Grap’s Wineroom
7:00 PM

CALL TO ORDER:

Nathan S

ROLL CALL:

Nathan S, Nathan T, Heather, Kelsey, Angela, Derek, Sharon less than 5 minutes late, Allie absent

APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES:

Motioned Kelsey, Second Nathan T, unanimous passage

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT:

Rec Center Committee

I was able to attend the Rec Center Committee meeting a couple of weeks ago. As of right now the City Council Committee is still running now and there is a Committee to figure out how a citizen committee will run this in the future and replace the City Council committee but this isn’t done. 

In initial discussions it seems like the idea is for this Committee to kind of run the Rec Center in a way as opposed to a Rec Center Director. There was also talk of a lot of day-to-day things being handled by several of the current managers in the Rec Center and having the City Administrator be a supervisor to it. None of this is set in stone yet, but it seems like the hope is to not have a Rec Center Director in the future, not sure what that will mean for us. I did also see that there is a job listing on the city site for a City Administrator so not sure if ours has left the job, and if so, how long that will set this process back.

There isn’t necessarily a lot for us to get involved in yet, once the Citizen Committee is set up, we should make sure to go to meetings and have lots of discussions with them. I did talk with the committee, they agreed with this assessment, and I did send a list of changes I think the theater needs and ranked by severity to them after they asked for it. Here is that list, I sent to the Committee chair, Stephanie Hobbs-Vetter:

High Priority

There really needs to be lights put on the stairs out in the seats so people can see steps when walking in the audience while the lights are off

Wheelchair seating, there really should be some specific wheelchair seating in the audience area. Also cannot reach dressing rooms from stage and vice versa for ada standards because of the stairs. 

We had maintenance start moving the power strip to the top of the stage, that got done but the cable holder was supposed to be moved as well, but wasn’t

Medium Priority

Before Nate left we had started looking into getting some more speakers for the front of the stage, I would still like to get this done at some point, I think this would help sound a lot in the theater.

We need to get a speaker into the light booth since it can be hard to hear what is happening from up there.

The theater really could use a new projector, the one that is there is quite old. It would be worth getting one that a person could bluetooth into, so whatever is playing can be run anywhere in the theater. It would also be helpful to mount the projector so it isn’t just plugged into the audience area.

Lower Priority

It would be very helpful to get some actual storage at the theater, we had spoken in the past with the rec about building some storage out back of the theater for storage of theater materials.

It would be great to move the sound system up into the light booth. It would also be great to get a new sound board that isn’t an ipad, but just a normal board. If we did do this, it might also be helpful to open up the light booth some more so it is easier to see and hear

Sound

We loaned out part of our sound system for a fundraiser on Oct 7 for BF Senior Center. I think it went well for them. I just got the system back, I will work to do a better job of requiring groups that borrow our equipment for them to return it to us as opposed to us having to track things down after the fact.

We ran sound for two Concert Series events in the last two months. The first went just fine, the second there were some issues. There was a noise all during the concert I tried to fix the whole night only to find out after it was the band’s board that was the issue. I need to do some more training for lights and sound people as well as finish the sound/light document I’ve been meaning to finish for some time. Now that the play is over I will be able to get this done. I spoke with Renee and she would like for me to do some basic training once the document is done with Rec Center staff as well.

Website

Now that the play is done I am going to be spending a lot of time and energy getting the new website done, my hope is still to have it launched by the end of the year. I still need bios from everyone.

Grants

I am going to start pushing for a lot of grants over the next few months including First Interstate Bank and State Arts Council. I may need some help getting these finished and as good as looking as possible since I am not a grant writer. 

*financial documents requested from treasurer to facilitate

Sponsorships

Now that the season is ended I am going to reach out to all of our current sponsors in November and give them a recap on the 2023 Season and see if they are interested in being a sponsor in 2024. I am also going to be going through my list again of contacting local businesses about becoming a new sponsor. I could use some help with cold calls, if anyone is interested. I am also going to be updating our sponsorship document to match new design standards and might make a change to ad size for our $1,000 level.

Annual Meeting

I would like to get a jump on the Annual Report if possible. I will start needing reports at the beginning of December to get them done in time.

