JUNE 2013

MINUTES

FOLK PROJECT BOARD MEETING

JUNE 4, 2013

The Folk Project Board Meeting was called to order at 8:08 pm at the home of Mark and Robin Schaffer, in Rockaway, NJ.

Present were: Mark Schaffer, Robin Schaffer, Elizabeth Lachowicz, Rachel Streich, Bill Henderson, Mike Agranoff, Pat Brangs, Grover Kemble, Leigh Walker, Lois DeRitter. Jim Gartner, Bob McNally, Eddie Roffman, Mike DelVecchio, Allan Kugel, Sandie Reilly, Jean Scully. Absent: Scooter Ferguson, Lori Falco, Nancy Kelner, Joanne Cronin, Lindsey Meyer, Joe Graziano, Pam Robinson, Barrett Wilson. Guests: Robin Roffman, Jeff Loy.

The meeting was called to order without a quorum present.

ADMINISTRATION:

TREASURER’S REPORT:

May 2013 PayPal receipts for Festival admissions have not yet been posted. We will have those figures at the next Board meeting.

Leigh asked about the Agranoff endowment fund invested with Vanguard – who decides how and where it is invested? He suggested putting 30% into a Treasury/Money Market account as a conservative investment. Elizabeth said Andy Koenig did the original research on our investments. Mark explained that Andy chose Vanguard because its fairly conservative – when the market tanked a few years ago, we didn’t lose as badly as others did. Leigh said that the Vanguard Wellington Fund, where our investment is, is 60% stock and 40% bonds, which led to discussion about the relative risk of our investments in today’s stock market. Elizabeth asked Leigh if he would be willing to speak to Andy offline about this; she will have Andy call Leigh to discuss and come back to the Board with their findings and recommendations.

Treasurer Bill asked that people making deposits on behalf of the Folk Project PLEASE write their name and the purpose of the deposit on the face of the deposit ticket. He can view the deposit tickets via Wells Fargo’s Online Banking but sometimes has trouble figuring out where a deposit came from or what its for. Former Treasurer Rachel noted that she had the same trouble with mystery deposits when she was Treasurer as well.

KEY DATES:

Elizabeth reminded us that Newsletter submissions are due to Newsleditor Liz by 6/15/13.

OLD BUSINESS:

ACMA GRANT:

Liz put a blurb in the Newsletter soliciting help with research for the ACMA Grant. Elizabeth noted that the Morris Arts Council has an intern willing to make themselves available to help with information gathering for the grant application, but the FP still has no one willing to supervise the intern. Mike A. suggested putting out another request in the Newsletter in 3 or 4 months from now.

JOB DESCRIPTIONS:

They are coming in, said Elizabeth.

We now have a quorum with the arrival of Mike D., Allan, Sandie, and Jean.

ACCEPTANCE OF MAY MINUTES:

Motion to accept Minutes with no corrections passed unanimously.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

SPECIAL CONCERTS: COMMITTEE REPORT

Scooter absent; its Julie's birthday :-) The Uke NJ festival is on for 8/30-8/31/13 at MUF. Mike said this is shaping up to be a major event and that we should talk it up. Estimated breakeven point is 100 attendees at $75 each for the 2-day event. There was a uke workshop at Spring Festival which was well-attended, and the Uke festival was talked up there. Mark said Scooter is hoping to use this event to publicize the FP to the uke community. Mike A. will use Minstrelgrams to publicize the event as well. Grover suggested getting a press release about this event to Bill Nutt at the Newark Star-Ledger.

SWINGIN’ TERN: COMMITTEE REPORT

Leigh reported that Suzanne has been booking some really good bands and callers. A new-to-Swingin Tern caller delighted the beginners at the first May dance.

Leigh also reported he received complaints from four women dancers about another dancer's conduct. The Swingin' Tern committee decided that the issues raised should be discussed with the dancer, which happened. The women dancers communicated their satisfaction with the ST committee's response. Any further developments will be reported to the board.

