Minstrel

From: Mike Agranoff <mike@mikeagranoff.com>

Sent: Monday, September 03, 2018 11:02 AM

To: 'Board FP' <fullboard@folkproject.org>

Subject: Minstrel Booking Report: Sept. 2018

Well, I guess you could say the Minstrel was treading water in August. We held three shows that were artistically good, almost adequate with regards to attendance, and made a small profit overall. Our average attendance for the month was 69.3 paid (89.3 total), and we cleared $111 in profit.

We had some difficulties in staffing the Labor Day Weekend show, and I had to serve both as Head Sound and Bookkeeper. Since I couldn’t physically do both jobs at the same time, we could not process the Tally Sheet that evening to determine the Headline Act’s pay. So we paid them their guarantee in cash, with the promise that we would send them a check for the balance due them. They were very understanding, and had no problems with that. I took the money and some scribbled information back home with me, and processed the Tally Sheet at home on Sunday. As it turned out, the balance due the Headline Act was only their $16 Concert Window earnings.

I am cautiously optimistic that our Concert Window problems may be behind us. John Mahon found the magic sequence of operations that seems to make our connection with their server more reliable. Our weekly viewership is slowly growing, as is the income. With the year a little more than half gone, we’ve grossed $560 in CW income, roughly half of which we give to our Headline Act.

I have started investigating the possibility of selling advance ticket to Minstrel Concerts. Some of the advantages of advance sales are:

• Conforming to common practice among the established folk concert venues.

• Better serving our customers.

• Potentially boosting attendance by having people commit themselves in advance.

• Being able to see in advance if a show will sell out, and thereby alerting folks ahead of time they would be turned away. (With some of the higher profile acts I’m booking next year, that may be more of an issue than in the past.)

Some of the disadvantages would be:

• The complexities of combining and recording the advance sales and on-site sales. It which would require revising the Tally Sheet to provide new fields for additional information to be recorded and processed

• Having enough cash on hand to pay performers when the bulk of the tickets were sold in advance.

• More work for the treasurer.

• A need for someone to administer the processing of the advance sales.

A new volunteer, Gary Pratt has stepped up to champion this effort. (He has also been active in the Festival Committee this past summer.) He is investigating a number of possible companies to handle the sales, including, but not limited to Constant Contact, which has been used in the past for advance sales of FP events. He and I will be evaluating the various candidates, and examining the procedural details and complications that will accompany such sales. In particular we will try to make the process as straightforward and simple as possible, with an eye towards minimizing additional burden on our Door and Bookkeeper staff. We will coordinate with the Volunteer Chair in that effort. Gary himself would administer the online duties of compiling all the advance sales for each show, and getting the information to the onsite staff to process. My target is to start selling advance tickets in January 2019. We may do it for all shows, or we may do only a couple of high profile shows as a pilot project. We haven’t yet decided.

New bookings since last month

• Nov. 2: Hal Guitarist opening for Magpie. A young singer who channels the singer-songwriters from the early Greenwich Village folk scene with eerie accuracy. Gleaned from the Open Stage crowd.

• Nov. 23: Maia McCormick opening for Windborne. Acapella singer (She has also served as a caller for Swingin’ Tern dances.)

• Dec. 28: The Kennedys, who were originally scheduled for this date, asked if we could move them to accommodate their touring schedule. I replaced them with Karyn Oliver, one of the members of No Fuss & Feathers. A singer songwriter and strong vocalist,

• Jan. 4: Zoe Mulford opening for Susan Werner. Audience will get to vote her in to a headline act of her own later in 2019

• Apr. 19: Del Rey Blues, ragtime, and novelty songs, and a virtuoso on steel guitar and uke. Performed at Spring Getaway this year. A real character!

• May 3: The Kennedys rescheduled from their original Dec. 28 date

• Sept. 20, 2019: Garnet Rogers: powerful songwriter and storyteller. (Stan’s brother)

Highlights for September

• Sept. 21: Bill Staines Iconic singer-songwriter

• Sept 28: Beppe Gambetta Blazing high-speed flatpicker.

Respectfully Submitted:

Mike Agranoff