JULY 2014

BOARD MEETING MINUTES

JULY 1, 2014

Meeting called to order at 8:01 pm at the home of Mark and Robin Schaffer in Rockaway, NJ.

Present: Rachel Streich, Bill Henderson, Grover Kemble, Mike Agranoff, Lori Falco, Barrett Wilson, Allan Kugel, George Otto, Mark Schaffer, Robin Schaffer, Elizabeth Lachowicz, Paul Fisher, Joanne Cronin, Jim Gartner, Lois DeRitter, Lindsey Meyer, Bob McNally, Jean Scully, and Shari Korenstein. Absent: Eddie Roffman, Leigh Walker, Dave Sherman, Sandie Reilly, and Tom Picard. Guests: Pat Brangs, Deborah Graham, Andrew Hines.

ADMINISTRATION:

CORRECTIONS TO JUNE MINUTES:

George Otto is chair of the new Ad-Hoc Technology Committee.

Mark said, “Traditionally, Festival did not have to cover G & A.” Mike A. concurred, “10% of expenses was out of line for Festival so they were not obligated to budget for G & A.”

Minutes accepted as amended.

TREASURER’S REPORT:

Bill said he tried changing the settings on QuickBooks to prepare P & L statements on a Cash basis, but QB then posts transactions as of the date they clear the bank, which was unsatisfactory. So he put QB back on an Accrual basis and re-issued the P & L’s.

NEW BUSINESS:

ENTERTAINMENT AT GREYSTONE:

Don Sternecker, who is a music therapist at Greystone, has asked Mike A. about FP providing entertainment for the patients. The FP will be paid a minimum of $500 (possibly more) for a 1-hour show. Right now, this is planned as a one-time thing but could become an annual event. Shari has agreed to coordinate with Greystone as a Community Services function.

Elizabeth thought performers should be paid, not FP; Scooter suggested FP could pay performers out of the payment received from Greystone. Bob thought we should encourage performers to donate their services to benefit FP. Details will be worked out by Shari, Greystone, performers, et al.

OLD BUSINESS:

AD-HOC FINANCE COMMITTEE:

Waiting for June 30 statements to be prepared (completed just yesterday by Bill). Eddie has volunteered to help and has prepared a list of accrual entries to adjust the June 30, 2014 year-to-date statements.

AD-HOC TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE: SEE WRITTEN REPORT

George contacted the people who volunteered to be on the committee at last meeting. The main core members of the committee will be George, Lori, Chris Reimer, Mark, and Jean, with help from additional supporting members Joanne, Allan, and Cecilia. They are just beginning to get oriented and figuring out how to get started. Bob asked, “Is this a study of tech for FP use, or for recommendations for FP member musicians to use?” “Could be either or both”, said George. Chris Reimer has suggested a FP YouTube channel. Scooter pointed out that we already have 82 HSNOI videos on YouTube, as a separate channel. Andrew Hines recommended Google Plus as a new medium with “many benefits”.

NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE:

Mark and Barrett have joined Mike A and Elizabeth on the committee. They will be meeting on July 16 to look at unfilled positions. Elizabeth thanked everyone who re-upped for another year. Three officers (Treasurer, Secretary, and President) have reached their term limits and need to be replaced as of Dec 31, and there are a few committee chair slots open as well.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

MEMBERSHIP:

Eddie absent. An updated membership roster has been sent out to the Fullboard list.

E-COMMUNICATIONS: SEE COMMITTEE REPORT

See Lori’s Constant Contact stats. We have 3516 contacts on our list. Lori removed 94 people whose emails were bouncing, but we still had a net gain of 84 people. Our open rate: 27.6% - Average for nonprofit arts organizations: 21.88%. Our click rate: 10.3% Average for nonprofit arts organzations: 8.7%. Andrew Hines said that we’re “doing great”. George noted that people can open Constant Contact emails without CC knowing about it, so we should double the open rate for a truer number.

PUBLICITY: SEE COMMITTEE REPORT

Webmaster John Lamb – a “less busy month”. Allan has been dealing with various security issues. Acoustic Getaway information has been updated for Fall. We are up to 985 “likes” on FaceBook and 272 followers on Twitter. FP events are being covered on the Morris County Tourism Board and NJ Skyline websites. Suggestion – give Minstrel tickets for distribution over WFDU or other local radio stations?