PUBLICITY: COMMITTEE REPORT

Nancy absent. See written report.

COMMUNITY SERVICE:

Joe G. absent (its his 30^th wedding anniversary today!) Wayne Day is coming up this Sunday. There will be no Folk Project booth as no one volunteered to set up and staff it L

NEWSLETTER: COMMITTEE REPORT

Pat reported that her goal was to get the Newsletter out before Spring Festival, and that was accomplished. She reminded us not to wait for the 15^th of the month to get submissions in to Liz. Pat will send Liz info for the July 4^th picnic and Birthday Party Show. Bill pointed out that we end up recycling a lot of Newsletters that are out on the Literature table at the Minstrel. He said he finds people take them and then leave them under their chairs at the end of the evening, and wonders if we should put out fewer copies? Leigh said he noticed they throw out a lot of undistributed Newsletters at the Swingin’ Tern dances also. Should we reduce the number of copies printed and distributed at the Minstrel and SnT? Mike D. expressed the opinion that as a way to grow the FP, instead of distributing fewer copies, we should be putting them out everywhere. No decision was made either way.

HSNOI: COMMITTEE REPORT

Sandie reported that they taped 2 really great shows in May – Grover was wonderful.

Brother Sun and Joe Jenks’s solo show are due to be taped in June.

MERCHANDISING:

Gloria absent (hurt her ankle). Bill said according to his records, $285 in merchandise was sold at Spring Festival. Mike A. noted that FP logo sweatbands were purchased and available for sale at Festival.

SOUND REINFORCEMENT: COMMITTEE REPORT

Mike D asked if anyone had questions regarding his somewhat lengthy written report.

Re: the new portable sound system we’re considering purchasing: Mike A. expressed the opinion that with multiple amateur sound people setting up and running the equipment, “simpler is better”. He personally does not like touch screen sliders, for example. Elizabeth asked about the relative merits of buying a portable system vs making the Minstrel system more portable – getting cases and so forth for the Minstrel system to make it easier to transport. Mike D said a portable system would be useful for smaller venues so we don’t have to transport the Minstrel’s system. Mike A pointed out that we would need to consider where a portable system would be kept between uses – in someone’s garage? Then we’d need to coordinate with that person to get the equipment, and bring it back afterwards.

Lois asked about the proposed MUF sound renovations, currently on hold – does that include redesigning or providing storage space for FP sound system? “Good point”, said Mike D. This should be brought up in future discussions with MUF.

Elizabeth asked about future workshops to train new sound people. Mike D. said he has 4 or 5 people interested in participating in such training. It’s a matter of getting access to MUF for free to hold the workshops, Mike said.

Re: providing speakers so the Front Desk people can hear the concert: Bill pointed out that if the Lobby area is quiet, we could just leave the doors to the Sanctuary open. Elizabeth noted that her church uses a wireless speaker system to broadcast sound to volunteers working in the church kitchen. She will find out what they use and get back to Mike D.

E-COMMUNICATIONS: COMMITTEE REPORT

Lori absent. Elizabeth reported that Lori is in communication with Cathy Thomas (now out on the West Coast and involved in local folk group there) re: use of Constant Contact.

MINSTREL BOOKING: COMMITTEE REPORT

Average paid attendance for May was 71.7, or 58.3 including Open Stage.

Over the past 12 months, we’re averaging 84 per show, or 71.6 including Open Stages. Net $158 in the black over the past 12 months per Mike A’s figures.

Mike estimated that the summer months’ Minstrel attendance will not be good, as there are no “big” shows scheduled over the next few months. We have some good shows coming up in the Fall, though.

He has a phone interview scheduled with PBS.

New Bookings: 3/7/14 Andy Cohen. The Copper Ponies unfortunately backed out of opening for Buskin and Batteau. 12/27/13 The Shockenaw Mountain Boys. (!)

