March 2012

Secretary’s note: Due to several Board members arriving late owing to problems with directions, the meeting didn’t follow the original agenda.

These minutes have been rearranged in a way that made sense to the secretary.

MOTIONS THIS MONTH

The Board agreed to bestow honorary membership upon Rick and Cathy Thomas.

OPENING CEREMONIES

The March 2012 Folk Project Board meeting was called to order at 8:14 pm on March 6, 2012 at the home of Gloria Friedman in Florham Park. Joe Graziano took minutes until the secretary arrived at 8:20. A quorum was reached at 8:40 pm.

ROLL CALL

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

ADMINISTRATION

Secretary’s Report

As there were no corrections to the minutes, the February minutes were accepted as written.

Treasurer’s Report

Rachel reported that we have $5,620.97 in the checking account, and $23,570.91 in the Money market account. All is well. The Treasurer’s report was approved. 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.

HONORARY MEMBERSHIP BESTOWED

In honor of Rick and Cathy Thomas’ many years of devoted service to the Folk Project, Jim Gartner moved to make them honorary members. Although everyone tried to second the motion, Bobbie won out. “Discussion” followed, with many members thanking Rick for his and Cathy’s invaluable service and wishing them both well in their move. The vote was predictably unanimous. It was noted that Rick and Cathy join Pete Seeger, Laurie Riley, and the Library of Congress in this exalted position of honorary members of the Folk Project. A celebratory cake was consumed at the end of the meeting.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

Minstrel Booking

Recapping his email report, Mike reported that February was moderately slow, with 75.7 average paid attendance. Over the past year, the average paid attendance was 93.5 for regular shows, not including Open Stages or the very successful Valentine’s Day Extravaganza, which is an Internal Affairs event and not part of the Minstrel’s figures.

In analyzing the Quickbooks figures for 2011, Mike noted that although the $3,822 “profit” appears healthy, there are reasons for that and we shouldn’t get too complacent. $2,000 of that figure was the result of a 6% higher attendance in 2011 and $1,355 of it came from Ed and Robin Roffman’s one-time donation to the Minstrel for their anniversary concert/dance weekend last March.

Mike decided to add a free-will creel donation to the Phil Ochs movie night although there will be no admission charge, as per the Board decision in February. As per the February Board decision to make the upcoming Phil Ochs movie night a free event, Mike will forgo the donation creel.

Mike requested that Board members make every effort to get their reports in during the week before the Board meeting so we have enough time to read them all.

Minstrel Staffing

In Scooter’s absence, President Eddie reported that we need more Head Staff and we also need more Sound assistance. Pam commented that not many people are going out to the restaurant after the show. If the attendance stays low, we should revisit whether or not it’s worth it.

Festival

Referring to his email report, Mark said that registration is being handled in waves based on pre-registration choices. Those who asked for private rooms are in the first round, followed by the rest of the pre-registration list, followed by the waiting list. Mark and Robin are sending emails to the pre-registrants so they can register and pay. So far, emails have only been sent to those requesting private rooms. There’s a tentative workshop schedule which will be available soon and Mark noted good content being generated from members volunteering for workshop slots. Gloria suggested assigning buddies for first-timers and although there were mixed comments from the crowd about how well this may have worked in the past, Mark said he’d check with those who’d done it before to see if it bore repeating. He and Robin are very happy with the number of families with children and teens who have pre-registered – 14 children and 22 teens – and they hope they all follow through and register.

In the Cool Development Department, Mark said the parking crew will greet new arrivals and hand them envelopes with their check-in info, thereby allowing them to go directly to their housing if they choose, rather than park, register, and then drive to housing. This will not only speed up the arrival process but will cut the number of volunteers needed to check people in. Since there’s parking near the pot-luck site, it will be easy for people to make choices based on their own needs. The Fall date is set for October 5-7 and Camp Bernie is penciled in.

Special Concerts

As Howie was absent, Pam summarized his email report. The upcoming show is a workshop and house concert at the Schaffers’ with Keith Murphy on April 28, followed by an Evening of Music. Tickets are being sold separately for the workshop and concert. The Evening of Music is free, as usual.

Swingin’ Tern

Leigh recapped his email report and told us he has a full slate of volunteers lined up for the next two dances. The February 18 dance lost $5 due to competition from The Flurry dance but the March 3 dance brought in $205. Between these two dances, a total of 15 free passes were turned in. The committee still hopes to hold an event on a local college campus and although there is widespread interest among volunteers, dancers, and FP Board, there is a need to cultivate local student contacts.

