June 2011

MOTIONS THIS MONTH

The board agreed to hold one or more benefit events to support the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship's facility improvement fund.

OPENING CEREMONIES

The meeting was called to order at 8:05 PM on June 7th, at the home of Rick and Cathy Thomas. And it was Cathy’s birthday, too! Strawberry shortcake! Yum!

Roll Call

Present were Lois DeRitter, Jim Gartner, Allan Kugel, Carolyn Messina, Bobbie Rosengarten and Ed Roffman (Trustees), Mike Agranoff, Carl Croce, Scooter Ferguson, Elizabeth Lachowicz, Sandie Reilly, Chris Riemer, Pam Robinson, Bob Safranek, Robin Schaffer, Rachel Streich, Rick Thomas and Jean Scully (Other Board Members), and Jim King, Joanne Cronin, Evelyn Maurer and Mark Schaffer (Guests). Absent were Pat Brangs, Connie Crawford, Gloria Friedman, Nancy Kelner, Brad Pryor and Ruth Wolfish.

Secretary's Report

Nancy Kelner requested two minor clarifications to the May minutes (which are shown by the revision marks in the document of record). The minutes were approved as amended, as were the minutes of March and April, since we finally had a quorum.

Pam asked why some of the attachments from board meetings are included at the wiki, while others are not. The only ones not included are the Minstrel’s attendance reports (at Mike’s request), since his format includes information about what we paid individual performers. Pam thought it should be, if only because it would help our new grant writers. Rick Thomas seconded that opinion. Mike agreed to consider reworking his reports to produce something that could be attached to the wiki pages.

Treasurer’s Report

Everything is under control, and as of May 31 our checking account balance was about $8,000 with $23,300 in the Money Market fund. (Remember that interested parties can look at the financials and run their own, customized reports, by logging in at QuickBooks Online. If you don't have a login (or don't remember your password), contact Rachel and she can set you up.)

KEY DATES

The key date for June is to check on the status of New Jersey State Charitable Organization filing regulations, and if we are no longer exempt, file that paperwork by June 30th. It is the responsibility of the Treasurer. (Secretary’s Note: This item was missed in the hustle and bustle of the meeting, but I have added it to the record after noticing the date on the Folk Project calendar.)

BUSINESS ITEMS

Changing of the Guard

As the first item of business tonight, Eddie reported that three current Trustees have submitted their resignations. They are Carolyn Messina, Ruth Wolfish and Brad Pryor. The board officially accepted these resignations, and Eddie thanked them all for their past contributions. He also let us know that Scooter Ferguson has been aggressively scouting around for replacements.

With much discussion, but relatively little controversy, the board welcomed new trustees Nancy Dugan (replacing Ruth Wolfish) and Bob McNally (replacing Carolyn Messina). Scooter also has a candidate in mind to replace Brad, but given that she was not able to attend this evening, her election was deferred until next month. Eddie particularly thanked Carolyn, for making a special effort to attend this evening so we’d be sure of the quorum needed to legitimize these changes. He had a fallback in the form of a signed proxy from Gloria Friedman, but it was nice to have a real quorum.

However, there was a surprising bit of controversy about the terms of the current trustees, caused by some semantic misalignments and our recent practice of swapping terms in the interest of organizational unity. We can’t calculate the end of a Trustee’s term based only on when it began, but the Secretary will dig into the records and attempt to sort this out by the next meeting.

Grant Writing

Eddie reminded us that in recent years, we’ve applied for grants from the Arts Council of the Morris Area (ACMA). We didn’t apply last year, mostly because no one wanted to do the work. However, in 2011, we have two volunteers who are working enthusiastically on a grant for 2012. The paperwork is due next month, and he’s optimistic that it will bring us some additional income.

He also thinks ACMA would like to see a grant going to something new, rather than just to support ongoing operations, so he’s putting his family outreach idea on the grant-writing table. Chris was supportive, if skeptical, believing that having the money to spend is no substitute for a champion. Pam agreed, but added that we’re a “good grantee” for ACMA, with a long history and an impressive reach. They really want to give us the money.

Electronic Communications for the Folk Project

As chair of this somewhat informal working group (which also includes John Lamb, Lori Falco and Mark Schaffer), Robin reported that they've held an initial meeting and had an interesting and far-reaching conversation. However, their thoughts have not yet coalesced to the point of a formal report or recommendation. Maybe next month.

Rick Thomas offered to join this merry band as a technical advisor, if they’d like his help. All are welcome…

REPORTS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES

Festival

Carl began his Festival report by reading from his recent email. He’s developed a budget with the help of Ed Roffman, Lori Falco and Barb Moo. The feature performers have all been booked, and he’s planning a “publicity blitz” to increase attendance. He thinks we’re going to have a great Festival, and is looking forward to it. A fair amount of discussion ensued.

In answering a question from Pam, Carl confirmed that what he described as the “worst-case scenario” budget (based on current costs and attendance data from Fall 2010) predicted a loss of about $2,200. Answering a follow-up question from Jim King, he conceded that this would be the loss after a double-dip allocation from the Agranoff endowment (double because there was no Spring Festival this year). That means the actual cash shortfall would be about $4,600. There were some differences of opinion as to how the endowment should be counted from a budgeting perspective.

