NORTHWEST CHORAL SOCIETY
MEETING MINUTES
February 8, 2014
CALL TO ORDER:
The February Board Meeting of the Northwest Choral Society was held at the home of Greykell Dutton, 405 S. Clifton, Park Ridge, IL. The meeting was called to order at 12:58 PM by NWCS Board President Penny Perles. The following board members were present:
Greykell Dutton Penny Perles
David Hitch Diane Szuberla
Noreen LaValle Ruta Veitmanis
Mary Jane Matecki
Also present: Alan Wellman, Artistic Director.
MEETING MINUTES:
The meeting minutes of the January 13, 2014 board meeting were reviewed and one correction was needed. Under New Business, the eighth bullet should read: Penny has entered our May concert in the events calendar of the publication by the Northwest Cultural Council in Palatine. Noreen LaValle made a motion to accept the corrected minutes. The motion was seconded by Mary Jane Matecki. The motion passed.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Noreen presented the treasurer’s report for January 2014. Cash disbursements totaled $5,603.00. Cash receipts totaled $1,927.00. Our regular account balance was $7,453.21. Including the J. Melcher Memorial Fund and petty cash, our final total was $10,505.21. David Hitch made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. Diane Szuberla seconded the motion. The motion passed.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR:
Alan Wellman presented the dates for our 2014/2015 concert season:
◦ Our December concert will be the weekend of the 6th/7th. Most members thought that Sunday afternoon, the 7th, would be best as most of our audience are seniors.
◦ Our next concert presenting Whitbourn’s Annelies will be April 18, 2015. For our venue we will try to find a Jewish community center or temple or even the Holocaust Museum in Skokie.
◦ Our Spring concert presenting The Magical Music of Disney will be June 14, 2015, a Sunday afternoon. We will try to find a ‘child friendly’ venue.
PROMOTIONS:
Diane announced that we have received matching funds from three companies: $100.00 from Northern Trust, $25.00 from Pfizer and $75.00 from IBM.
Diane also asked if the thank you letters to our helpers and donors at our December concert have been sent. Mary Jane confirmed that they have been sent.
DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE:
David has learned that the Chicago Community Trust has grant money available. He will send in an application for us. The recipients will be announced May 1st.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE:
Greykell has received emails from two people seeking a group to sing with. She will keep in contact with everyone who shows an interest in our group.
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL CHOIR TOUR:
Rae Beth Egan, Tammi Lothson and Brian Lee may be interested in joining our tour this summer. Penny will also contact Linda and Gary Eberlein to see it they are interested. They are not singing this session.
PUBLICITY:
Penny has posted on our website an article describing our May concert and Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park.
SUNSHINE COMMITTEE:
Flowers were sent to Jean Merzon, who was recently hospitalized.
OLD BUSINESS:
Alan will not be able to attend the American Choral Director’s Meeting in Cincinnati this year.
We will contact Bill Rohlfing to record our May concert. He has recorded other concerts at Grace Episcopal Church and charges around $300.00.
We will pay Jerry Borek $250.00 to continue as our graphic designer and webmaster this session. We will then reevaluate our needs and renegotiate for the next concert season.
Robyn Borek is recording our rehearsals and then Jerry is putting them in the members’ section of our website.
Our outreach program at Lutheran General Hospital will be Wednesday, April 2. Alan will be able to attend and Tammi Lothson will accompany us on our keyboard. The program will probably be Motown and Americana.
NEW BUSINESS:
Alan is considering continuing with music/voice education for our members. After our current 6 weeks of music education end, he would like to have Hilary Feldman continue with another 6 weeks of voice education. We will probably need to increase member’s cost to $25.00 since these first 6 weeks Hilary is giving us at a discounted rate.
Mary Jane presented the results of recent surveys of our audience. Our largest group of attendees are 60 years and older, are repeat members and have learned of our concerts from chorus members.
NEXT MEETING:
Our next Board Meeting will be March 18, 6:30 PM, before rehearsal at St. Martin’s.
ADJOURNMENT:
The Board Meeting was adjourned at 1:55 PM by a motion from Noreen and a second from Mary Jane. The motion passed.
Ruta Veitmanis
Recording Secretary
Northwest Choral Societ