FP Future Planning Committee

September Board Report

Sept 5, 2023

The FTPL (FuTure PLanning Committee) has been cooking! 

Our next meeting is September 11, so here is an interim report.

1. Purpose and Guidelines of FTPL Committee
   As a reminder to all, on Feb 5, 2019, the board passed a motion from the original committee:

1. That we commit the Folk Project to the twin goals of Sustainability and Growth.

2. That the FP Board adopt this Statement of Intentions, specifically “To celebrate, nurture, and provide access to both making and listening to Folk music, Acoustic music and “Music that people make”, plus related activities (such as dance) and to Sustain, Refine, Develop, and to Maintain the special brand of Music, Fun, Community and Happiness, for which we have become known”. The Folk Project will use this Statement of intentions as part of the evaluation process for ideas and propositions before the board. Included footnote: “Acoustic” refers to a broad category of music, it does not refer to the type of instruments used in creating music.

Then COVID.

So, the initiatives the new committee is undertaking now came from that work.

○     We are at the brainstorming and experimentation phases and apprise the Board of our actions at the monthly Board meetings, 

○     Any ideas that require Board decisions will be presented.

○     Any ideas that involve another committee chair will be shared with that chair for their ultimate decision making.

○     Anyone who has feedback or input for the committee is invited to contact Robin or Bob at any time.

2. Folk Project Description
   As a result of our July workshop, the committee identified the differentiating characteristics and benefits of the Folk Project - what we want to be known for.  The group translated that work into a paragraph description of what we are. This is a “elevator pitch” or “cocktail party” explanation, not intended for a specific use at this time.

The Folk Project is a NJ organization of music lovers and music makers. We offer over 300 events a year: concerts, weekend retreats, dances, open stages, online programs, and plenty of opportunities to listen, learn, and make music together. People of all ages can see great acoustic performers, learn from experienced musicians, and engage with a supportive music and social community. We believe everybody’s music has value, and are committed to presenting a wide range of showcases for performers, from beginners to top professionals.  

Feel free to send Bob or I any thoughts or suggestions.

3. Presentation sub-committee
   The subcommittee has identified dozens of details on how to improve the overall concert experience for the FP.  They are using the Open Stage as a laboratory to experiment on ways to create a “magical” experience. They are looking at everything:  Lobby, stage, lighting, sound, etc. Any elements that involve other chairpersons will be worked out in collaboration with them. We will report on findings in the next few months.
   
   
   

4. Social Media
   We identified SM advertising and promotion as an important growth opportunity. We have a strong basis to draw from, and we also recognize we have much to learn. We are establishing a subcommittee, involving Sam Edelston and the SM team (Kathi Caccavale, Ralph Pediccini).  We will be addressing both the tactical aspects and creative content. All are welcome to participate.

5. Grant Status.  Busy month!  Applied for these:

○     Martin Foundation: $8000 for Getaway

○     Morris Arts:  $10,000 for general operational support

○     M&T Bank:  $9000 for special concerts.

○     The Standard:  $9000 for special concerts

○     Sony Corporation:  $9000 for special concerts (Declined. Seems they are not funding projects at this point. Invited us to apply again in April)

Robin Schaffer

Bob McNally

Newsletter Committee Report 2023-09

Things are proceeding as usual with the invaluable help of Kathi Caccavale, Pat Brangs, Bill Henderson, Gary Pratt, Susan Lembo, and Todd Dennison.

George Otto

Folk Project Newsletter Editor

newsletter@folkproject.org 

Publicity Report for the September 5, 2023 Board Meeting

Sam Edelston, September 4, 2023

Publicity Committee Members

Alicia Weimer, George Otto, Howard Goldman, Jean Scully, Jim Gartner, Joanne Cronin, Kathi Caccavale, Liz Pagan, Loretta Brooks, Mark Schaffer, Michael Mitsch, Mike Rauchwerk, Olga Alvarez, Pat Brangs, Paul Fisher, Ralph Pedicini, Rebecca Rydell, MaryLynn Schiavi

Web Team Members                                 

John Lamb, Allan Kugel, Charles Lamb, Lori Falco

Reports

Chairperson’s Report – Sam Edelston

Google Analytics shows a big increase in July-August visits to our website’s Ticketing page – and the Homepage more than doubled (from 1400-1700 visits per month recently, to 3743 visits in August). Two plausible explanations: Traffic related to UkeFest, and/or the revised Music Alert format with the links across the top.

MaryLynn Schiavi is doing final tweaks on the promotional video. She’s aiming to have it done by the end of this week.

We’ve got some exciting artists coming up at the Troubadour: Silk City, Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman, Abbie Gardner (who impressed everybody at our April 15 Songwriting event), rising star Sam Robbins, Jay Ungar & Molly Mason. I’m looking forward to trying to get more butts in seats for them.

E-communications – Mark Schaffer

Mark says:

Constant Contact recommended eliminating a few hundred bad email addresses, so the number of monthly bounces went from 346 to down to 64 and the report numbers are skewed compared to previous reports. The number of total emails sent is down, and, therefore, mathematically, the percentage of opens is up.