House on Haunted Hill

The show went really great. The cast and crew worked very hard to pull it all off. Volunteers were a little light but we made it work. A huge thank you to Heather for directing the show, Nathan Thompson for doing lights, Angela for all of her work on the auction, Kelsey and Nathan for doing tickets and Sharon for helping with the bake sale. We had great attendance and people seemed to really love the show itself. Here is the recap:

• Friday Performance: 39 Adult Tickets; 30 Senior/Veteran Tickets; 26 Student Tickets; 2 Comp Tickets; 1 GOAT Free ticket; Total 98 Tickets
• Saturday Performance: 48 Adult Tickets; 18 Senior/Veteran Tickets; 28 Student Tickets; 2 Comp Ticket; Total 96 Tickets
• Sunday Performance: 36 Adult Tickets; 45 Senior/Veteran Tickets; 11 Student Tickets; 3 Comp Tickets; Total 95 Tickets
• Grand Total: 289 Tickets $3,100
• Bake Sale: 570.54
• Total Income: $3,670.54
• Total Expenses: $1,548.01 (Including Arts People Fees) We were slightly under budget for this show, $1,440. The only reason the expenses are more than that is because I added Arts People Fees into it now even though we haven’t included that in budgets in the past. I am going to start including estimates for fees in budgets for upcoming shows.
• Total Profit: $2,122.53

This Season

Overall this season went fantastic! We had 248 tickets to “Pride and Prejudice,” 488 tickets to “Rock of Ages,” 98 tickets to “GOAT,” and 289 tickets to “House on Haunted Hill.” We had a total of 1123 tickets. “Pride and Prejudice” and GOAT still used the $10 and $5 tickets and ROA and HOHH used the new pricing structure which helped on income. We will continue using this cost structure on everything except possibly excluding GOAT.

• Pride and Prejudice Profit: -$100.73
• Rock of Ages Profit: $1,491.95
• GOAT Profit: $297.76
• HOHH Profit: $2,122.53
• Ticket Profit: $3,851.16
• Show with the most profit: HOHH
• Show with the most expenses and income: Rock of Ages
• Most inexpensive show to produce: GOAT

Ancillary Materials

I have been talking with Kelsey about some ancillary materials we should produce this coming season. We should get a runner for the ticket taking table with info. Maybe a banner for the Bake Sale area. We will work on a Season Banner. I would also like to create some brochures and volunteer banners as well. Once I am ready to work on these individual projects, I will come to the board.

OFFICER REPORTS: 

• President
  • Planning to meet with Nathan t and Sharon for committee frameworks and membership after high school show is over. Will compile printing costs for next meeting
• Vice President
  • Filed annual report with the state. Donated filing fee
• Secretary
  • Submitted receipts for reimbursement
• Treasurer
  • Current balance $12124.11. reminder that Jan 1st must renew ed contract
• Creative Committee
  • Next Season
    • We have set the next season for BFACT. We are also looking at adding some Improv, we have spoken with Geno about spearheading this some. We also want to have a writer’s workshop as well as director’s boot camp this coming season as well.
    • Break a Leg: A Night of One-Acts
      • This show will be March 15 and 16 at Community Hall. The Hall is already reserved and paid for. We have yet to set directors and pick one-acts, we will be doing that very soon. Rent was 400 with a 250 deposit that will be returned. 
    • Murder on the Orient Express
      • This show will be June 28 – 30 at the Rec Center. We have dates locked in and licensing and scripts already paid for. The scripts have already arrived as well. We still need a director for this show.
    • Sherlock Holmes: A Live Radio Play
      • This show will be August 17 and 18 at Venue 519. The venue is reserved but not paid for yet. Tyler Schone will be directing this show and he is currently choosing which Sherlock Holmes story to do for this.
    • GOAT
      • This show will be sometime between October 10 – 13 at the Rec Center. We haven’t gotten the exact date picked yet but have some dates reserved through the Rec already. Sturgis will be joining us this year which means the show will be four days instead of three. We don’t have a director or one-act picked yet for this.
    • Christmas Show
      • This show will be December 13 – 15 at the Rec Center and Rachel Munce is directing. We don’t have a show picked yet, but it will be kid/family-centric. The dates are locked in.
  • Meeting
    • We will be meeting in the next few weeks to make some decisions on actual shows as well as talking about the Volunteer Appreciation event.
  • Volunteer Appreciation
    • We have set our Volunteer Appreciation night for December 2 at Grap’s Backroom. We are looking to go from 6 – 9pm. The Creative Committee will discuss exactly what we are doing at this event, if the Board has any suggestions let me know. This event will only include BFACT now, not FAB. We will pay for the full rental. This date is locked in with Grap’s but not paid for yet.
• Public Relations
  • Auction: $2335 taken in. a few things still to deliver. Most things picked up after show on Sunday. In future, online and in person at the same time is very tough. Need to better supervise distribution of items to prevent last second dishonesty in winning bids. Pumpkin fest was well attended. Sold $140 in raffle tickets. Still attending arts council meetings, writers group, chamber meetings. 
• Membership Committee
  • Oct newsletter out. Will start paying for mail chimp to make things easier in the new year.
• Grant & Fundraising Committee
  • Absent