Internal Affairs

In Jean’s absence, Eddie summarized her email report. The Valentine’s Day show was a success as was February’s Evening of Music at Heilburns’. The upcoming March EoM at Schaffers’ will be hosted by and in honor of Cathy and Rick Thomas before they leave for Washington state. The rest of the EoM year is booked except for August, November, and December.

Newsletter

Carl recapped his email report. He explained that anyone using Staples for FP business can help offset the newsletter printing costs as well as help the NL committee earn additional discounts by signing up for Staples Rewards. His goal is to reach a total of $5,000 purchases for the year which would qualify us for further discounts. Carl passed out a Staples Rewards information sheet with the customer name, customer number, and the tax ID number to be used when making purchases. Eddie clarified that if Board members make personal purchases, they should just use the customer number, not the tax ID number.

Lindsey brought up a cross-committee issue that bleeds across Newsletter, Publicity, and Membership. She said she’d heard from several members who don’t have access to the e-newsletter because they don’t receive any notification or link to it. Scott Ross acknowledged receiving several emails from people who complained about not receiving e-newsletter notices. Rick told us about the move from the old e-zine to Constant Contact and said that Scott and John Lamb should work out a way to keep people from falling through the cracks. John has already fixed problems with the e-newsletter and concern was expressed that John shouldn’t be expected to take on the entire responsibility for the fix. No action was taken. See John’s Publicity Report for a related bit.

Publicity

Nancy recapped her committee’s email report. Her continuing shower of publicity keeps the FP in the news and even led to a planned Buskin and Batteau interview by the Daily Record. Karen Justin has just joined the committee and Nancy is looking for more volunteers to replace outgoing hands. She cited Debbie Debby Edelman for her many years of service and also thanked Carolyn Messina, Will Miles, and Cheryl Cronk for all their help.

Pam pointed out the age ranges of Facebook “likes”, which is about what we expected: out of a total of 525 individuals, the largest wedges are the 55+ group at 36% followed by the 45-54 group at 34%. This sparked a discussion about how to bring in younger audiences, which ranged from the average age of open stage performers to the value of outreach to local music teachers. Eddie suggested we form an ad hoc committee to address this but no action was taken.

John Lamb wrote that following some reported problems, he’s investigating using Constant Contact for paying annual membership dues that would also automate signups for the email version of the newsletter.

Membership

Referring to his email report statistics, Scott told us that from October to the present, the organization averaged 350 memberships representing 529 individuals. January 2011 was a low point, while September 2011 was a high point. Lori pointed out that the dip in January might have been due to our switch to e-newsletters and the fact that renewal notices don’t go out to members who received e-newsletters. There’s also no automatic email shut-off if folks don’t renew. Mark said that Constant Contact can address these problems as well as creating spreadsheets and handling registrations. Scott is working on addressing e-renewals. Scott will be supplying data to help address e-renewals.

Community Services

Joe recapped his email report, saying he is looking for FP performers for Wayne Day on June 3 and that it’s a paying gig. In answer to a question by Mike, Joe said he’s checking potential FP performers against the membership list to confirm that they’re active members.

Mark reminded us of the June 9 Aktion Club concert at MUUF, featuring Bill Butner and Roia Rafieyan as well as a reformation of Music Town Big Boogie Band which is appearing as a country band for this concert. The event is open to the public.

HSNOI

Eddie summarized the email report, as Sandie was home caring for Shannon, who had major surgery last week. We all wish Shannon a smooth recovery!

Merchandise

Gloria checked out “Embroid Me” as a possible source for canvas bags and passed around a sample bag printed with the FP logo. Following the positive reaction, there was discussion about whether there should be FP or SnT logos on the bags. Gloria said that the purpose of the bags is to advertise to the public, not to FP members and SnT dancers. She suggested that every Board member carry a supply of FP/SnT cards to hand out whenever the opportunity arises. Pam has the “mother lode” of cards at her house and will bring them to future meetings.

There was no email report.

Sound

Kevin was busy this month, according to his email report. He replaced a defective cable (still under warranty) and is replacing the power amp in the mixer console, which will eliminate acoustic noise for those seated near the mixer. The mic stands are showing wear, too, and he’s asking everyone not to “force” them.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 pm. Next month’s meeting is at Schaffers’ in Rockaway.

Respectfully submitted,

Lindsey Meyer

Recording Secretary