go. He’s not concerned, because some committees are doing well and those that aren’t are working on the problems. We have our heads above water, and are up about $430 for the year.

Nancy mentioned that she has a standing advance of $150 for copying expenses, but generally uses her Visa card for such things. She’d be happy to return the cash, and Ed would be happy to accept it.

BUSINESS ITEMS

Swingin’ Tern College Outreach

Connie and the dance committee have done some research into dances that are doing well, and confirmed that the successful ones are those that have attracted a younger dance crowd. She asked son Brian for advice on this, and his view was that you need to connect through clubs. That is, a connection to a pre-existing community is far more effective than an article in the local (or even the college) newspaper.

With that in mind, Connie has enlisted the help of daughter Cody to develop a list of club contact emails for area colleges. She plans to send an introductory note, which will include a link to the recent All Things Considered piece on the resurgence of contra dancing. Jim King liked this idea, but felt the email should be crafted by someone who “speaks the language.” Connie's daughter Cody agreed that it needed to be “totally kind of tricky” and was immediately drafted for the cause. (Applause ensued.) Chris suggested that the message contain an explicit mention of Elixir (featured in the ATC piece) to plant a national imprimatur on The Folk Project’s taste and significance, given that we have them lined up for Minstrel and Swingin' Tern bookings next year.

Bob added that since the message would be coming from the organization, it would need to contain the appropriate opt-out language. There were also some other helpful suggestions, relating to ads in college newsletters, articles in college newsletters, the filtering of clubs according to focus area (Yo-Yos good, Lacrosse maybe not). Chris suggested that a boutique address like cody@folkproject.org might be useful on both sides, and Jim closed out the discussion by asking that we let Cody do as she sees fit.

Waynestock Follow-up

Given the absence of Sandie, Bob reported that the Waynestock event (to which we made a donation and a loan of sound equipment) went “really well.” In fact, the Elks were so impressed with them (and us) that they offered to let us use their place any time. The Waynestock group did not negotiate the loan of our old stage, as had been discussed last month, but did build their own. We owe them some money on that, once they file the paperwork.

ACMA Grant

Pam wondered if anyone has applied for another ACMA grant, given that she retired as Grant Master last year. Apparently no one has.

REPORTS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES

Publicity/Web

Nancy has been working with the New Jersey Division of Tourism and Travel to get us onto their website and into their directory. Both the Minstrel and Swingin’ Tern will be listed as music venues, since there was no category for dance. We’re also going to be listed with the New Jersey Skylands folks, and Lynn Miles is joining the committee as a calendar interface manager (CIM).

Mark went over the current status of the Web renovation project, which he summarized in an email report. Things are now proceeding apace. A lot of work is being done quickly, and he thinks the effort should be considered in two phases.

Phase One is the re-skinning of the legacy site, which has been dormant for about a year. No change in structure, but Liz Pagan has done a “visualization” for a new home page, which John Lamb is rendering in code. Cathy Thomas has taken on the job of bringing the sub-pages in line with the new look, while Chris and Lori have provided general advice and constructive criticism. (Lori is doing some coding, too.) Allan is working on a Content Management System that will let people update their own calendar listings, and Rick is working on the hardware/server issues. We’ll have two machines: one for the legacy site, and one for the site that’s in development. Mark wants to stress that a key goal here is to separate content from structure. He wants us to have a website in which content owners can make changes on their own, without webmaster intervention.

Phase Two is going to involve “an enormous amount” of work, since we have to acknowledge that we’re coming from something that’s a bit of a “Rube Goldberg” creation. We should probably start from scratch on the site of the future. That might involve the adoption of the platform used by the Washington Area Folklore Society (built by a friend of Rick’s) or the further evolution of the WordPress platform that Joe D’Andrea had chosen a year ago. In the meantime, Mark felt strongly that we have to give creative people the freedom to make their own choices. His role in this is Project Management and skills coordination. All honor and glory to the folks who are really doing the work.

Pat asked if the Performer’s List was going to be updated in Phase One, and Mark thought it would probably not be in scope at this time. Alan added that his work on a calendar was only on the “management” of same. He’s not planning to be the content manager, but is trying to build something that will let people manage their own information.