OLD BUSINESS:

1. Scholarships – Belle Fourche high only. Seniors only. Tabled, final vote next meeting
2. Yearly state report –  completed 
3. Board planning day – tabled, will discuss with new board 

NEW BUSINESS:

1. Annual report – get working on them, please be ready to submit the beginning of December          
2.  rcvd check donation from an estate of 100. Nathan S will send thank you letter
3.  FAB met and discussed junior/senior. Look into doing a potential improv night for them? Perhaps contact scared scriptless
4.  potential fundraiser idea: date night with movie or trivia? Tabled

NEXT MEETING:

11/27/23 at 6:30 @ Graps

ADJOURNMENT:

Motioned Kelsey, Second Sharon, unanimous passage.

Submitted by Secretary Heather Pittman

Black Hills Diner
10:00 AM

CALL TO ORDER:

President Nathan S

ROLL CALL:

Nathan S, Heather, Kelsey, Angela, Sharon, Derek, quorum achieved. 

APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES:

Motion: Kelsey, Second, Angela, unanimous passage

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT:

Rec Center

We are still trying to figure out a time to paint the stage. The goal was to be before “House on Haunted Hill” but looks like it may be after the high school show instead. The Rec Center has moved the outlets from the front of the stage to the top of it, but not in the way I was hoping. Also, they were supposed to move the cable holder to the top of the stage as well but haven’t been able to get to it yet. I will keep checking back to get this done. As far as the theater cleanup effort, I will work with Terry to get a time figured out to get the stairs built for the storage area on Stage Left. Terry is also on the board that will choose the community board for the Rec Center so hoping to hear from him on when meetings are so we can perhaps attend. Nate Velander is unfortunately no longer the director and the board will be choosing whether or not to hire another. Planning to perhaps leverage the fact that we basically run the theater and all their events to negotiate a new contract for either a discount or free usage. 

We had moved some items to the HS shed during cleanup and after “Rock of Ages” but unfortunately there was some miscommunication and everything we put in there is now gone. I have been assured there is no reason anyone should take anything out of there over the next year so we can store some items but I think we may need to figure out a different storage solution for the future.

With Nathan Velander leaving as Rec Center Director I think several initiatives we were working with him will be on hold for the moment. He was still working to get new speakers for the front of the house and more storage out back of the theater. I will keep checking back with the Rec on how things are moving forward on finding a new director and will work with an interim director if one is appointed to keep theater issues top of mind. Once a new director has been hired or other decisions made, I will make sure to meet with them right away. There is also a committee that is working out the citizen board for the Rec Center and I will try and go to meetings when I can on that to make sure theater is represented.

I have been talking about this for a while, but my goal is to get the sound and lights instructions completed in the next month to give to groups on how to use everything. Also, Concert Series shows will start at the end of this month and we will have to have someone available to help with each concert, so I will be looking for other sound/light operators I can train.

Website

I have been able to get back to the website and am making good progress. I would like to get BOD bios soon, maybe in the next month or two. When we take photos for “House on Haunted Hill” I would like to get BOD photos done at the same time. I would like to have the new website ready to launch by the end of the year.

Annual Reports

With the Annual Meeting coming up in January, I would love reports by the end of December from everyone. Last year’s report is here: https://www.bellefourcheact.com/item/208-annual-meeting-january-14-2023-minutes.html you can view this to see what needs to be done.

GOAT

The show for GOAT went very well overall. The Belle Fourche performance was well received. We sold 91 tickets for the show and had 7 comps (those comps include volunteers and that is how people who purchased the season tickets from Angela are inputted). That is compared to 72 tickets from last year’s show. I would call that a success. Allie and Tyler did a great job directing the show and the cast was fantastic. It was good working with the other theaters again and everyone is committed to doing GOAT again and doing what we can to pool resources and help each other out.

