NORTHWEST CHORAL SOCIETY
MEETING MINUTES
March 19, 2014
CALL TO ORDER:
The March 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 7:15 PM by NWCS Board President Penny Perles. The following board members were present:
Greykell Dutton John Schindler
David Hitch Ruta Veitmanis
Penny Perles
MEETING MINUTES:
The meeting minutes of the February 8, 2014 board meeting were reviewed and no corrections were needed. John Schindler made a motion to accept the minutes. The motion was seconded by David Hitch. The motion passed.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Noreen LaValle sent the treasurer’s report for February 2014. Cash disbursements totaled $1,762.00. Cash receipts totaled $3,706.67. Our regular account balance was $9,397.88. Including the J. Melcher Memorial Fund and petty cash, our final total was $12,449.88. Ruta Veitmanis made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. Greykell Dutton seconded the motion. The motion passed.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR:
Alan Wellman was unable to attend this evening. Penny will remind him to send some of our next concert’s tickets to Gold Star.
PROMOTIONS:
Diane Szuberla sent a list of 17 donors who had contributed other years, but not yet this year. We will provide board members with a script and ask them to help call these people. Since Diane could not attend this evening, we will wait for her to assign the donors to board members. We have 7 new donors this year.
DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE:
Mary Jane Matecki and David Hitch will go to Glenview State Bank in Mount Prospect to recruit them as possible sponsors.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE:
Board members discussed the importance of keeping contact with choir members who are no longer singing. We can ask them to help at concerts, invite them to our August Meet & Greet and maybe give them a free ticket some time.
PUBLICITY:
Penny has sent a press release to Pioneer Press and some other local newspapers. We will also pay for 4 advertisements in the River Forest and Oak Park local papers – Forest Leaves and Oak Leaves. Mary Jane, Penny and Noreen will distribute posters in Oak Park.
WEBSITE:
When searching for our webpage in Google, the statement that ‘this site may be hacked’ comes up. This is probably due to the age of our website, making it more susceptible to hacking. The final solution may be to create a new website. In the meantime, Jerry Borek will look into a temporary solution. Otherwise, there is no problem with the website.
SUNSHINE COMMITTEE:
Flowers were sent to Jane Peterson due to her recent illness.
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL CHOIR TOUR:
One more choir member has signed up for the trip making it now 6 sopranos, 9 altos, 4 tenors and 4 basses.
Could we have a pre-trip concert Sunday, July 6th? Most board members present thought that many members might not be back in town yet due to the longer 4th of July weekend. Could we have the concert that Tuesday evening?
OLD BUSINESS:
Our goals and strategies are a separate attachment to these minutes. Some additional ideas from chorus members:
◦ Invite chorus members to board meetings.
◦ Create a new website. Penny asked that board members look at other choral groups’ websites to get ideas.
◦ Get a new name and/or logo for our group.
◦ Have business cards for our group.
◦ Hold rehearsal from 7:00 to 9:00 PM, occasionally lasting to 9:30. Several present and new members have remarked that rehearsals until 10:00 PM are hard for those who have a long drive home.
Food for our Saturday, April 12th, rehearsal will be similar to our previous Saturday rehearsal. The board will order wraps and then ask chorus members to bring salads, fruits and vegetables. We will have a sign-up sheet.
Bill Rohlfing will record our May concert. He has recorded other concerts at Grace Episcopal Church and charges around $300.00.
Venue suggestions for our 2014/15 season:
◦ Sunday, December 7th: Penny has tentatively reserved Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest. We have also received an invitation to sing at St. Raymond Church, Mount Prospect. David recommended that we start our concert at 3:00 PM so that audience members can arrive in daylight.
◦ Saturday, April 18th: The Holocaust Museum is not a possible venue since it costs $2,300.00 to rent and Temple Shalom does not accept outside groups. Still possible venues: JRC in Evanston (they offer scholarships so perhaps we can ask them to subsidize our concert), JCC Chicago Theater in Skokie ($650.00 rent) and Northbrook Theater (owned by the Northbrook Park District). The Mount Prospect Public Library is also interested in hosting our “Annelies” concert. Our regular concert will be with a chamber orchestra, but there is a piano version we could use for the library.
◦ Sunday, June 14th: Possible venues we are considering are Harper ($1,000.00 rental) and Oakton Community Colleges, Evanston Children’s Theater and Devonshire Theater in Skokie.
NEW BUSINESS:
Could we hold our annual meeting of the whole and board member election Tuesday evening, April 29th? Rather than give oral reports, we could hand out written reports from the officers and committee chairpersons.
Five board members are up for reelection this year: Penny, David, Diane, Mary Jane and Ruta. Rather than have a nominations committee, board members will approach people they consider good candidates for a board position. We will also ask for volunteers in our regular announcements. New board members do not need to hold an office during their first year. They can serve as member-at-large.
Penny has begun work on our next concert’s program book.
We will begin seeking volunteers for our 50th anniversary committee which will consist of 2 board members and 4 or 5 general members.
NEXT MEETING:
A definite date has not been set. Saturday, April 12th, after our rehearsal has been suggested.
ADJOURNMENT:
The Board Meeting was adjourned at 8:55 PM by a motion from Greykell, in absentia for Noreen, and a second from John. The motion passed.
Ruta Veitmanis
Recording Secretary
Northwest Choral Society