January 2013
BOARD MEETING
January 8, 2013
The January meeting of the Folk Project Board was called to order at the home of Gloria Friedman in Florham Park.
Present were: Lindsey Meyer, Lois DeRitter, Joanne Cronin, Barrett Wilson, Jim Gartner, Grover Kemble (trustees), Gloria Friedman, Mike Agranoff, Rachel Streich, Nancy Kelner, Elizabeth Lachowicz, Bill Henderson, Pam Robinson, Pat Brangs, Scooter Ferguson, Eddie Roffman, Mark Schaffer, Jean Scully, Mike DelVecchio, Leigh Walker (other Board members), Robin Roffman, Christine DeLeon (Guests). Absent were Bob McNally, Robin Schaffer, Joe Graziano, Carl Croce, Sandie Reilly, Lori Falco, Allan Kugel, and Bobbie Rosengarten.
ADMINISTRATION:
The Minutes of the December meeting prepared by outgoing Secretary Lindsey Meyer, were accepted.
Treasurer’s Report: Outgoing Treasurer Rachel Streich reported that FP finances were sound as of 12/31/12.
NEW BUSINESS:
The following schedule was approved for upcoming Board meetings:
2/5/13 at Grover Kemble’s home (Morris Plains)
3/5/13 at Pam and Bob’s (New Providence)
4/2/13 at Nancy and Russ Kelner’s (Cranford)
5/7/13 at Lindsey Meyer’s
6/4/13 at Mark and Robin Schaffer’s (Rockaway)
7/2/13 at Eddie and Robin Roffman’s (Randolph)
8/6/13 at Joe Graziano's
Meeting locations for September through December 2013 to be determined.
JAM Nominations: Mike Agranoff was asked to be on the nominating committee for the Jersey Acoustic Music Awards, to nominate performers and/or groups that perform or promote acoustic music. He nominated the Folk Project for an award, along with nominating Grover Kemble, Christine DeLeon, Jean Rohe, and several other performers. Voting will be at the end of this month, Mike will let us know the results.
Good of the Order Recorder: Eddie Roffman is stepping down as official recorder of the Good Of The Order. Barrett Wilson volunteered to take on the job, and was confirmed by unanimous vote.
Job Descriptions: President Elizabeth pointed out that having written job descriptions for officers, committee chairs and trustees would make it a lot easier for new people to take on these jobs. Job descriptions exist on the FP Wiki site for officers positions, but not for committee chairs or trustees. Elizabeth suggests creating such job descriptions. She will send around an email to the Board with a link, so that we can look at the existing ones and begin thinking about creating job descriptions for Board positions that don’t have one yet.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Minstrel Booking: committee report
We seem to be off to a fine start in 2013 with 160+ paid for the Kennedys show last Friday, and excellent prospects for the RUNA Agranoff Imperative show on the 25th barring blizzards, earthquakes, the re-emergence of Dan Quale into politics, or other disasters.
Our admission price has gone up to $8.00 as of this month. There appears to have been sufficient advance notice of this so that there have been no riots at the admissions desk from outraged patrons.
Average attendance for 2012 regular shows was 87.0 compared to 91.2 for 2011, but we are off to a good start for 2013 with 160+ paid admissions for The Kennedys on 1/4/13. Admission price has gone up to $8 as of this month. On May 10, Ken and Pat Rolston will be opening for The Stray Birds; on Sept 6, Frank Vignola will be returning to the Minstrel.
Grover asked about Open Stage: does it attract many young people? Do they join the Folk Project as a result of participating in Open Stage? A discussion followed regarding audience etiquette at Open Stages – do performers stay after they play their sets to listen to others, and how can we encourage them to do so? We do make an effort to invite Open Stage performers to come to the following night’s Evening of Music, but it seems that for a lot of younger performers, the idea of sitting around playing music with other people as a social activity (as opposed to a “performance”) is a foreign concept. What can we do to help change this?
Minstrel Staffing:
Jean Scully reported: “We’re getting a few new people every month.”
Festival: committee report
Registration will open 2/1/13; there will be no pre-registration. The lineup for Spring Festival so far includes Brother Sun, Cliff Eberhardt, Mike & Ruthy, Jacob Johnson, Ian Hicks, and more to be announced.
Mark also said that he and Robin are looking to boost the quality of the workshops being offered, and that they have a few more performers to hire.
Web and brochures are in the works.
Special Concerts: committee report
There were approximately 170 attendees for the recent Trout Fishing in America concert.