Here are the Music Alert numbers for the month of August:

Sends: 38,448

Opens: 13,915

Opens: 37.6%

Mobile Open Rate: 3.1%

Number of Clicks: 676

The Music Alert format was changed at the end of July, resulting in more clicks. With 300 events annually and a dozen varied programs, members and guests are confused about what we offer. For years, guests can attend only one of our functions and not know about the others.

Addendum to e-Communications Subcommittee Report for September 2023

For a year, Sandie Jacobs has been a key member of the e-communications team.

Twice a week, Sandie set up the next Music Alert, putting in the top articles,

creating and inserting thumbnails, and creating links in the news blocks, articles, sidebar, and  the recently-retired admission section. It’s a relentless, twice-weekly job that doesn’t stop. She worked hard to learn it and worked consistently to do it.

When she signed up for this job, she spoke very highly about the Folk Project and its volunteers and how much they do for everyone, and how she wanted the chance to give back.

Sandie’s stepping down and I wanted to thank her publicly on behalf of the Alert Team and personally for all the work she saved me.

Loretta Brooks is taking over those tasks and I’m looking forward to working with her.

Mark

The new navigation bar at the top divides the 300 events into five tabs:

•         Special Events

•         Fridays (Troubadour & Open Stage)

•         Streaming Tuesdays

•         Folk Project Online

•         Contra Dances

The admissions section at the bottom of each Music Alert was organized similarly. It got very few clicks. The new navigation bar at the top gets clicks.

Facebook – Kathi Caccavale

Folk Project Page:  6,043 Followers (up from 6,032 last month). 4886 people Like this.

Folk Project group: 1,981 members, up from 1,962 last month.

Swingin’ Tern group: 642 members; up slightly from 640 last month.

NJ Uke Fest group: 281 members; up from 275 last month.

Kathi is away. Sam filling in:

Slow and steady growth in Followers and group members, even though Page & Profile Visits are down.

Instagram – Ralph Pedicini

Sam says:

Content Overview (from Facebook/Instagram reports):

·         Instagram followers: 433, up from 430 last month.

·         Instagram – Down from December, but up compared to November.

o   Reach: 240 … Up over 50% from 155 last month

o   Profile visits: 20 … up slightly from 16 last month, but down from 23, 49 and 55 in the previous three months

o   New Followers: 6

Twitter – Jean Scully

No report from Jean.

Web – John Lamb

Here’s John’s writeup.

September Folk Project Webmaster Report

The webmaster was out of the country for most of August, but with some help from the rest of the team, we did the following

•                     maintained the boardplus and halloween email forwarding lists

•                     provided the usual support for the eNewsletter

•                     created event entries for Inside the Song and Getaway

•                     maintained an event entry for Ukefest

•                     added a non-discrimination statement to our About page

•                     consulted with the Treasurer about the coordination with the website that will be needed if the PayPal sub-account structure is to be changed

•                     started looking for a suitable replacement for the Troubadour laptop, which died in August

Google Analytics numbers for both July and August are attached to this report. [Sam notes: We recently migrated to the new Google Analytics platform. See the “GA4” tab for current information.]

As always, many thanks to Lori, Charles, Liz and Allan.  Please send questions, comments and suggestions to webmaster@folkproject.org.

John Lamb, webmaster

Merch – Paul Fisher (acting)

Nothing new to report.

Sound Reinforcement Committee Report September 2023

We provided sound for the four Friday night shows scheduled in August. All proceeded normally, without technical incidents. The new streaming service continues to provide incident free service.

The stage equipment restoration is still in process. The list is growing and will cover the mic stands, the microphones, and the mic cables. Once the entire collection is evaluated, I will put the refurbish, replace options into action.

 John Mahon

Committee Chairperson

Dear Board,

Special Events Report to Board for September 2023:

NJ Uke Fest - Mark & Robin Schaffer

35 registrations as of today, plenty for successful Home Edition. Post-COVID attendance uncertainty led to careful budgeting and a small ticket price increase. The event is expected to make a small profit.

Folk Project Future Planning Cochair, The Wife, suggested a one-day NJ Uke Fest run on the model of Getaway Songwriters Day. We’ll be examining this 

Acoustic Getaway - Mark & Robin Schaffer

56 people have registered for Getaway. 3 are day passes. 3 performers are overnight guests. We are committed to paying for 80% of the 76 beds we reserved, i.e., 61 beds,

so we are only five beds short fulfilling that obligation and not paying a penalty. Note that pre-COVID we sold all 150 tickets within two or three weeks. Contracts for 2024  pring Getaway have yet to be signed, but let's note that the committee and the board made a full, 150 guest commitment for next year.

Evenings of Music - Jay Wilensky

The September Evening of Music is moved to the Humphreys in Randolph.This is the first in 2023 not held at the Schaffers. Everybody should attend this Fridays.

