SEPTEMBER 2013

BOARD MEETING MINUTES

SEPT 3, 2013

The Folk Project Board Meeting was called to order at 8:02 pm at the home of Lindsey Meyer, by Vice-Prez Pam Robinson, in the absence of President Elizabeth Lachowicz.

Present were: Pam Robinson, Pat Brangs, Mike Agranoff, Allan Kugel, Lois DeRitter, Joanne Cronin, Lori Falco, Mike DelVecchio, Bob McNally, Mark Schaffer, Lindsey Meyer, Jean Scully, Jim Gartner, Barrett Wilson, Bill Henderson, Eddie Roffman, Scooter Ferguson, and Rachel Streich. Absent: Elizabeth Lachowicz, Nancy Kelner, Leigh Walker, Gloria Friedman, Grover Kemble. Guest: Christine DeLeon.

ADMINISTRATION:

August Board Meeting minutes were accepted without corrections.

TREASURER’S REPORT:

Bill reported, “It looks like UkeFest will be close to breaking even.”

OLD BUSINESS:

QUICKBOOKS WORKSHOP:

Barrett asked about QuickBooks training for interested Board members. He will follow up.

JOB OPENINGS:

Pam asked us all to keep looking for viable candidates for the Newsletter Editor, Publicity Chair, and Community Services Chair positions. The Newsletter Editor job might be split among 2 volunteers; Lori Falco suggested that one of them could work on improving the eNewsletter.

NEW BUSINESS:

ARCHIVAL STORAGE:

Mike A. suggested we improve our storage and archiving of our old records and documents. Jean volunteered to store the boxes currently being kept in Chris Reimer’s attic. Scooter volunteered to move the boxes from Chris’s. Mark has a box that he’s been storing, and he’ll bring it to Jean’s as well. Mark and Jean said they would be willing to write up an inventory list of “what’s in the boxes”.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

SPECIAL CONCERTS: SEE COMMITTEE REPORT

Scooter highly praised, one by one, by name, all the volunteers for their hard work and enthusiasm, who helped make the UkeFest such a wonderful event. Post-event feedback from UkeFest performers was equally enthusiastic: Jack Rickenback of Celtic Spirit “had a fantastic time”, Victoria Vox sold more product than all other performers combined and “had a great time”. Jim and Liz Beloff “had the time of their lives” and “would love to come back” to the Folk Project. James and Ann “had a fantastic time.” Feedback from attendees was very positive; one commented, “Best uke festival they’d ever been to. “ Vendors also had a wonderful time: Tom from The Music Den in Randolph, NJ brought 18 ukes to sell, and sold half of them, many to FP members. Music Den now offers group uke lessons. They will become a corporate FP member, will advertise in our newsletter, and we anticipate that some of their students and customers will become FP members. Scooter also met Tom McMillian, a “uke nut” and President of the Morris Arts Council, who suggested the possibility of a joint FP/Morris Arts Council concert or other event and who encouraged us to apply for a grant from the Arts Council.

Scooter also praised MUF’s custodian, Eduardo, who is a big FP fan, and who was extremely helpful during UkeFest. He will write to MUF in praise of Eduardo, and we will give Eduardo and his family free admission to the Minstrel anytime they want to come.

Since UkeFest, Eddie noted we’ve gotten 6 new memberships; Mike A. said he’s gotten 40 new Minstrelgram sign-ups; and Barrett said he can’t remember the last time he gave out so many “first-timer” get-in-free cards.

Scooter said he planned to send out an email to all UkeFest attendees thanking them for coming, letting them know about FP activities, and inviting them to join FP and participate in our events.

Bob McNally presented Scooter with a special “Ukie” award for all his hard work. Bob said, “ The uke community discovered us, and we discovered them. This had the spirit of our best early festivals.” Bob noted that he and Mark handed out FP flyers and thanked people as they were leaving; he suggested having Minstrel emcee and Door people thank people as they leave Minstrel. Lois suggested handing out copies of the Minstrel schedule along with first-timer freebie passes, and also to put the FP’s web address on the first-timer freebie passes. Jean thought that was a wonderful idea and said she would implement it at once.

Mike A. commented that the uke community shows what is diminishing from the folk community: doing music as a social activity as opposed to performance.

MERCHANDISE:

Gloria absent. No report.

SOUND REINFORCEMENT: SEE COMMITTEE REPORT

See written report.

E-COMMUNICATIONS: SEE COMMITTEE REPORT

Lori sent 2 emails advertising UkeFest, including 4 video links to YouTube in the second email and also included 2 video links in the Minstrelgram featuring UkeFest. In addition, we got 55 new signups from UkeFest to add to our Constant Comment contacts database.

SWINGIN’ TERN: SEE COMMITTEE REPORT

Leigh absent. See written report.

PUBLICITY: SEE COMMITTEE REPORT

Nancy absent. See written report.

COMMUNITY SERVICE:

Joe absent. No written report. Pam said that Carolyn Messina’s recent surgery went very well, and that Reeds, Rhythm and All That Brass has a gig coming up at Morristown Jewish Center.

NEWSLETTER: SEE COMMITTEE REPORT

Pat said she will pay extra attention to how many printed newsletters are given out. Allan commented on how much he appreciates getting the newsletter in very timely fashion. Jean suggested handing out copies of the newsletter at the Minstrel with the first-timer freebie passes.

MEMBERSHIP: SEE COMMITTEE REPORT

Eddie said, “We are sending renewal notices that people are ignoring very well.” He is calling a meeting for next week to talk about ways to increase membership, 7:30 pm next Tuesday, at the Roffman Residence.

HSNOI: SEE COMMITTEE REPORT

Sandie absent. See written report. They are looking for new volunteers to join their production staff.

FESTIVAL: SEE COMMITTEE REPORT

Mark reported that we now have 73 people registered for Fall Festival (almost half full), 6 weeks before Festival. Mark will be doing a live radio interview with WDVR this coming Thursday. Festival flyers are being distributed to local Open Stages. They are sending out emails to first-timers before Festival, asking, “How did you hear about us? What do you play?”, etc.

INTERNAL AFFAIRS:

There will be no October Evening of Music due to Fall Festival. Jean is still looking for locations for November and December EoM’s. The January 2014 EoM will be at Margaret Crowl’s. The August EoM at Mario’s Pizza in Randolph, hosted by Mike & Christine Del Vecchio, was a “rousing success”. Jean commented that Elizabeth has a meeting room at her condo complex that would be appropriate for an EoM.

Jean asked for ideas for workshops (possibly a uke workshop?) that would lead into an EoM.

MINSTREL STAFFING:

Jean reported that things have been going “pretty well”; the energy and enthusiasm of UkeFest carried over into the volunteers for the Frank Vignola concert, so she is fully staffed.

MINSTREL BOOKING: SEE COMMITTEE REPORT

Mike reported that the average attendance for August was 66, not 57.6 as noted in the written report. Elizabeth and Mike met with Nina McCormick and Alison Miller of MUF recently to establish communication, address complaints and to try to mitigate the recent rent increase. MUF’s attitude: “we want you here”. Mike asked that the rent increase be spread over 3 years; they will consider it. They don’t like the acoustic panels we put up in the Sanctuary; the panels are dirty and take up too much space on stage. Mike has volunteered to personally foot the bill to re-cover the panels in a fabric and color of MUF’s choosing. He also got permission from MUF to use the Terrace Room for large shows in upcoming months.

Meeting adjourned at 10:10 pm. Next meeting will be on October 1, at Allan Kugel and Cecilia Rowedder’s home in Highland Park, NJ.