On 12/30/2012, outgoing committee chair Howard Goldman wrote regarding the Trout Fishing in America concert:
Thank you all for all of the great work on Friday and the months leading up to the concert. It was a great night! It was amazing to me to run an event like this and have no worries prior to and during the show – and that is because of all of you. It looks like we came out slightly in the black. I believe we saw a lot of new faces which was great for us.
Thanks again for all of the great work!
Incoming Special Concerts chair Scooter Ferguson added: Not much to add to Howie's Trout Fishing report.
Pam, Barb Moo and Bill Dodds are officially on the committee. (I sort of expect Pam to come complete with the Bob accessory but I haven't actually spoken to him yet.) I have plenty of ideas but nothing officially in-progress.
Swingin’ Tern: committee report
Leigh reports there were 3 successful dances since the last Board meeting – 12/15, 12/31 and 1/5/13. We've Cash flow was positive by $678 after all expenses.
The 1/5/13 dance was the anniversary dance, when the committee recognized their team of volunteers. Connie Crawford sponsored this dance by paying for the band to commemorate her 10th anniversary of dancing. As a coincidence, the Committee had decided to surprise former ST committee chair Connie with a certficate of appreciation and a life time pass.
Leigh also added: the Techno contra dance on November 17 lost money because they only charged regular admission even though there were additional expenses for glow garb which was handed out free to dancers, and a higher than usual band fee. They still have glow garb left over, and Leigh says, “next time we will charge more.”
Publicity/Web: committee report
Webmaster Report (John Lamb)
In addition to all the normal activities for Minstrel, HSNOI, Special Concerts, and Swingin' Tern, the site was updated to reflect the changes in board membership and committee chairs for 2013. This includes updates to the Administration page and changes to where email addressed to position-specific addresses (e.g. president@folkproject.org and sound@folkproject.org) gets forwarded. We also spent some effort in updating the Festival portion of the site in preparation for the spring festival. Many of these updates already appear on the site and the rest should be going live within the next several days. During December, our web host (DreamHost) moved our server from a machine in Los Angeles to one in Ashton, Virginia. There was minimal disruption and no changes required to the site. As always, particular thanks to Lori Falco and Allan Kugel for their contributions to the design and operation of the site. Please address any questions, comments or suggestions to webmaster@folkproject.org.
FaceBook Report (Pam Robinson)
The Folk Project FaceBook page is rolling along. Anyone willing to help maintain the page should contact Pam at vicepresident@FolkProject.org
Publicity Chairman Report (Nancy Kelner)
Since my last report in November, we have had publicity in The Collection, Vicinity Magazine, Cranford Chronicle, Daily Record (two Minstrel articles by Bill Nutt), NJ Monthly (two Minstrel concerts listed in Dec. issue, one Swingin’ Tern dance in Jan. issue), Suburban News, Morris County Tourism Bureau website (two e-blasts listed the special concert; the e-blasts go to more than 5000 people), Bucks County Folk Song society newsletter and Morristown Green website.
I am almost finished sending out press passes for 2013.
Leigh Walker let me know about a Star Ledger list of weekend events for early January that mentioned the Jan. 5th dance. Link is: http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2013/01/nj_events_jan_5_jan_6.html
Found an article about Swingin’ Tern in the Daily Record on line by Karen Mancinelli, a part-time reporter I have not worked with. Here is the link: www.dailyrecord.com/article/20130107/NJENT/301070032/DANCING-EAST-HANOVER
John Lamb requests that Evening of Music and Board meeting dates be posted to the FP website.
Community Services:
Joe Graziano (absent). Nothing to report.
Newsletter: committee report
200 hundred Newsletters were mailed for January 2013. Costs were as follows:
Printing Costs for January Newsletter were $292.00 (400 copies)
Postage was 95.00
Total for January Newsletter $387.00
We tried using a printer other than Staples for a couple of months, thinking a printer might do a better job.
This was not the case, and the hours are less convenient, so I will be going back to Staples next month.
Membership: committee report
Eddie reported: I got together with Scott Ross last week, we transferred the FP membership files onto my computer, and he showed me how he has used the Filemaker system that he received from Rick. I am getting used to the system. It's a good system and I'm getting to know it. I've updated several records, entered memberships, and produced reports. There are some anomalies and discrepancies between our membership database and some of our committee data; over the next few months I plan to address this. I also plan to address membership and community development.
Eddie added that he spoke to Lori Falco and John Lamb and that he can begin mailing notifications re: the e-newsletter. He’s working with Lori to create a unified database in Constant Contact, to include Minstrel, Swingin’ Tern, etc – possibly having a database server in “the cloud”.
HSNOI: committee report.
HSNOI taped 2 shows in December – The Whiskey Spitters (blues, rags, and jugband music, and the Four O’Clock Flowers, a duo performing country blues, gospel-blues, old-time, & jazz classics as well as original compositions.