Elizabeth noted that we used to advertise at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, NJ Folk Festival, and so on, but we didn’t get much response. Bob pointed out that Philly Folk Festival, Falcon Ridge, etc draw crowds from far and wide, most of whom are not potential audience for the Minstrel.

Andrew Hines suggested we make ourselves known to concierges at local hotels, so they can recommend the Minstrel to hotel guests with nothing to do on a Friday night? “Good idea!!”

INTERNAL AFFAIRS:

Dave absent. July 4^th Picnic at the Roffman’s, starting at 2 pm. 7/12/14 Music Party at the home of Dave and Anne Marie Schwartz in Sussex County, 7/26/14 Music Party at the Roffman’s. Dave is resigning as committee chair for 2015. We are looking for a replacement!

SWINGIN’ TERN: SEE WRITTEN REPORT

Leigh absent, see written report.

HSNOI: SEE WRITTEN REPORT

Sandie absent. See written report.

COMMUNITY SERVICES:

Shari says “hi”!!

ZED MUSIC:

Shari reported that Zed will be on hiatus for July and August so that she and Tom can attend various music festivals, but they may host an open jam (no featured performer) in August. Elizabeth suggested they host a Home Made Music Party in August. Scooter asked about average performer fees; Shari said they ask attendees for a $10 donation, which goes to the performer. Mike A. said he made $230 when he played at Zed. Scooter said he will stop booking house concerts under the Special Concerts umbrella, and refer performers wanting to book house concerts to Zed Music instead.

MINSTREL BOOKING: SEE WRITTEN REPORT

June 2014 not too bad, said Mike. Average attendance 91 for the regular shows; 73.3 including Open Stage. Over the previous 12 months, average attendance was 88.8, or 78.1 including Open Stages. Door price went up from $8 to $9 at the beginning of July so our financials will look better for the second half of the year. He is trying out an experimental ticket giveaway program starting in July, called “Fill-A-Seat”. People buy Fill-A-Seat memberships, and then are eligible for free tickets to local events. Mike hopes the Minstrel’s participation will bring greater exposure, and a fuller house will improve the concert experience. For every show that Mike expects paid attendance of 80 or less, he will make 20 free tickets available to Fill-A-Seat members.

Starting June 15 of next year, the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship will begin repaving their parking lot. It is estimated that the work will take 6 to 8 weeks. We are looking at temporarily moving the Minstrel to another location while the repaving is going on. There might be room at the Sanctuary Concerts site.

Deborah Graham has created a new Minstrel flyer that will work as a poster. Our current flyer format is too wordy and hard to read.

Mike reminded us that next July 2015 will be the Minstrel’s 40^th Birthday. We will have our usual Birthday Party show on July 24, 2015, and then a special concert the following night, July 25, at the Sanctuary Concerts space in Chatham. He has reached verbal agreement with TOM PAXTON to headline this concert! FP volunteers will get in for $9 (by invitation only), while the general public will pay $30.

MINSTREL STAFFING:

Jean is still looking for Head Staff trainees, but she’s getting lots of new volunteers overall, including Deborah Graham.

SOUND REINFORCEMENT:

Spring Getaway went great, says Mike D. He is thinking of buying new speakers for the Minstrel, but needs to speak to people at MUF, as they might be looking to upgrade their sound as well.

NEWSLETTER: SEE WRITTEN REPORT

George reported that they printed 30 fewer paper newsletters, down to 300 at $.75 each. He is giving Carl fewer newsletters to distribute. He was happy to report that there were no misspellings found in the most recent newsletter submissions! And he is taking a course to learn more about the InDesign software used to layout the newsletter, including creating a Table of Contents.

SPECIAL CONCERTS:

UkeFest tickets are now on sale, Scooter will be posting info about workshops. So far, less than 20 people have registered. This time last year, there were 30 people registered. He has $700 worth of UkeFest merchandise to give away to registered participants, and is considering raffling some items off. NY UkeFest (possible competition) has been moved to the weekend of Sept 11 but there is no information available yet on their performers, cost, etc.

Jonathan Edwards/Lucy Kaplansky tickets will be going on sale soon -- $30 in advance, $35 at the door. He expects them to sell out.

2015 UkeFest might have to change date or venue due to MUF’s parking lot repaving project.

ACOUSTIC GETAWAY: SEE WRITTEN REPORT

The first email announcement about Fall Getaway has been sent.

MERCHANDISING:

Gloria absent, no report.

Next meeting will be at Mark and Robin Schaffer’s (again!) on August 5, 2014. Meeting adjourned, at 10:04 pm.