Membership

No report from the absent Rick Thomas, who had sent an email report prior to his departure on vacation. Scooter didn’t have a copy, but he asked everyone to read it when they got home.

Newsletter

No report from the absent Carl Croce, but his email report was submitted earlier.

Minstrel Booking

Michael is shocked, shocked to realize that he’s forgotten his report. From memory, he knows it was a somewhat “lackluster” month, with a profit of a “couple hundred dollars.” He expects a similar situation in August, but thinks September and October will both be strong. Mike also made a special recommendation for Jack Williams on July 16^th.

Minstrel Staffing

Sandie is fighting a sinus infection, and Scooter insisted she stay safely at home. But he was reasonably sure she’d like more volunteers.

Horses Sing

No report given the absence of Sandie, but Ralph’s email report was circulated earlier.

Swingin’ Tern

Connie briefly recapped the Swingin’ Tern Outreach concept for the late arrivals, and reaffirmed the point made in her earlier email: “we need it.” We’re down 5 to 10 people per dance from where we need to be.

Alan wondered if the move to a slightly more northern location might be a contributing factor to reduced attendance, and Connie thought it would be hard to say. That might make them slightly less accessible to public transport, but the Country Song & Dance Society’s CDNY's New York City dances are seeing a decline in attendance as well. It could be the economy. It could be a lot of things.

Special Concerts

The June workshop was “wonderful” in Pam’s view, with 18-19 attendees. Some money is still in flux so she’s not sure of the final profit picture. Otherwise, she has nothing else scheduled this year.

The Facebook page is doing well, with some 280 fans. Pam has been thinking about posting Board Meetings on the page as event announcements, an idea that was mildly controversial. Scooter didn’t think we should post names and addresses on such a famously public website, and Mike felt that people who didn’t bother to read it in the newsletter would be unlikely to respond to a Facebook post. Chris had a different view, believing that while it might not bring any new blood to our door, it probably wouldn’t hurt, either.

Festival

Lori gave a brief summary of the status for Fall 2010, and everything's under control. She quickly transitioned to an introduction to John Redmond, who’s sitting in at this meeting after expressing interest in the job of Festival chair.

He’s a long-standing acquaintance of Mike Agranoff, based in Wallkill, New York, and actually rode his bike down to Mahwah today, to hook up with Mike for the ride to the board meeting. (“We’d have been on time, too, except the service in the restaurant was so slow…”) John has been involved in the folk festival scene for many years, working as Crew Chief, Sound and Staff Coordinator for various venues. He also has his own house concert series, and now that he’s retired, he’s essentially devoting his life to the support of folk music in all its many forms. “He’s a rabid folk fan,” said Mike.

Lori thinks John’s enthusiasm speaks well of him, and while she met him in person for the first time this evening, she has a good feeling about it. The plan is to pull the whole committee together for a mutual meet-and-greet, and see how they feel about each other.

This doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a Spring festival next year, since that really depends on finding a new venue. However, John felt that if we found a place, we could get the performers. In booking his house concerts, he’s realized that times are hard since many big names have reached out to him for a gig. Names like The Rowan Brothers, Magpie, Anne Hills and Vance Gilbert.

Merchandising

No report from the absent Bobbie Rosengarten.

Internal Affairs

No report from the absent Jean Scully, although with newsletter in hand, Evelyn was able to confirm that this month’s evening of music is at Pamela Dabah’s, in Morristown.

Community Affairs

Before she could get a word out, Pat received a round of applause for Wayne Day. Summarizing the items in her email report, she conceded that this turned into a bigger deal than we expected, and thinks it came off pretty well, considering.

She has new performer resource leads for a concert series at the Philadelphia Zoo, but needs to get more information on the details. She will also consult with Pam on leveraging some good pictures from Swingin’ Tern’s Facebook page.

Sound Reinforcement

Bob has been on the road for much of the last month, and with Falcon Ridge on the horizon, he doesn’t expect any developments for the short term.

Fellowship

No report from the present Scooter Ferguson.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15. Next month’s meeting is at Chris Riemer’s, in Morristown.

Respectfully submitted,

Chris Riemer

Secretary