February 2012

The February 2012 Folk Project Board meeting was held on February 7, 2012 at the home of Pam Robinson and Bob Safranek in New Providence following a delicious pot luck supper.

ROLL CALL

Present were Pat Brangs, Lois De Ritter, Nancy Dugan, Jim Gartner, Allan Kugel, Elizabeth Lachowicz, Bob McNally, Eddie Roffman, Bobbie Rosengarten (Trustees), Mike Agranoff, Carl Croce, Scooter Ferguson, Howie Goldman, Lindsey Meyer, Sandie Reilly, Pam Robinson, Scott Ross, Mark Schaffer, Rachel Streich, Leigh Walker (other board members), Connie Crawford, Bob Safranek, Rick Thomas, and Lori Falco (guests). Absent were Joe Graziano, Gloria Friedman, Nancy Kelner, Kevin Redden, and Jean Scully.

Eddie called the meeting to order at 8:07 pm.

ADMINISTRATION

President’s Report

Eddie just received the first check from the Arts Council of the Morris Area but hasn’t yet deposited it. The check is for $2,125 and will be followed by one for $375 for a total of $2,500 for 2012.

One of the ACMA requirements is that ALL of our published materials, releases and announcements should include a credit to ACMA, using these exact words: "Funding has been made possible in part by funds from the Arts Council of the Morris Area through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts."

Ed told all committees to include this wording in all future published materials, releases and announcements.

Secretary’s Report

Corrections to the minutes: George Leszczuk’s last name isn’t Dugan; Mike clarified that the Minstrel’s year-end balance for 2011 excluded monies taken in for non-Minstrel activities; Mark clarified that although Annie and the Hedonists are playing dances at the FP spring festival, they aren’t characterized as a “dance band”.

The minutes were accepted as amended. Bobbie moved, Elizabeth seconded.

Treasurer’s Report

Our checking account balance is $3,658.85 and Money Market balance is $23,569.98. Interested parties can look at the financials and run their own, customized reports, by logging in at QuickBooksOnline. If you don't have a login (or don't remember your password), contact Rachel and she can set you up.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

Festival

Recapping his email report, Mark reported that the festival has “sold out” through pre-registration, a first for the FP, which caused much applause from the Board. The pre-registrations are all for the full weekend, including 40 people who are new to the festival. FP members got first crack at registering, so there was no need to reach out to Jay & Molly’s or Shockenaw Mountain Boys’ fan lists. The actual registration will begin on March 1, through registrar Elizabeth Lachowicz. Registrations will be held to 180, down from 200 as originally planned.

Referring to the size of the festival, Mark said the limiting factor was the concert hall and “a party of insiders at 180 people is a good festival.” This location had the least minuses and “we love the management.” We’ll make money on the adult tickets, as the children’s tickets are a wash, although $350 of the ACMA grant is earmarked for children at Festival. Mike asked how Mark and Robin were finding children and Mark replied that they never had to do serious marketing in that area and that they’ve been working to attract MUUF families. 10 children under age 12 were pre-registered and Big Jeff DeSmedt has been added for children’s workshops.

Mark stated that pre-registration had two purposes: to sell to FP first and as a way to monitor marketing, although it turned out they didn’t need to market because festival sold out. Mike pointed out that the pre-registration itself was good marketing.

180 is the total maximum number of weekend attendees, regardless of where they sleep. The 180 includes 160 attendees and 20 staff. Day passes will only become available if pre-registered people back out. Discussion ensued about how the maximum was determined to be 180. Bob McNally summed it up by saying “Optimizing for minimizing the opportunity for financial disaster.” Mark thanked all the site evaluators and said that the FP will continue to search for an optimal site for future festivals. Both Camp Bernie and Star Lake Camp are being contacted about the October festival.

Several people voiced concerns about GPS discrepancies for Camp Bernie and Mark replied that he and Robin are creating a page of important stuff such as accurate directions to the camp.

Minstrel

Mike recapped his email report and gave kudos to Nancy Kelner’s publicity. She’s “proactive and enthusiastic” and “assembled an entire posse” to divide up the work. The SCAN Concert has almost sold out and although Mike used the Minstrel-Gram’s list to promote it, he says he’ll use it judiciously for non-FP events in future. (FP members were involved with the concert but the FP didn’t sponsor it.) He also noted that the new WiFi system at MUUF is not so good, as the distribution in the building is spotty.

Scooter suggested that the upcoming Phil Ochs movie night be free to the public. Mike said that people put less value on free things. Scooter pointed out that you can see this movie for free, it’s hard to get people to spend $7 two nights in a row, it’s hard to staff two nights in a row, and suggested bringing in a home stereo to avoid the need for sound staff. After much discussion, Mike took a straw poll and the majority voted to make the movie free. Mike accepted and will leave food decisions up to Scooter.

Mike’s been working with new sound recruit Beau Borrero who’s working out very nicely. Beau will open for Buskin & Batteau in March. [The sec’y can’t help herself: If Beau married Robin Batteau, he’d be……haha sorry!]

