NORTHWEST CHORAL SOCIETY
MEETING MINUTES
November 12, 2013
CALL TO ORDER:
The November Board Meeting of the Northwest Choral Society was held at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 1095 Dempster/Thacker, Des Plaines, IL. The meeting was called to order at 6:33 PM by NWCS Board President Penny Perles. The following board members were present:
Greykell Dutton Penny Perles
Kelsey Green John Schindler
David Hitch Diane Szuberla
Mary Jane Matecki Ruta Veitmanis
Also present: Alan Wellman, Artistic Director, and Jerry Borek, Graphic Designer and Webmaster.
MEETING MINUTES:
The meeting minutes of the October 8 board meeting were reviewed and one correction was needed. Under Development Committee, the sentence should read: “Later this month Mary Jane Matecki will send out donation request letters to everyone on our mailing list.” Mary Jane made a motion to accept the corrected minutes. The motion was seconded by Greykell Dutton. The motion passed.
The meeting minutes of the October 15 Meeting of the Whole were reviewed and no corrections were needed. Mary Jane made a motion to accept the minutes. The motion was seconded by Kelsey Green. The motion passed.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Noreen LaValle sent the treasurer’s report for October. Cash disbursements totaled $7,885.95. Cash receipts totaled $15,199.50. Our regular account balance was $14,659.85. Including the J. Melcher Memorial Fund and petty cash, our final total was $17,711.85. Ruta Veitmanis made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. Greykell seconded the motion. The motion passed.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR:
All the musicians for our December concerts have been contracted.
John Abbey will record the audio of our concert at the Grace Lutheran Church. His fee has increased slightly since the last time we used his services.
The harpist and the orchestra will be at our Tuesday, December 3rd, rehearsal at the First Congregational United Church. Lori will accompany us at our Friday, December 6th, rehearsal at Grace Lutheran Church.
ADVERTISING COMMITTEE:
Greykell announced that we have sold a total of 16 ads and have earned $1150.00.
PROMOTIONS:
Diane Szuberla still needs a few ushers for the concerts.
We have sold 7 Early Bird and 3 Season tickets.
All 50 active chorus members have now donated to our members’ giving fund, plus two inactive members, giving us a total of $3270.00. In our concert program, our members’ list will only include those who are singing this concert, have paid this fall’s membership fee and have donated to our members’ giving fund. The inactive members who donated to our giving fund, but are not singing nor have paid the membership fee, will be listed in the concert program only as donors. This year we will not include the names of members who are not singing nor paid the membership fee nor donated to our giving fund.
DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE:
David Hitch has started a search for grant money for us. He has sent in our organization’s two years’ (FY12 and FY13) financial data to the Cultural Data Project. He has received a Funder Report, a list of people and organizations who could give grant money. He found three potential donors. David also registered us with the Illinois eGrant system.
The donor letters to people on our mailing list will go out this week.
FACILITIES COMMITTEE:
John Schindler would like help setting up chairs at the First Congregational United Church, Tuesday, December 3rd, 7:00 PM. As always, he also needs help setting up and taking down equipment on concert days.
PUBLICITY:
Penny Perles has submitted a press release about our December concerts and our outreach concerts to the newspapers, Grace Lutheran Church and the Daily Herald website. Mary Jane submitted a release to the TribLocal. Kelsey Green is posting information on Facebook.
We will offer 50 tickets for $10.00 each to the Goldstar website.
FACEBOOK:
Kelsey is tracking how many and when people are looking at our Facebook page. The most popular time is Saturday mornings. Kelsey also requested Jerry Borek to send her a pdf file of our poster to post on our Facebook page.
WEBSITE:
Jerry has been adding new information to our website, but there is still a lot of old data. How should we revamp the website? What do expect from it? Alan answered that the website should be easy to use, be interactive and present samples of our concerts. Jerry suggested that board/chorus members send him examples of websites that they like. More discussions will follow after the holidays.
Jerry will have the sample program for the December concert ready for review next week. He needs the final copy back by November 21st. Shall we put the donation envelopes in the programs? Should we video record the concert?
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL CHOIR TOUR:
Twenty five members have signed up for the trip. We will have 5 performances there. Scholarships have been offered to members for the trip.
NEW BUSINESS:
We need to limit announcements during rehearsals and instead share more information by email. Therefore, if you have any information you wish to share with members, please send it by email to Penny and she will included it in her weekly emails.
Several board members suggested that we purchase our own keyboard and accessories to use in situations (for example, at outreach sites) where there is no piano available. Up to now Gary Eberlein has brought his along for such occasions. Alan stated that there are practical issues involved, such as where we would store the keyboard and who would transport it. The proposal was tabled for the time being.
Our Christmas party will be December 10th at El Sombrero Restaurant in Mount Prospect. We will have a set menu. Members with special dietary needs may order their own meal.
At our Saturday rehearsal, November 16th, we will provide a light lunch consisting of fruit and vegetable trays from Costco.
During the Holiday season, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has local music groups providing entertainment in the various lobby areas during intermission. Penny has submitted our group for a possible performance next Christmas season. We will know by next October if we are accepted.
NEXT MEETING:
Our next Board Meeting will be January 14, 2014, 6:30 PM, before rehearsal at St. Martin’s.
ADJOURNMENT:
The Board Meeting was adjourned at 7:31 PM by a motion from John and a second from Mary Jane. The motion passed.
Ruta Veitmanis
Recording Secretary
Northwest Choral Society