NORTHWEST CHORAL SOCIETY
MEETING MINUTES
October 13, 2015
CALL TO ORDER:
The October 2015 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 6:37 PM by NWCS President Penny Perles.
The following board members were present:
Meredith Bechtel Mary Jane Matecki
Angela Carlson Penny Perles
Greykell Dutton John Schindler
Kelsey Green Diane Szuberla
David Hitch Ruta Veitmanis
Noreen LaValle
Also present: Alan Wellman, Artistic Director.
MEETING MINUTES:
The meeting minutes of the September 15th board meeting were reviewed. No corrections were needed.
Noreen LaValle made a motion to accept the minutes. The motion was seconded by Mary Jane Matecki. The motion passed.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Noreen LaValle presented the treasurer’s report for September. Cash disbursements totaled $1,320.00. Cash receipts totaled $2,860.00. Our regular account balance now was $8,318.48. Including petty cash, our final total was $8,353.48. Ruta Veitmanis made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. The motion was seconded by Kelsey Green. The motion passed.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY:
Mary Jane sent flowers to Rita Szopinski upon the death of her mother.
MUSIC DIRECTOR:
Alan Wellman stated that the recording of our Christmas CD was a success. It took about 10 physically tiring hours, but everyone stayed focused and did a good job. It is a tribute to how far we have progressed these last 5 years.
PROMOTIONS:
Diane Szuberla stated that in response to our season flyer, we have received an order for 2 tickets and $125.00 in donations. We also have received $525.00 in members’ donations.
ADVERTISING COMMITTEE:
- Kelsey estimates that we will have about $1120.00 in program book ads. Tonight is the official deadline, but she will accept ads for one more week.
- This year we have not had success selling full page ads for $175.00 per page. Kelsey suggested that we lower the price to $150.00. By voice vote of the members present, the price for a full price ad was lowered to $150.00 per page.
- So far we have 15 ads for our program book. 13 of them are half page ads.
DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE:
- David Hitch has again begun actively seeking corporate donors. He has an appointment with the manager of Glenview State Bank and has contacted First Midwest Bank and Norchem Inc.
- The letters to potential donors have been sent. Letters to our last year’s donors were sent with handwritten addresses and names on the letters and a mention of the amount they donated last year. Mary Jane’s husband did most of this writing.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE:
Greykell Dutton announced that she will be moving out of state next February or March. She will continue to help Kelsey with research for the pre-concert lectures.
FACEBOOK:
Kelsey continues to actively post on our Facebook page. She already has posted several pictures from our CD recording sessions this weekend.
GRAPHIC DESIGN:
We are working on the postcard and poster for our December concert. We will begin sending out the postcards and distributing posters the first week of November.
WEBSITE:
The members’ section of our website now has the updated versions of our Handbook, members’ roster and the rehearsal schedule through December.
50th ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE:
For our raffle Kelsey has obtained 4 tickets to an auto show and she is preparing a stained glass window. Penny and Noreen will try to get tickets to a show at theaters such as the Lincolnshire Marriott and the Paramount. Other suggestions are for a gift certificate/card for Whole Foods and Lynfred Winery (e.g. wine tasting for 10 people).
CD PRODUCTION:
Now that the recording is complete, Gargoyle Brass is responsible for a cover for the CD and we will provide the program notes.
OLD BUSINESS:
We will present to the membership and begin our Annual Members’ Support Fund at this evening’s rehearsal.
NEW BUSINESS:
- Chorus America has several online seminars that are free to members. Since our chorus is a member, any chorus member may participate free of charge. Penny will provide a password which is needed for registration. These webinars deal with the business side of operating a non-profit organization. One of these webinars is about applying for grant money. More information is available at chorusamerica.org/conference-programs/online-learning.
- Penny will talk to our new members about concert dress.
- We will not be participating this year in Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s ‘Together in the Loss of a Child’ memorial. Only three of our members would have been able to sing.
NEXT MEETING:
Our next Board Meeting will be Tuesday, November 10th, 6:30 PM, before rehearsal at St. Martin’s.
ADJOURNMENT:
The Board Meeting was adjourned at 7:09 PM by a motion from Noreen and a second from Mary Jane. The motion passed.
Ruta Veitmanis
Recording Secretary, Northwest Choral Society