Mark Schaffer has joined the Festival Committee as a kind of marketing consultant, and he stressed that they’re definitely not planning to lose money. In fact, they’re implementing a “unique” marketing campaign. Between now and October, they’re going to conduct a direct, flyer-supported outreach by visiting Open Stages across North Jersey. They’re going to pitch our Festival to these nascent performers -- singers, songwriters, etc. -- as more than entertainment. If you consider it an educational weekend of concerts and workshops, it’s very reasonably priced. (“By Sunday night, you’ll have learned a lot,” said Mark.) He believes we’ll pull in many more people, new people, with this approach. It’s these “like-minded folks” who were the core of the original Folk Project, and the Festival can be our vehicle for connecting to them. (Chris added that there was probably a networking hook to that pitch, too: “You don’t just get to learn from nationally-known performers, you get to break bread with them too.”)

In closing, Mark admitted this was a bit of a gamble, but felt it was a good gamble. Given that we’re an organization with a $100,000 war chest (give or take), it’s a gamble we can certainly afford. Eddie agreed, stressing that as a group, we need to be willing to take risks and try new things. Lois DeRitter applauded new ideas in principle, but was skeptical about the true size of this Open Stage community. Allan also liked the idea, but disagreed with Carl’s contention that this Fall’s lineup is inherently better than what we had last year. Jean spoke passionately about the importance of the Festival as a core event for The Folk Project community. “It’s what we do,” she said, and we need to be sure it doesn’t go away. Elizabeth shared that opinion.

There were other miscellaneous questions and comments. Bob asked about the break-even point, but neither Eddie nor Carl could give a simple answer, given the complex mix of attendee categories. Carolyn suggested that post cards would be better than flyers for the Open Stage campaign and offered to help design them. Jim King expressed concern about the timeline, since we’ve done nothing so far in the way of publicity. Nothing in the June newsletter and nothing on the Web site.

Finally, though, Jim offered a personal opinion. He acknowledged some resistance in the room, and some discomfort about the budget. But he also felt we should accept that this is what’s going to happen, and not waste time picking over the details tonight. That will have to wait until the Festival is over.

Newsletter

Carl summarized the information in his email report, and reminded the board that the deadline for the August newsletter is being moved up to July 7, since Liz will be out of the country.

Minstrel Booking

Mike didn’t have hard copy of his usual email report, but he did an excellent job recapping it from memory. He expanded a bit on the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship's facility improvement work, which might lead to some extensive renovations or even its relocation. He’s asked to be kept in the loop from a physical plant perspective, since we might like to consult on anything that affects the lighting or acoustics in the performance space. Bob Safranek would like to be kept advised of such changes as well.

Mike also moved that The Folk Project sponsor one or more benefit concerts in the months ahead, donating the money raised to the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship's facility improvement fund. This motion was passed unanimously, without discussion.

Minstrel Staffing

Scooter reported that things are “just peachy” with Minstrel staffing and felt he and Mike were working very well together. The planned Old Timer’s Night on August 26th is coming along nicely. Jim King will serve as MC, and the performers will include Frosty Morning, Frank & Hank, Jim Gartner and others.

Swingin’ Tern

No report from the absent Connie Crawford, but one was submitted earlier via email.

Special Concerts

Pam announced that she intends to step down at the end of year, so the upcoming Aztec Two Step show will be her last concert. Other than that, she referred us to her email report. Something went astray with the merchandise sales for the Za Zu Zaz concert, unfortunately, and The Folk Project came up $52 short at the end of the night. Oh well...

A round of applause followed, not for Pam’s departure but for the outstanding job she’s done as SpecCon chair.

Horses Sing None of It

Sandy recapped the information in Ralph Litwin’s email report, noting that she directed the four most recent shows, with her son Matt on sound. They make a good team.

Community Services

No report from the absent Pat Brangs, but one was submitted earlier via email.

Membership

Rick briefly recapped the information in his email report.

Publicity

No report from the absent Nancy Kelner, but one was submitted earlier via email.

Mike added that he’s discovered another benefit to the Web site’s content management system. Since he now uploads performer information as soon as he makes a booking, often months in advance, that information is also available to Publicity much earlier than it used to be. Rick credited Cathy Thomas and Allan Kugel for the development of this system, so good on them! Allan acknowledged the complementscompliments, but cautioned that they’re still working out a few bugs, from both a technical and process perspective.

Merchandising

Things are going well, as described in Robin's email report. We've just about run through the latest batch of stuff, and she expects to have something new for the Birthday Party. Unfortunately, the original art for the Mandala T-Shirt has been lost, but with the loan of a shirt from Jim King, she thinks it can be recreated. Scooter suggested that maybe we should update it, by taking a new photograph of a new selection of Folk Project instruments.

Internal Affairs

Last month, the evening of music was at Nancy Haslam’s, and this month it will be at the home of Mark and Robin Schaffer. Jean is booked for the rest of the year, except for November and December. Also, she feels that EOM attendees are not bringing as much food as they should, and she’d like to spread the word that this should be part of the experience.

Sound Reinforcement

“Hi,” from Bob Safranek.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 9:44. Next month’s meeting is July 5th, at the home of President Eddie Roffman, in Randolph.

Respectfully submitted,

Chris Riemer

Recording Secretary

POSTSCRIPT

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday, dear Cathy

Happy birthday to you