Minstrel

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

Sent: Saturday, March 30, 2019 11:54 AM

To: fullboard@folkproject.org

Subject: Minstrel Booking Report, April 2019

Well, now we’re rolling! In March, we had two near sell-out shows with Tom Chapin and the Phil Ochs Song Night. 202 paid/209 total attendance and 187 paid/197 total attendance respectively. Our average attendance for the month was 131 paid/145 total. And we closed the month with almost $1,000 in profit. The Fellowship’s Reverend Alison Miller was in attendance at the Ochs show, and was well pleased. The two big shows got us about 35 new names on our mailing list, and a lot of great vibes. Take a look at the two attached graphs, and the table in the graph entitled Chart.pdf.

Another interesting thing about those shows is that they confirmed what we learned from the Susan Werner show: If we fill the house, we can safely offer guarantees of $2,000 to our featured act. Tom Chapin set a new record for performer’s pay at $2,244, which was broken the next week for the Phil Ochs Song Night show at $2,305. And my offer to reimburse the Folk Project for any guarantee make-ups with a personal donation was not needed. I did make such a donation, however for Mike and Ruthy’s $1,000 guarantee on March 1. They did not draw as well as I had hoped. (Only 77 paid attendees, where I had anticipated 100.)

The advance sale program is running smoothly. An interesting sidelight of that is that those high-draw shows draw many fewer redeemed ticks and 2nd-timer passes. That’s because those passes can only be redeemed at the door, and people will choose to buy tickets in advance for those shows, rather than redeeming a pass, for fear of being closed out in advance. In fact, only the Tom Chapin show sold the full complement of 175 advance tickets before the night of the show, and that happened on the Monday before the show. We put up an alert on the website saying that the show was sold out, which saved us from being mobbed at the door, and having to turn a lot of folks away. That’s a good thing, because those redeemed passes cost us some significant amount of money. We count those passes as attendees when calculating the Feature Act’s pay. (70% of ticket revenues after the first 100 paid.) So each pass costs us $7 that goes to the Feature Act. You’ll note that recorded total attendance of 209 at the Chapin show was above our legal limit of 200. That was due to a number of no-shows from the advance sales, and that some attendees chose to stay out in the lobby for the show.

We set up a video Overflow Room for up to 20 people to watch the show for the Chapin and Ochs shows. 9 patrons watched Dan Pelletier’s opening set for Chapin in the Overflow Room, and then were seated in unoccupied seats in the auditorium for Tom’s sets. The Overflow Room was not needed for the Ochs show. The purpose of that Overflow room is more to disappoint as few people turned away as possible than to make extra profit. Since the Feature Act’s attendance bonus leaves us only $3 of each Overflow patron’s $10 ticket price, the Overflow Room would garner us only $60 if filled to capacity. Which exactly equals the cost of renting the extra room. But we feel the good will we garner from the folks who are not turned away is well worth the cost.

We’re expecting another capacity crowd for the Cheryl Wheeler show on April 5, after which we return to more normal fare,

As of the date of this report, we have no further word on the schedule of the parking lot renovation. I’ve asked for updates, and will report any news I get before the April meeting.

The new name we decided upon (Folk Project Friday Concerts) for the Minstrel, and the process by which we settled upon that name last month was the cause of so much discontent that we have decided to revisit that decision. A motion to rescind that decision will be made at the April meeting. Anticipating that motion will be passed, a pro tem Committee was formed consisting of President Paul Fisher (Chairman), Garry Pratt, and myself to consider other names. Paul asked the Fullboard list for suggestions, and collected over 150. Paul and Gary winnowed that down to 10, and the Committee met on Monday, March 25th to determine how the new name would be decided upon. Deferring to me as Minstrel Chairman, the Committee allowed me to dismiss any names I could not live with. That left 6. A poll was sent out to the Board members to rank those choices. And if last month’s motion is rescinded, that poll will be presented to the Board at this month’s meeting. I will be absent from this month’s meeting due to a previously planned vacation.

New Bookings in March

• Aug. 2....... Fingerstyle guitarist Pete McDonough opening for Happy Traum

• Oct. 18..... From the UK, accordion duet The Free Reeds opening for Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas

• Dec. 27..... Harmony trio, Gathering Time.

Highlights in April

• Apr. 5....... Another anticipated sell-out for Cheryl Wheeler

Respectfully submitted

Mike Agranoff

Program Chair

The Minstrel Acoustic Concert Series

Morristown, NJ. USA

www.Minstrel.FolkProject.org

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

Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2019 8:14 PM

To: fullboard@folkproject.org

Subject: Addendum to Minstrel Booking Report for April 2019

We are already starting to get some advance sales for the Richard Shindell show on Aug. 16.

Mike Agranoff

Program Chair

The Minstrel Acoustic Concert Series

Morristown, NJ. USA

www.Minstrel.FolkProject.org