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The meeting was called to order at 8:01 p.m on July 2, 2019 at the Chatham-Summit Friends Meetinghouse, 158 Southern Blvd, Chatham, NJ. The opening song was a version of the classic Kumbaya, with lyrics by Jay Wilenski based on the Folk Project's Rules of Engagement. Evelyn McNally will lead next month’s song.
ROLL CALL
Present: Trustees: Todd Dennison, Lois DeRitter, Bob McNally, Dave Heistand, Christine DeLeon, Ken Brody, Allan Kugel, Evelyn McNally; Officers: Paul Fisher, Jay Wilensky, Jean Scully, Chris Riemer; Committees: Lindsey Meyer, Pat Brangs, Mark Schaffer, Jay Wilensky, Mike Agranoff, Jean Scully, Gary Pratt, George Otto, Lisa Hallman, John Mahon, Mitch Radler, Leigh Walker, Sandie Reilly. Absent: Elizabeth Lachowicz, Pam Robinson
MOTIONS MADE
The June minutes were accepted unanimously as amended by Mike Agranoff. He was incorrectly listed as a Trustee.
ACTION ITEMS
The Action Items are presented as an attachment, rather than within the body of the minutes themselves. See below.
NEW BUSINESS
Getaway Follow-Up
Paul read a complaint letter from a member regarding the process by which the new site for Getaway in Stony Point was chosen, and Paul’s thoughtful letter in response. After a discussion regarding what type of response was appropriate, it was voted to send Paul’s letter as written.
Concert Window Blackout: Lindsey was disappointed to pay for CW access to the Summer Songs night and not see the feed. According to Mike, it was never supposed to be broadcast, but the link was turned on erroneously. Everyone will be refunded.
There was great confusion at the concert regarding an offer for free admission for anyone who bought a membership on the night of the concert, which had not been communicated to Jean or Amy in order to inform the volunteer staff and create a process. Gary was very concerned that the number of new memberships he received (4) was far less than the number he’d been told were sold (15) [This higher number turned out to be erroneous: JS.]
There was also confusion as to whether we could still accept donations and money for food at Special Concerts and higher-priced shows.
Gary had some ideas regarding doing memberships online in real-time. There were several action items generated between Mike, Jean, Gary and Mitch to discuss how to get this ironed out before the next big show that draws a lot of potential new members.
Back-Up Needed
Christine will be unavailable to handle Good of the Order starting in September due to her class schedule. Jean will transcribe a recording.
Merchandise
We currently have no one handling Merch; Paul reported having a lot of interest in his FP T-shirt at Old Songs, with folks coming up and asking him about FP events, etc. We should start thinking about getting the position filled, and what will be sold. Clothing is easiest because it has no sales tax. Chris made the point that we need to find someone to do ALL aspects of the job: not just creation, but also inventory, storage, reordering, etc. (and not create more work for the bookkeeper!) Gary suggested putting a query in the newsletter.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS
TREASURER’S REPORT/PASSING THE TORCH: Chris gave a presentation on treasurer responsibilities, to begin the effort of splitting his current responsibilities among 3 or 4 people when he steps down at the end of the current term. Jay suggested hiring a paid accountant to take over many of the responsibilities, which Chris has also been considering; this would help us avoid conflicts of interest and keep up with the latest laws. We’ve also recently crossed the donation threshold to have to file with a state charity registry, which Chris will handle. Many action items were generated to start the ball rolling on this process, starting with NomCom members brainstorming on possible recruits. (Only Treasurer will be board position, others need not be).
COMMITTEE REPORTS
ARCHIVES: Bobbi Rosengarten and Lindsey will be accepting donations, storing and sorting them, and then will offer them to Rutgers. Lindsey’s report included a link to the current catalog; the materials are incomplete, and end in 2005, so any items will be welcome. We are only collecting paper items at this time, not digital. Lindsey noted that the idea is to collect items that reflect our accomplishments and thought processes as an organization, and to collect ephemera items that would otherwise be discarded.
GETAWAY: We will be charging $35 more to non-FP members, which hopefully will drive more people to become members. Mark will be hiring more performers to stay for the whole weekend, which cuts somewhat into profits but adds to the attendees’ experience. There will be online links to performers so folks can check out performers with early workshops but performances later in the weekend.
OPENSTAGE: July OS will be Randie O’Neill CD release party, and Mitch is expecting about 125 people. Life Center Stage will be partnering with OpenStage in November to present their program to fight addiction of various types and support those in recovery and their loved ones. This will be a fundraiser for LCS, and Mitch will talk to Chris about how to handle it record-wise; Chris said it should be a normal deposit and then he will cut the check to LCS, as it’s one non-profit making a donation to another which has tax recording implications. Mitch would like to reach out to anyone in FP who has an experience with addiction to turn their experience into a song working with a professional songwriter. There was a recent event in Morristown called Breaking Stigma that both LCS and FP Open Stage members participated in that was very successful. Mark noted that we have been a haven for people in recovery since our inception and this is a natural fit for us.
COMMUNITY SERVICE: Evelyn Maurer is taking over sending cards on behalf of FP. There was a discussion regarding the overlap between Good of the Order and recognizing/honoring people in the folk community writ large who have passed away. Consensus fell eventually toward GOTO being restricted to deaths of members and their loved ones; “In Memoriam” articles would be more appropriate for folks more removed.
TROUBADOUR STAFFING: Jean will be riding herd more closely on nights at Troubadour when new volunteers are on staff. Chris offered to help Jean change the job descriptions into HTML so they will be easier to pass on and update.
EVENT HOSTING: The July 4th picnic will be held at Lewis Morris Park, the area called Sugarloaf A. Good parking, good access, charcoal grills (but no electricity).
PUBLICITY: Lisa is working with Gary to get individual logins for Constant Contact, rather than everyone logging in as “Folk Project,” as it is now. Some folks have multiple e-mail addresses in CC, which adds to our costs and makes things more cumbersome. Allan needs beta testers on the Performers Database to give feedback and test workability, including people who are not computer savvy.
SOUND REINFORCEMENT: Concert Window has been working better, but still dropped out at the last song at a recent show. Sandie was very proud and happy with the audience reaction at her recent opening gig, but was extremely disappointed with the quality of the Concert Window sound, which she had hoped to use for promoting herself in the future. There was a long discussion regarding the problem of mixing sound for the room versus what goes out on the Concert Window feed. John has devoted many hours to this and can do it, but it requires more detail work and specific training on the part of other folks running sound
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting was adjourned at 10:18 p.m. As noted above, future meetings are planned to be in the Chatham Summit Friends Meetinghouse, 158 Southern Boulevard, Chatham.
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