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Well, we had a good month at Minstrel in May, but frankly I was hoping for better. We averaged 101 paid for our 3 shows, compared with 76.3 last May.
Over the past 12 months we've averaged 86.3 for regular shows, and 75.9 if we count in the Open Stages. But considering the lineup we had this past month, I was expecting about 20-25% better. (This is Mr. Glass-Half-Empty speaking here.) At the time of this writing, the May Minstrel figures have not been posted onto Quickbooks, so I have no financial information to report. I expect to be able to report that at the meeting.
There are big doings in the works for the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship. On May 8, I attended a meeting of their "Sacred Space Task Force", which is tasked to investigate the future of their facilities. They are looking at significant repair costs to the current building, plus the need to expand their facilities.
They are looking at three possible scenarios:
1. To stay in the current building, renovate and expand it.
2. To buy unoccupied land and build a new facility.
3. To buy an existing builiding and retrofit it to suit their needs
There are three teams, each investigating one of these possibilities, to report to their Board in June. The Board will make recommendations to the general congregation in September if it can, or may ask for more facts of the three teams. As an example of the scope of what they are looking to do, this would be the general plan if they decided to stay in the current facility
* They would build a new meeting room behind the current room with a 400 seat capacity.
* The current meeting room would be converted into a "Fellowship Hall" using the current footprint.
* They would build a new building next to the kitchen to house administrative and teaching facilities.
* Various rooms within Thorne Oaks (the mansion) would be repurposed, and an elevator installed to come up to ADA requirements.
* General improvements would be made to the utilities, including electrical wiring and plumbing, and a new roof. (Terra cotta tiles to conform to the building's Historic Landmark status.) If they were to relocate, it would be within a 4 - 5 mile radius.
The budget they are looking at would be in the low to mid 6-figure range, considerably higher than my estimate of last month's report. They have not yet started on a capital-raising plan. So obviously, start of any actual work is several years down the road.
I do not plan on keeping close tabs on their plans at this point, but I asked them to keep me informed on progress, particularly on anything that might impact our schedule. They pointed out that they are in exactly the same boat as us, as they also need to have the same facilities available for their purposes as we do for ours. They reiterated that they intended to keep facilities available to all ongoing users of the building. I passed on to them the sense of the board expressed at the last meeting that we would be happy to hold a fundraising event or two. I also told them I would ask the Board if we would be willing to put out some capital expenditures to incorporate some built-in sound equipment and improved lighting into the new space.
The new web site wherein I post the bookings directly on the page, rather than giving them to the Webmaster to post is working well. I am keeping current with all bookings, posting the acts, websites, and descriptions as soon as they are confirmed. That allows patrons and performers to see the full Minstrel schedule up to date. The patrons can make long range plans in their calendars to see their favorites. And the performers can see the holes in our schedule, allowing them to target specific dates when calling for gigs. It also means that Newsletter and Publicity do not have to wait for me to mail them a schedule in order for them to prepare the Flier and Press Releases. They can take the information directly off the web.
New bookings since last month:
* August 5: Mara Levine and Caroline Cutroneo as a feature act, with Open Stage regular Bill Buttner opening.
* September 2: A farewell concert by Dugan's Hooligans. No opening act, but rather solo sets from Connor and Sharlys.
* September 23: Ilusha Tsinadze will be the headliner with his band Deda Ena, which did a killer debut concert at Joe's Pub in NYC. Music from the Republic of Georgia.
* December 16: The Accidentals, an 8-voice contemporary acapella group.
* January 20: Vance Gilbert
* January 27: David Massengill
* February 17: Scottish singer Archie Fisher
* February date T.B.D: Al Parrish, the wild bass player from Tanglefoot as a solo act. (Yes, he also plays guitar.) Plans are still in the works for an "Old Timers' Night" with acts from the early days of the Folk Project on August 26. Scooter is arranging that, and I will leave it to him to give details.
Mike Agranoff
Program Chairman
The Minstrel
Morristown, NJ USA
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