NORTHWEST CHORAL SOCIETY
MEETING MINUTES
July 20, 2013
CALL TO ORDER:
The July Board Meeting of the Northwest Choral Society was held at the home of President Penny Perles, 500 S. Crestwood Lane, Mount Prospect, IL. The meeting was called to order at 12:40 PM by Penny. The following board members were present:
Greykell Dutton Penny Perles
Kelsey Green Diane Szuberla
Mary Jane Matecki Ruta Veitmanis
David Hitch left the meeting early to supervise our participation in the Des Plaines Summer Fling that afternoon.
Also present: Alan Wellman, Artistic Director, and Dick Knepler, guest.
MEETING MINUTES:
The meeting minutes of the May 14 board meeting were reviewed and two corrections were needed.
◦ Under Promotions, the second sentence should read: “Geoffrey Green is still working on the Early Bird flyers for next season.”
◦ Under Publicity, the Goldstar website was not used to sell tickets to the June concert.
Greykell Dutton made a motion to accept the corrected minutes. The motion was seconded by Mary Jane Matecki. The motion passed.
The meeting minutes of the May 28 Annual Meeting of the Whole and Election of Board Members meeting were reviewed and no corrections were needed. Kelsey Green made a motion to accept the minutes. The motion was seconded by Diane Szuberla. The motion passed.
The meeting minutes of the June 1 board meeting were reviewed and no corrections were needed. Mary Jane made a motion to accept the minutes. The motion was seconded by Greykell. The motion passed.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Noreen LaValle had sent the treasurer’s report for May. Cash disbursements totaled $2,940.00. Cash receipts totaled $325.50. Our regular account balance was $11,947.52. Including the J. Melcher Memorial Fund and petty cash, our final total was $15,019.52. Mary Jane made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. Kelsey seconded the motion. The motion passed.
Noreen also sent the treasurer’s report for June. Cash disbursements totaled $4,530.72. Cash receipts totaled $5,635.55. Our regular account balance was $13,052.35. Including the J. Melcher Memorial Fund and petty cash, our final total was $16,124.35. Mary Jane made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. Greykell seconded the motion. The motion passed.
Also received was the Profit & Loss Budget vs. Actual – July 2012 through June 2013. Our total income was $11,763.79 more than budgeted. Our total expenses were also $4,478.05 more than budgeted. However, this gave us a net income of $7,285.74. (This wiped out our projected $5,330.00 deficit and left us with a clear gain of $1,955,74)
The proposed budget for the 2013-2014 season was drafted and is a separate report at the end of these minutes.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR:
Alan Wellman stated that we have received the music for our December concert. He now needs to contract instrumentalists for the concert. Our Saturday performance will be at Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest and the Sunday venue TBA.
PROMOTIONS:
Diane announced that we have received three Early Bird orders requesting five season tickets and donating $620.00.
She also presented the June 2013 concert ticket results:
◦ Ticket sales totaled $4339.00. This single performance gave us 84% of the ticket sales of last year’s two June performances.
◦ 267 people attended the concert – 97 with adult tickets and 170 with student/senior tickets. (Again 84% of last year’s attendance.)
◦ 40 members sold 157 tickets (83 by the top 9 sellers) and 105 tickets were bought at the door.
◦ 11 members did not sing this concert.
Board members agreed not to raise ticket prices this year. They will remain $20.00 for adults and $15.00 for students and seniors.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE:
Greykell stated that three potential chorus members have contacted us. One person is not available Tuesday evenings, but the other two asked to be kept informed about our activities.
Greykell is in charge of our Meet & Greet on August 20th. In preparation for this she asked that chorus members send her short, interesting vignettes of their experiences in the chorus. She also asked Alan to send her some songs that we could all sing that evening.
Auditions for new members will be August 27th at 7:30 PM. This year Alan would also like to hear all present members individually. He will ask sopranos to come in at 7:00 PM on the 27th. Altos will come in at 7:00 PM September 3rd (our first rehearsal evening) and tenors and basses at 7:00 PM September 10th.
Kelsey will take care of our Facebook page, but she needs to be granted Facebook administrative status.
PUBLICITY:
Our website has been updated with our Meet & Greet and next season’s concert schedule. Penny will also write a press release and submit it to area newspapers.
SUNSHINE COMMITTEE:
Chris Stukel and Ann Jensen will continue as co-chairpersons of this committee.
OLD BUSINESS:
David Hitch will continue to discuss a possible outreach concert for us with the Heartland Alliance.
Jeff Rayner has volunteered to help us with our YouTube videos. He will confer with Alan as to which videos to remove and which to add on.
NEW BUSINESS:
Because of the importance of using social media to promote our chorus, board members are concerned that it often takes Geoff Green six weeks to update a requested change on our website.
To keep the public’s interest, a new item should appear every few weeks or monthly on the website. They authorized Penny to talk to Geoff about this concern. Will he be able to keep up with our needs? Could we pay him for these services? Should we divide some of his responsibilities among other helpers?
Kelsey introduced us to the Acts of Kindness Cabaret, a volunteer organization which puts on cabaret shows as fundraisers for non-profit organizations. Also, Hilary Ann Feldman, the Executive and Artistic Director of the organization, gives musicianship/sheet music reading courses. Kelsey will get more information about the cabaret show and possible group lessons for our chorus.
NEXT MEETING:
Our next Board Meeting will be Tuesday, August 13, at Mary Jane’s home.
IMPORTANT FUTURE DATES:
Des Plaines Summer Fling – July 20 and 21
Meet & Greet – August 20
New Member Auditions – August 27
First Rehearsal – September 3
Des Plaines Fall Fest – Saturday, September 14, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Des Plaines Arts Fest – October 11, 8:00 PM
ADJOURNMENT:
The Board Meeting was adjourned at 2:20 PM by a motion from Alan and a second from Diane. The motion passed.
Ruta Veitmanis
Recording Secretary
Northwest Choral Society