Embedded Files
We had a good solid January at the Minstrel. We averaged 101 paid for regular concerts, and 80.3 factoring in the Open Stage. Even more notable, the regular concert attendance for the past 12 months of 94.5 is 10 above that of the previous 12 months. We were $483 in the black for January, and a healthy $3791 positive over the past 12 months.
The remarkable publicity effort by Nancy Kelner and her committee appear to be bearing fruit. I'm getting a small but steady input of calls and emails from people who've newly found out about the Minstrel from various sources. We are planning a 2-for-1 ticket promotion through Jersey Arts for 3 months to see how effective that might be in attracting newcomers. We will be doing that for shows not predicted to have particularly high attendance, starting with Rich Deans on February 24.
Our good will quotient with the Fellowship has received an enormous boost after their wildly successful S.C.A.N Concert which the Project helped with. Larry Flanigan ran sound for the concert, and I had secured Frank Vignola as their featured act at the last minute. As a result, they sold around 200 tickets, almost capacity, and about 40% better than last year. We also used the Minstrel-Gram to announce that concert to our regular mailing list. It is the first time we have used that for a non-Folk Project event, and I was a little concerned about that expansion of the scope of the Minstrel Gram beyond what we promised its recipients. I asked if anyone had any problems with that extra mailing. Of the 1300 recipients, 10 replied, all supporting the use of the list. I will continue to promote outside events very judiciously as I see fit. We had been planning with the Festival Committee to send one out promoting the Festival. But the their promotion has already been so successful that they deemed it unnecessary.
We have obtained permission to use the building's WiFi to distribute the Tally Sheet results directly from the Minstrel rather than having to take the data home and send it from the Head Staff's personal computer. However, the weak signal causes difficulties with that procedure, and we have not yet adapted that as standard procedure.
I've done a lot of booking this month.
· March 16: Beau Borrero And His Mom opening for Buskin & Batteau. (Beau is a brand new FP member and volunteer who has dropped into our laps out of the blue. He saw a folk Project bumper sticker and googled us. Attended the John Forster concert on Jan 6 and was bowled over by the experience. Volunteered to assist with Sound at the Open Stage the following week. Proved to be an excellent sound man, and an excellent performer as well. Has "drunk the Kool-Ade" as they say. Welcome Beau!)
· March 23: Spuyten Duyvil, an 8-piece band we caught at NERFA. Deuces Child opening for them
· April 6: Mark D. Conklin, Folk-rock songwriter who opened for the Kennedys last April. Also a FP Member and husband to ex-Trustee, Ellen Schwartz.
· April 20: A split bill with Craig Bickhardt and Don Henry
· July 6: Naomi Sunshine & Grover Kemble opening for Jack Williams (Naomi is an 87 year old singer who sang backup for people like Frank Sinatra and Mel Torme. She and Grover showed up at the December Open Stage and charmed the pants of everyone. She's still got the chops, and she's a pistol! This'll be a wonderful show.)
· July 20: A split bill with Mike Agranoff and Gathering Time
· November 16: Small Potatoes
Highlights in February: The Valentines Show
Mike Agranoff
Program Chairman
The Minstrel
Morristown, NJ USA
Page updated
Report abuse