Minstrel

From: The Minstrel <mike.agranoff@folkproject.org>

Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2018 12:37 PM

To: fullboard@folkproject.org

Subject: Minstrel Booking Report to the Board, Dec. 2018

November saw the Minstrel continuing on its recovery from the slump at the beginning of the year. Our average paid attendance for the month was an OK 73.7 (94.3 total attendance), and we came out $264 in the black. Year-to-date, our attendance figures were a similar 72.4 paid and 95.0 total, and our net profit was $602. But if you look at the attached P&L chart, you’ll note that in the first half of the year there were 5 shows that lost over $100, while the remainder of the year showed only one. I think we are on the way to recovery, particularly considering the strong lineup for 2019.

The program of previewing high-quality, but little known acts as openers for high-drawing feature acts, and having the audience vote those openers into headline spots seems moderately successful. Jacob Johnson, George Wurzbach, and Windborne, all previewed as openers, drew 86 , 75, and 70 respectively for their followup feature sets. Not spectacular, but respectable, and considerably better than they would have done without that preview. Windborne’s audience in particular showed about 20 – 25 hands when I asked who came to see them after catching their opening set for Frank Vignola. Only Butch Ross drew a disappointing 63 paid after his preview opener for Tom Chapin the previous year. And that was during the unexplained slump period at the beginning of the year. I will be continuing this program with Zoe Mulford opening for Susan Werner on January 4.

Concert Window viewership also appears to be gradually increasing as time goes on. I have not been tracking actual number of viewers. But I base my optimism on tracking our income from the broadcasts. In particular, we earned a few pennies over $100 from Windborne’s show, due, no doubt, to good publicity by the band to their fans. Year-to-date we earned $826 from concert Window, which we split 50-50 with the artists.

We’ve been having improved consistency with the Concert Window broadcasts, with fewer dropouts and other glitches. But a new wrinkle showed up last month where the computer in the MUF sound cabinet that handles the broadcast overheated, and shut down, requiring us to refund all ticket and tip income for that show to the viewers. The computer is packed very tightly with other equipment in the cabinet, and cooling air circulation is poor. We’ve just purchased a couple of inexpensive cooling fans, which will be installed on that computer before our next broadcast.

The advance ticket sales program for the Minstrel is up and running for shows starting in 2019. (We had originally planned not to sell advance tickets for the Jan. 4 Susan Werner show, but are now confident enough with the program to include that concert.) And sales for that concert and others as well are starting to come in. John Lamb has created a revised tally sheet to accommodate advance sales.

New bookings since last month:

January 18: Satirical songwriter and humorist John Forster with songwriter Judy Kass opening for him at his request.
February 15: Teenage guitar phenom Quentin Callewaert with multi-instrumentalist Russ Rentler opening.
February 22: FP member Julie Edelston of the infamous Edelston clan opening for Todd Dennison
March 1: The Asaran Earth Trio, an acapella group singing choral music of many traditions, opening for Mike & Ruthy
March 15: Irish duo The Murphy Beds, who performed at our Fall Getaway
May 3: Jaclyn Fraser, pop-oriented singer gleaned from our OpenStage community opening for the Kennedys
May 24: Also from the Fall Getaway, Jonathan Byrd & the Pickup Cowboys, an eclectic singer-songwriter with an eccentric theatrical accompanist.

January highlight

January 4: My favorite currently performing act, Susan Werner, with Zoe Mulford opening. A likely sell-out.

Respectfully submitted

Mike Agranoff

Program Chair

The Minstrel Acoustic Concert Series

Morristown, NJ. USA