Merchandising:
Gloria Friedman reported: “nothing to report”
Internal Affairs:
Jean Scully reported: Several performer slots are still available for those wishing to perform in the Valentine’s Day Show. Following the Valentines Day show there will be an after-party with sandwiches and socializing – or as Joanne Cronin put it “Valentines Show and schmoosic party!” The January second Saturday Evening of Music will be at Margaret Crowl’s home in East Hanover, while the fourth Saturday EOM will be at Eddie and Robin Roffman’s home in Randolph, as usual. Jean is still looking for hosts for several Evenings of Music for 2013.
Sound Reinforcement: committee report
The sound reinforcement committee in 2013 thus far includes:
Mike Agranoff
Greg More
Larry Flannigan
Goal summary for 2013:
To modestly upgrade the Folk Project sound systems (Minstrel, Festival, Swing ‘n Tern).
To maintain and evaluate the equipment in the Folk Project collection.
To recruite and train additional sound techs.
To arrange workshops to enlighten both performers and listeners on the use of sound reinforcement.
To work with MUUF on sound and acoustic improvements to The Minstrel’s stage.
To work with the Festival committee on its sound needs.
To work with the Board and Budget committees on funding issues relating to sound needs.
News and dates of the workshops will be announced when ready. Some newer and upgraded equipment is already in the works, some of which will be detailed once budgetary considerations are known.
The Sanctuary Concerts is upgrading its sound system. Its retired Mix-Wizard console has more features than the current Minstrel Mix-Wizard system. The Sanctuary will give that console to The Folk Project, allowing the current Minstrel board to be a spare for either series should it be needed.
The Unitarian Fellowship has invited The Folk Project to participate in discussions about improvements it wishes to make to its Sanctuary where The Minstrel holds its shows. Many scenarios had been discussed, including one that would have built a new Sanctuary and demolished the current one. It’s certain that MUUF would prefer to improve the current Sanctuary rather than to build a new one.
MUUF has described some of the technical difficulties it has with its own services and events. MUUF was receptive to every Folk Project suggestion, which included:
Acoustic curtains behind the altar
Permanent speakers (a digital line-array system that would act as a valence ahead of the flood lights)
Permanent snake and mix console installations.
MUUF also expressed an interest in permanent theatrical lighting, which would also help Minstrel performances by eliminating the nose and chin shadows on the performers.
MUUF understands that The Folk Project is willing to contribute to the work in which it is interested. The split between the groups has yet to be determined, though 50/50 did come up as a starting point. Certainly, Folk Project participation with MUUF will help the relationship greatly, further cementing our home there. It is a great venue, one of the best in the folk world. However, our financial participation should include some form of guarantee or contract that will keep us at that location for a term we feel is worth the amount of money we contributed.
Regarding proposed permanent upgrades/improvements to MUUF’s sound system, Mike DelVecchio said that in his opinion, the the #1 priority would be to add audio curtains behind the altar. Pam Robinson suggested forming an ad hoc committee to look into MUUF sound system improvements, and suggested Mike Agranoff, Mike DelVecchio and Rachel Streich (as former Treasurer/accountant/financial maven) to be on such a committee. Discussion ensued – if the FP invests in MUUF sound system improvements, what kind of guarantee or contract would we be able to get from MUUF to ensure our long-term continued residence there?
Jean Scully wondered how upgrades to the MUUF sound system would affect volunteer staffing. Mike Agranoff pointed out if a permanent sound system were to be installed, we would no longer need a Sound Assistant to help set up and break down equipment every week.
Regarding MUUF’s interest in new permanent stage lighting, Jean said she has a friend who is a professional lighting designer, and offered to put her friend in touch with the appropriate person(s) at MUUF.
Scooter suggested that the FP acquire a portable sound system (8 inputs, possibly JBL brand?) to use for house concerts, Wayne Day and other events so we don’t have to schlep the Minstrel’s sound equipment and put additional wear and tear on it.
Electronic Communications: committee report
Having sent an initial email about the Trout Fishing concert in November, we sent a second reminder in December, resulting in a noticeable increase in advance ticket sales on Paypal.
Since the question came up at the December meeting, here are the exact numbers of people on our major mailing lists, as of today:
Total contacts: 2,969
Minstrel-Gram Weekly: 1,240
Minstrel-Gram Bulletin: 187
Minstrel-Gram Emergency: 21
Swingin' Tern: 606
Special Concerts: 371
Festival: 507
The meeting adjourned at 10:01pm. Next meeting will be on 2/5/13 at Grover Kemble’s home in Morris Plains.