CALL TO ORDER:
President Nathan S
ROLL CALL:
Nathan S, Nathan T, Kelsey, Sharon, Angela, Allie, Derek, Heather *attending electronically
APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES:
Motion Kelsey, Second Nathan T, unanimous passage
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT:
Website
I am finally through the bulk of coding on the new website. That means what is really left is some cleanup and porting all of the content over from the old website which will take some time. I am still hoping to be done by Annual Meeting, but we will see.
Sponsorships
I have made it through almost my entire call list. As of right now we have checks or pledged for a total of $3,500. There are still several previous sponsors that will be back but haven’t fully committed yet. My hope is to be closer to $6,000 by the time of the first show in 2024. I will also be expanding my list to hit any business I may have missed as well as some in Spearfish and the surrounding area. If you have any business that needs to be added to the list, please let me know.
Grants
Grant writing is starting to gear up. We have submitted for the Midco Foundation again for $2,000. We should know about that one in the next few months. I have an Arts Council and First Interstate Bank grant on my list to do in the near future, we just need a finished budget, which I am working on. For each of those, we will be requesting a few thousand dollars. Anna also came up with a list for me of other theater grants to go for, so my list is pretty full and will hit those hard after the first of the year.
Budget
I have started working on a budget for 2024:
Proposed 2024 Budget
If the BOD could give it a look and let me know anything I am missing or suggestions, that would be fantastic. I hope to have this done soon so it can be used for grants.
Annual Meeting
Just a reminder to start working on your Annual Meeting reports so I can have them by Jan 1.
Sound
The sound and lights document has already been used at the Rec Center but I did have to stop by for a few events already to help troubleshoot issues. I think I need to create an addendum for other technical support questions. I am still waiting to hear back from the Rec on when they want to set up a training session and I think I will reach out to the school and offer the same training.
Photography
To help us get better photography of shows in 2024 I have reached out to Hunter Anderson, a local photographer, to help out. I have worked with him at shoots for TDG so I know he does a great job and is very reliable. The hope is for him to take promotional photos for each show and in exchange we will give him a business sponsorship and ad.
Volunteer Appreciation
The Volunteer Appreciation night on Dec 2 went really great! We had a fantastic turnout, more than I expected. People had fun and it was great to have different people from different casts interact with one another. We also talked about the Annual Meeting a lot and I think we have some people from that event who will be coming. I think the fun laid-back atmosphere worked well instead of a more formal banquet or something like that.
Season Poster
I am waiting on the last bit of confirmation of a few things and then we will have Season Posters done and ready to hang up. Hopefully by the Annual Meeting.
OFFICER REPORTS:
- President
- Met with Sharon and Derek regarding membership. Submitted printing costs for expense report
- Vice President
- Nothing to report at this time
- Secretary
- Nothing to report at this time
- Treasurer
- Current bank balance $14,156.64
- Creative Committee
- Dinner Theater
- We have decided to move forward with a dinner theater event on Valentine’s Day. Toi will be in charge of this show and is starting to work out all of the details, we hope to start promoting in a few weeks on this.
- Writer’s Workshop
- Since we will be doing dinner theater in Feb, we are moving the Writer’s Workshop into late Jan – early Feb. I am in the process of locking down dates. I have checked with the Rec, and since we won’t be charging anything for this, we won’t have a rental cost. I will be leading this and the plan is two nights to do the actual workshop and the third night being a showcase where we bring in actors to read scripts on stage and that will be open to the public.
- Break a Leg
- Nathan and I have begun work on our scripts and have been communicating with Sharon and Stephanie about these. I will work with them very soon to get a practice schedule and audition dates set up. These will probably be in early February. At the last Creative Committee we discussed paying our local authors $50 for doing their shows, it’s not a lot, but it is something. So for this show it would be to pay Nathan Schreier and myself. I just want to be transparent about this.
- Murder on the Orient Express
- I am still in the process of finding a director for this show. The first person I spoke to about it was unfortunately unable to do it. I have approached another director who is supposed to be getting back to me soon. Hopefully this person can, otherwise I will keep looking.
- Sherlock Holmes & the West End Horror
- Tyler has picked a show, “Sherlock Holmes and the West End Horror” for our radio drama. I have purchased licensing and scripts for this already so we are good to promote it.
- Licensing: 170
Scripts: 139.90
Shipping and Handling: 12.50
Total: 322.40
- GOAT
- I am still trying to lock down dates for sure by everyone. If I am unable to very soon, we will just promote the show as in October instead of the specific date. We will be looking for a new local author to write this show, with the proposed licensing fee from above.
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical
- We have decided to do The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical for the Christmas show this year. The cost for licensing and scripts should be $2,544. I’m waiting on an answer to a question I had and then I will get this purchased so we can promote it and lock it in. This is more expensive than we had initially planned, but the Christmas show usually brings in a large amount of people so I think we will make back up the cost. Sharon and Rachel are both very excited about the show, so I am sure it will be amazing.
- Public Relations
- Still attending meetings with arts council, writer’s group, chamber of commerce, and tri state. Will promote upcoming writers workshop to council and writers group.
- Membership Committee
- Sharon, Nathan S, and Derek discussed personal membership/individual sponsorships. Tiers and benefits outlined below:
- Individual Sponsorship Form
- Still planning to clean up some working surrounding members and committees and purchase Mail Chimp (approx $100) for ease of newsletters.
- Grant & Fundraising Committee
- Starting to look at fundraising for the coming year. May be planning to step down from board but willing to remain on committee.
OLD BUSINESS:
- Scholarships: final work from school counselor received that parent signatures are not required. Presented final form for scholarship app. Motion to app: Nathan T, second Heather, unanimous passage
- Bylaw vote: Motion to app bylaw updates as discussed in special session on 12/6/23: Sharon, second Nathan T, unanimous passage
- Anna: planning date for board planning day. Asks all members to complete a 5 question survey to help us decide what we want to cover so the retreat guides us but also accomplishes what we desire to achieve. Derek is planning to attend a strategic planning seminar on January 12th to assist with this.
NEW BUSINESS:
- ED reviews: Nathan S, Nathan T, and Derek will meet to sign the updated contract prior to the 1st of January.
- Annual Report: All annual reports must be submitted to Derek by the 1st of January so he may prepare the final presentation.
- AACT: Derek is planning to purchase an annual membership to the American Association of Community Theaters for approximately $200. They can provide additional resources as we continue to grow.
NEXT MEETING:
Annual Meeting: 1/13/24 @ Venue 519. Doors open at 6 PM, Meeting to begin at 7 PM.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion: Angela, Second Sharon, unanimous passage.
Submitted by Secretary Heather Pittman
