Rain City Symphony Board Meeting
September 4, 2013
Board Members in attendance: Doug Potter, Dana Rosenbladt, Patricia Shannon-Garvey, Gennie Winkler, Lindsey Harris, Linda O'Gara, John Dunne, Teresa Metzger-Howe
1. June minutes approved
2. Email votes: an Email vote approved the Church rental agreement that is substantially the same as the FY13 Agreement with these changes:
1. $60/rehearsal
2. Payment monthly instead of quarterly
3. Advance notice of when we will or won't use the church.(satisfied by pointing them at our web page).
3. Finances: $4, 345.37 in checking and 5,055.70 in savings. Thalia check hasn’t gone through yet. Teresa will check with them. There will probably be a loss in this year’s budget because of the pay to guest musicians. Last year’s budget is on the website. We should expect another $2,100 from 4culture and maybe a grant from Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs.
4. Review last year's one-year action plan – See Below
5. Review and Revise five-year plan – See below.
6. Come up with this year's one-year action plan – See below.
7. Patricia is officially elected to the board.
Reflecting on Last year's one-year action plan:
1. Look into UCC as a rehearsal space - need to check on cost of
renting UCC, heating the space, food okay?, etc.
--We did this but didn’t work out.
2. Recruit new orchestra members to fill sections: Trumpet?, Oboe?,
Horn?, principal cellist. Cheri will put out Craigslist ad, Doug will email
to find out which members are returning
--Did this.
3. Have a discussion with the group about dress and appearance -
agreed that we don't need to go the route of requiring tuxes, but could more
strictly emphasize concert dress
-- We think it’s the music that counts.
4. See if we can find a chamber group coordinator - This could be a
new board member position - would coordinate chamber groups not only to
perform at full orch. concerts, but chamber groups could perform at
retirement homes that the orchestra has outgrown
--X
5. Look into possibility of Children's Outreach Concerts- Cheri,
Lindsey - one idea is trying a summer outreach concert in a park or other
more accessible public space
--X
6. Distribute and collect an audience questionnaire at a concert -
edit John D's drafted questionnaire - aim is towards increasing our audience
by finding out how the current audience hears about us, what they prefer,
etc.
--We did this, but haven’t done anything with the results. Does Cheri have the questionnaires that were filled out at the Winter Concert last year?
7. Solicit retirement homes to send an activity bus to our concerts -
Cheri offered for now - could be part of that "new board member position"
mentioned in #4
-- We will try that again this year. Patricia plans to call them up. She has the list from Cheri.
8. Regularize Membership Service - Doug- present new orchestra members
with a document (that could also be posted online) that would explain what
they need to know about rehearsals, sectionals, logging onto the website,
dues, etc.
--Doug says he will do that.
9. Violas need a place for sectionals – Dana
--It has been working to go to Lila’s.
10. Hold special event for Teresa's 10th anniversary as conductor.
--Done!
Reflecting on Last Year's Five-year plan:
1. Find better rehearsal space - the acoustics in the current rehearsal space are way less than ideal (and the storage issue still has not been worked out).
-- Some of the storage issue has been resolved. The music has been moved outside of the locked area to make more room for the tympani. There was an exhaustive search and nothing worthwhile was found right now. The report from that search will go up on the website. Can stay on 5-year plan, but not go on 1-year plan for this year.
2. Use a coach (or coaches) as soloists.
--Happening with a vengeance.
3. Find a bassist and principal cellist
--Found principal cellist, but need more basses. Patricia will put up craigslist ad for basses in particular.
4. Better appearance at concerts: attire, stagecraft (more intentional)
--Need a stage manager. Dana is being house manager. Attire is not such a great need. We need someone to arrive by 6pm to coordinate with the church and guest soloists and such. Possibilities: Ruben (Kat’s husband), Patricia’s husband, or Bruce Sherman.
5. Expand chamber music - chamber music must be coached - could do outreach.
6. Look into educational outreach concerts (Ideas: combine with a dress rehearsal in
a park or the Center House?)
7. Increase audience at concerts
We have been having larger audiences we think (we’ve made more money in donations), but we do need hard numbers this year (Cheri might have them for last year). We could be a sponsor or ad on the radio (KingFM or KUOW).
This year’s 5 year plan – 2013-2014:
1. Find better rehearsal space - the acoustics in the current rehearsal space are way less than ideal.
2. Have a full orchestra (including 4 string basses).
3. Better stagecraft.
4. Expand outreach via chamber groups – Have a chamber music coordinator to facilitate opportunities for performance in the community.
5. Increase audience at concerts.
Encourage people to bring a friend and ask orchestra members promote. Put
that in the program and the board president should say that outloud.
6. Expand the funding base in order to get a better rehearsal space.
This year’s 1-year Action Plan – 2013-2014:
1. Recruit more bass players – Patricia is on it.
2. Finding a stage manager
– Gennie recruiting and training. Talking to Bruce Sherman first.
3. Improved House Management
-- Dana is working on it and talking to Cheri about info from last Winter’s Concert: audience member counts, donation box, collation from last season’s questionnaires.
4. Better Publicity
-- Putting more in the programs (donors, coaches, board members) and stepping up the board president announcements (use mic. and such)
5. Chamber Music Survey
6. Get insurance on the tympani. – Doug is finding it as soon as possible.
7. Record Volunteer time – John will solicit via a form.
8. Expand Funding – check with Horizon Foundation, bolster annual fund and publish donors/business sponsors in the program and on the website -- John will announce at first rehearsals.