INTERNAL AFFAIRS:

Jean reported that the May Evening of Music at Steve Humphreys’ house went very well. Pam Robinson and Bob Safranek are hosting the June EoM, which will start at a special early time of 6 pm. Dave Kleiner and Liz Pagan are hosting the September EoM, but Jean still has no one scheduled to host parties for July or August.

Pat Brangs wrote a blurb for the Newsletter and is helping publicize the Evenings of Music.

Pat asked if we could put an appeal for EoM hosts on our Facebook page? General consensus – why not? Pat will ask Pam Robinson to put that on the Facebook page.

Elizabeth reminded everyone – if you know someone with a suitable house, ask them to host, whether they’re FP members or not. Bob McNally asked if we’d ever thought of holding an EoM in a public place? Lois noted that people who live in condo communities, etc, often have access to a community room that maybe we could use? Elizabeth pointed out that parking might be a problem with that.

Bob will look into getting access to the Community Center at Mount Tabor (“the Bethel”). Mike D. said that Mario’s Pizza, in Randolph, has a BIG back room, lots of parking and places outside to jam. He will contact them to find out if an EoM would be feasible to do there.

As usual, the FP 4^th of July Picnic will be at Eddie and Robin Roffman’s.

MINSTREL STAFFING:

Jean held a Volunteer Committee meeting recently at Amy Livingston’s house, with herself, Amy, Mike A, Allan Kugel, Barrett Wilson, and Lori Falco. They discussed the volunteer database and ways to streamline and simplify the process of recruiting and tracking volunteers. Awhile back, they used to use Yahoo Groups – you’d look at the calendar and email the administrator to volunteer for a spot. Now, they’re using Filemaker and Constant Contact. Amy sends email to potential volunteers, then enters them into Filemaker. Jean says Amy doesn’t mind doing it, but they really need a less cumbersome method. – preferably one that would allow them to vet potential volunteers, where volunteers could sign themselves up for spots, subject to approval. Lori is taking the lead on creating a new system, with help from Allan.

The general consensus is that “the Book” – the looseleaf notebook at the Front Desk at the Minstrel for volunteer sign-ups – isn’t working, although Mike A thinks we need to change the format of the pages in the book to make them easier to read, and also to do more to publicize the need for volunteers from the stage at the Minstrel.

Jim Gartner suggested creating job descriptions for Minstrel volunteer positions as a way to help encourage people to sign up.

MEMBERSHIP: COMMITTEE REPORT

Eddie said that Festival is our single biggest source of new and renewing members.

Treasurer Bill noted that he found 3 people who signed up for membership at the Minstrel who were never added to the Membership roster.

Eddie said he is working on a job description for the Membership Chair.

He will send out renewal reminders 4 times per year; then after 1 year, he will stop bothering people to renew.

FESTIVAL: COMMITTEE REPORT

Mark reported the Spring Festival went very well.

He said there were a “small number” of long-time attendees who didn’t like all the changes, but of 66 people who responded to the post-Festival survey, all but 4 or 5 gave excellent marks for “overall experience”.

We’ve been very successful at getting new people to come; they did advertise to people outside the FP.

Mark reported that they turned away 10 people who wanted to register, but then with last minute cancellations, there were 30 empty seats in the Concert Hall, so we could have accommodated those 10 people. So the next Festival will expand from 150 maximum attendance to 160.

There will be a post-Festival wrap-up meeting at the Schaffers’ on 6/13/13.

One of the major changes made at this Festival was in the number of concerts and workshops expected of the performers. At previous Festivals, performers were expected to do 2 45-minute concert sets and 2 daytime workshops; at this Festival, they did 1 1-hour concert set and 3 daytime workshops. Mark and Robin felt that this new schedule added more value to the daytime workshop schedule, and they also added more people doing workshops during the day even if the workshop presenters didn’t do concert performances.

Mike A. praised the Festival Sound committee: “ Best Festival sound EVER!”

MEETING ADJOURNED 10:15 pm. Next Board meeting will be on 7/2/13, at Eddie and Robin Roffman’s in Randolph, NJ.