Special Concerts - Mark

The Future Planning Committee has discussed and recommended a higher-profile Special Concert Series as a proven means to draw first-timers into the Folk Project network of programs. FPC cochair Robin The Wife is applying for grants to support the program. Her efforts included a planning discussion with Caffe Lena CEO Sarah Craig.

Sincerely taking a nap,

Mark Schaffer, Special Events Chair

Board members,

Troubadour and Streaming Tuesdays concerts via Afton are running smoothly.

We have begun beta testing the use of Zoom with Afton. If successful, the use of Zoom will significantly reduce the setup time for Streaming Tuesdays performers. The change would not affect the streaming of Troubadour shows.

On Sunday, November 19, at 7pm, the Folk Project Streaming Tuesdays concert and Music My Mother Would Not Like are co-producing a streamed tribute show of “The Last Waltz Concert”, which was performed by The Band and Friends on Thanksgiving 1976. Folk performers from around the country will perform songs from “The Last Waltz Concert”. This will be a benefit concert for The Folk Project and Sing Me a Song, streamed via Afton Livestream. More details to come!

September Streaming Tuesdays performers:

9/12 - Freedy Johnston

9/19 - Lucas Maehara Rotman

9/26 - Tom Chapin

Respectfully submitted,

Gary Pratt

Folk Project Streaming Chair

Swingin' Tern Report - August 2023

Yet another good month.

On August 5 we hosted Karen Justin And Sue Gola calling to Rhythmic Heart, and on August 19 we hosted Alexandra Deis-Lauby to Henry Koretzky and Bruce Young. All of these performers are well known and well appreciated by our regular dancers.

For the second dance, the scheduled band had to cancel shortly beforehand because of an infection. On the morning of the dance Henry and Bruce stepped forward -- and drove quite some distance -- to play for us and enable the dance to be held.

Some of our dances are now called as "Larks and Robins" in lieu of "Gents and Ladies." Most dancers seem indifferent to the terminology, while some have a strong preference for one over the other, and we expect to use both for the foreseeable future.

We made $135 for the month.

Leigh Walker

Swingin' Tern

Everyone,

Not much to report. Our bank account is flush with cash due to Uke Fest and Fall Getaway sales with very little expenses to date.

Any questions just ask.

For the first time since we reopened, our operations over the past 12 months are in the black, exclusive of any donations made during that period.  Not by much.  A big $211.  But in the black, nonetheless.  In that 12 month period, we also received $1,338 in donations.  August was a slow month for the Troubadour.  Average paid attendance was 57.7 (plus 14.6 unpaid), and financially we lost $51 over the course of the month.  But it was August.  Lots of people were away.  Year-to-date, we are $899 in the black, again exclusive of any donations.

I discovered an error in my financial calculations of the past 4 months.  I had not been including the fees that Afton takes from our streaming ticket sales amongst our losses, making our Y.T.D. profits appear $235 greater than they actually were.  This report’s figures have rectified that mistake.

The streaming ticket fees we have been collecting since we switched to Afton have provided a significant boost to our financial situation, contributing an average of $68.55 per show net, for a total of $754 since we started with Afton.  The tips from streaming viewers have also added an average of $103 to our headline performers’ take as well, making the streaming service a win-win proposition to all concerned.  I have no way of knowing how many streaming viewers might have come to the show if streaming were not available, but I’m guessing not that many.  A goodly number of streaming viewers are not local to Morristown.

Here’s an interesting statistic to ponder:  The average pay that Feature Act has walked away with since Afton has been $836.  Of that, the Folk Project’s portion has averaged only $218, or 26%.  The rest has come directly from the audience:  $515 from the Creel, and 103 from online tips.

In my booking decisions, I have always given preference to Folk Project member-performers, especially those who are active in our activities (attendance at our concerts and Open Stages, frequent volunteers, Board members, etc.)  I am more inclined to book member performers as headliners, rather than openers, and more inclined to book members as openers, whereas I might not book them at all if they were not members.  I do that for two reasons:  1. As a perk for service to the Project, and 2. They might draw fellow-members to the show to see them perform.  I have found that in general, that 2nd reason has not been particularly effective.  Attendance at shows featuring our member-performers as headliners has usually been noticeably below average.  (52 paid for Bill Hall, and 54 for Tina Ross this year, for example.)  Nonetheless, I will continue with this policy of favoring member performers for reason #1.

New bookings in August:

1. November 3: Singer-Songwriter Sam Robbins.  I am likely to book an opener for him before the September meeting as well.

2. November 17: Vocal harmony trio Mad Agnes with Canadian songwriter/guitarist Shawna Caspi opening

3. November 24 (Thanksgiving Friday):  Chorus Song Night, featuring Ken & Pat Rolston, Pete & Bernie DeMaio, Hal Guitarist, and Mike Agranoff

Highlight Show in September:

1. September 29:  Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman  Astonishing Celtic harp & guitar duo.

Respectfully submitted:

Mike Agranoff

Program Chair

The Troubadour Acoustic Concert Series

Morristown, NJ. USA

www.Troubadour.FolkProject.org