Post-show revelers have begun visiting Urban Table on the Morristown Green and although we can’t play instruments there yet, Mike says they may have a back room we can use. Pam said there was an average of 8 people per Friday during the past 3 weeks. The food’s not cheap but it’s plentiful and you can split dishes.

Minstrel Staffing

Scooter mourned losing the incomparable Rick as head staff and noted that March 29 is Cathy and Rick’s flight to their new home.

Special Concerts

Referring to his email report , Howie told us about the excellent kick-off meeting with 8 people in attendance. The January 7 Peter Spencer house concert and pot luck at Lindsey Meyer’s house was a success with 30 tickets sold at $15 apiece, netting Peter $450 before merchandise sales. The upcoming Keith Murphy house concert at Mark and Robin Schaffer’s on April 28 will be a “mini-festival” with a workshop, food, concert and Evening of Music. There will be a charge for the lesson, with a concert fee of $15 in advance, or $20 at the door. The concert will end at 9 pm and will be followed by an Evening of Music, which will replace the Roffmans’ monthly party for April.

Swingin’ Tern

Leigh recapped his email report and said that for the three dances since our last Board meeting, one dance competed with a football game and another was visited by snowy weather. During the Volunteer Recognition Night, Joel Remde was roundly roasted for his years of excellent service and he was given a free lifetime pass to the dance. Wags in the room figured that would lead to a loss of about $10 over the next 10 years, since Joel almost always volunteers.

Internal Affairs

Jean was absent, so Eddie read aloud from her email report. Heilbruns are hosting the February Evening of Music and Schaffers will host March, which will honor Cathy and Rick. Eddie: “I feel the center of gravity, the heart of the Folk Project, is moving 3,000 miles west.” Mark quipped, “As the liver of the Folk Project, I’d like to speak….” which speech was drowned in guffaws from the assembled multitude. Mark finally regained the floor and spoke about the Valentine Show, with Amy Livingston and Brian Hudson as MCs.

Newsletter

Carl recognized Liz Pagan as the “greatest editor on earth” and although she wasn’t at the meeting, there were hearty claps all ‘round. Carl recapped his email report and although there was a $97 savings in printing this month due to discounts, Carl was concerned that the total newsletters printed dropped by 29. Rick said that in changing to FileMaker, he may have accidentally changed the amount of the grace period for lapsed memberships but that that can be rectified.

Publicity

Nancy K. was out sick but her email report is here. Pam reported that the FP’s Facebook page has been translated into nine different languages including Pirate (no joke – it’s a FB option).

Membership

Scott reported that roughly equal numbers of members choose to receive newsletters in paper and electronic formats. Of 349 memberships representing 525 individuals, 150 receive electronic newsletters and 202 receive paper newsletters. He gave a big thank you to Carl for taking the time to reformat labels that had printed incorrectly.

He noted that those receiving electronic newsletters don’t get renewal notices, which seems a big oversight. Discussion ensued. Lori suggested using Constant Contact with a “renewal” PayPal button and link to the FP page. Scott suggested sending an email first, then a postcard if no response to the email. Mike suggested putting “Renew” in the subject line of the email. Ed said that we qualify for bulk mail but it isn’t reliable, we should use Constant Contact whenever possible, and that emails for nearly every member are in CC. He also pointed out that using CC can avoid duplication, that is, having multiple lists that include the same people, and that using CC can help our committees mine our membership. In response to the discussion of the different circles of FP members, Lindsey quipped, “I hear a Venn Diagram here.”

Scott didn’t realize he was supposed to submit an email report before the meeting and will do so starting next month.

Community Services

In Joe’s absence, Ed reported that Joe has reorganized the performer list and that he’s currently working on Wayne Day. Mark told us that the Aktion Club (disabled kids working with MUUF teens) has rescheduled their benefit concert to June 9. The concert features FP members and is part of our outreach to teens.

There was no email report from Joe.

Horses

Sandy recapped her email report, giving kudos to Ellen Schwartz for finding several new outlets for HSNOI, beginning with Home Towne TV in Summit. Although the station manager said he’d upload the show to the Jersey Access Group, here’s no way to know how many members actually air the show, but at least it’s available. Scooter said that Horses disappeared from Mount Olive Cablevision about a year ago and no one returns his calls. Sandy replied that the more people who call about access the better. Some municipalities control their local Cablevision programming and override the scheduled programming.

Merchandising

Gloria was absent but her email report is here. She was planning to order new business cards with Minstrel on one side and Swingin’ Tern on the other but Pam replied that we already have cards on hand.

Sound Reinforcement

Kevin was absent and there was no email report. He’s pricing a new power amp because the current one has a hum

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 pm and was followed by The Good of the Order. Next month’s meeting is on March 6 at the home of Gloria Friedman, 23 Brandywyne Drive, Florham Park, NJ.

Respectfully submitted,

Lindsey Meyer

Recording Secretary