• Show Income: $830 in ticket sales and $148.94 for the bake sale for a total of $978.94
• Show Expenses: $681.18
• Money Made: $297.76

Grants

Now that the season is winding down and business sponsorships are done until the beginning of the year, my focus is shifting to grants. I have several that I am applying for now, but if anyone knows of any coming up, please let me know and I will make sure to apply to them as well.

Printing

Print Market is again willing to print programs for House on Haunted Hill for free. They also seem to be willing to print programs for us for free for the 2024 season as well. Will be meeting to see if we can talk them up to printing out posters as well. Their machines also fold and staple our programs which saves us a lot of volunteer time and effort. Perhaps discuss upping their sponsorship level for a larger ad.

OFFICER REPORTS: 

• President
  • Still need to meet with Nathan T and Sharon to discuss archival projects and individual sponsorship opportunities. Also wants to work with Nathan T to create policy and framework for expectations from committees and board members. 
• Vice President
  • Absent
• Secretary
  • Submitted receipts for bake sale reimbursement, requesting $40 in lieu of full total
• Treasurer
  • Bank balance: 12,867.38. Arts people fees for GOAT: 67.40
• Creative Committee
  • House on Haunted Hill
    • Auditions were held for “House on Haunted Hill,” and even though we were hoping for a slightly larger turnout, we have enough actors and will begin practices this coming week. Heather and I are both very excited for this show, I think it will be very good and unique. We did gain a couple of new actors for the show and a couple who haven’t been involved in a BFACT show in a while so that was great news!
  • Next Season
    • The Creative Committee had Anna Robinson and Nathan Thompson join to help us implement this coming season. We met as the Creative Committee on September 7 and tried to lock down next season’s dates. None of these are fully approved, I still have to run them past the Rec Center, but these are our tentative dates and shows.
      • Dinner Theater
        • Nathan S and Toi are leading the charge on trying to get a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater show for Valentine’s Day this year. This would be a show they create, not a purchased script.
      • Night of One-Acts
        • We are looking at March 22 – 24 for a night of one-acts. This show will consist of two classic BFACT shows, “Atomic Lobsters from the Center of the Earth” and “Terror at Rock and Roll Beach” and we are looking for a local author to write a third show to fit with these two. Stephanie Bussiere has expressed interest in directing one of these shows and I could possibly do the others.
      • Main Show
        • We are looking at June 28 – 30 for our main show this year. We are still deciding on the show to do here but have narrowed it down to either “Murder on the Orient Express” or “Death on the Nile” by Agatha Christie. We are looking for a director for this show.
      • Radio Show
        • We are looking at doing another live radio play, this time August 17 and 18. Tyler Schone is interested in directing this show and will probably be a collection of Sherlock Holmes radio dramas.
      • GOAT
        • Due to conflicts with other theaters, we are looking to move GOAT next year to October 11 – 13. We don’t currently have a director for this show or have picked out the one-act.
      • Christmas Show
        • We are looking at a Christmas Show on Dec 13 – 15. This show will be a family show, with an emphasis on kids. Rachel Munce is looking to direct this show.
      • Other Events
        • We are hoping to do the Kid’s theater camp again with JAM, but that all depends on them. We will check back with them and see if they wish/are able to do this again. The plan is to perhaps create a youth committee to plan children’s programming throughout the year. Rachel expressed interest in working on this as did Sharon. Perhaps start with a small skit show for nursing homes. Angela will reach out to them to see if they are interested in bringing something like that in. 
        • We are looking at a potential writer’s workshop where people bring scripts they are working on and can work with other writers and then potentially have actors perform their shows with some cold readings, potentially for an audience.
        • We might have a Directors boot camp this coming season if we have several new directors joining us this coming season or are just interested.
        • Lastly we are in the beginning stages of working up an improv troupe. The idea would be they perform for several weeks to allow it to grow an audience.
• Public Relations
  • Will request venue 519 for annual meeting and also for radio drama August 17/18. Will be at the rec for the open house tomorrow with flyers and membership info. Continuing to attend meetings with chamber, museum, arts council, and writers group. December 2nd is still in the air as FAB has not yet heard back from Graps on event space. We do not currently have dates for the give big campaign but we are signed up. 
• Membership Committee
  • Will work on getting out newsletter to promote auction, House on Haunted Hill, and recaps of Rock of Ages and Goat. Missed last month due to time constraints. Will assign portions of the newsletter for other board members to write up to help alleviate time pressure. 
• Grant & Fundraising Committee
  • Absent

OLD BUSINESS:

1. Scholarships: tabled, Nathan T and Angela have not yet gotten templates together

NEW BUSINESS:

1. Estate donation: Nathan S will receive an estate donation for the theater from a former accompanist that wanted to support local arts. Discussed sending a card to the family and setting up a spot on the new website to honor legacy donors. 
2. Board planning day: potential consultant Anna Robbins presented the following rubic for a 6 to 8 hour long meeting to discuss the direction of the organization:
   1. Evolution planning day 2024
      1. What: a one day retreat with board members and a facilitator to plan the next two years regarding specific, mission drive areas.
      2. When: january or february after board elections
      3. Results: a two year plan regarding the following areas
         1. Engagement
            1. Building consistent engagement with volunteers and members ships
               • Shows and programming
               • Operation volunteers
            2. Attracting buy in from the community/area of service. Including identifying local, key stake holders
               • Long term business sponsorships
               • Community partners
               • Community leaders
            3. Developing staff (paid and volunteer)
               • Professional development for leadership
               • Trainings for program directors
         2. Exploration
            1. Gathering information from members, volunteers, and the community on what programs/resources are needed or wanted in the theater/arts space
               • What holes exist in the area that BFACT can fill?
               • What holes in our organization do we need to address for growth?
         3. Evolution
            1. Commitment to a strategic planning process starting in early 205
               • Identify the official committee including board members and other key stakeholders
               • Research examples and process guidance
               • Budget [rpcess
               • GOAL: implement strategic plan in 2026 for the following three to five years
      4. Implementation: to be discussed. Maybe this falls under current roles? Maybe this is an ongoing special committee? Leave the retreat with a list of action items- what is the next step in carrying out the evolution plan?
   2. For her work on preparing and facilitating this meeting, Anna would charge a fee of $200. Tabled to allow Nathan T and Allie to be present for vote 

NEXT MEETING:

6:30 PM 10/23/23 Graps

ADJOURNMENT:

Motion to adjourn Kelsey, Second, Angela. Unanimous passage

Grap’s Wine Room
6:00 PM

CALL TO ORDER:

Nathan S 

ROLL CALL:

Nathan S, Nathan T, Heather, Kelsey, Angela, Sharon, Derek

APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES:

Motioned: Sharon, Second Angela, unanimous passage

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT:

Sponsorships

Before “Rock of Ages” we were able to get a $500 sponsorship from Schreier Engineering and a $1,000 one from the Farmhouse in Spearfish. Both made it to the programs and I am happy to have them on board. I am done pushing specific sponsorships for the season but will start back up in the winter with our existing sponsors. We finished the season with 3 Assistant Director level sponsorships, 7 Actor level sponsorships, and 6 Patron level sponsorships. We also received 3 business donations and have 3 in-kind sponsorships. Grand total in business sponsorships and donations, $8,200. Grants are my next big push to finish out the season. Lastly Print Mark-et expressed interest to me at “Rock of Ages” of sponsoring program printing, so we will use them for GOAT.

Rock of Ages

“Rock of Ages” went fantastic. We had a great run and entertained a lot of people. We had 33 volunteers between directors, actors, and tech. On the Thursday performance we had 122 tickets for $1,400, Friday was 92 tickets for $1,100, Saturday was 123 for $1,525 and Sunday was our biggest with 141 for $1,930. All total we had 488 tickets and made $5,955 from ticket sales. I am not sure where the bake sale ended up in total, but it was a good amount. We did go over our projected budget of $4,723.82 by $157.34 ($4,881.16). This was mostly due to the printing we did fully account for. Overall we were really able to keep costs low on this show when it came to what it took to put it on. Scripts, licensing and rec center rental was $3,952.82 which means we did everything else for less than a $1,000. I think the ticket increase went over just fine and and was worth it on our end. I want to thank everyone who participated and helped with this show, it was quite a success.

Painting

The Rec Center will be getting us paint to paint the stage this Wed. I would like to paint the stage before the show next weekend. Unfortunately, I will be out of town starting Friday afternoon until Sunday evening. That means, would anyone be able to take lead on getting this done? The best thing to do would be to paint during the morning or afternoon on Saturday and then do a second coat on Sunday? No one is available currently but hopefully will get it done before Halloween show.

Tickets/merch

Considering raising tickets for next season. It cannot be don’t for GOAT as we already agreed on a price with the other theaters but may be able to be done for the Halloween show? $15 adults, $10 seniors and veterans, and $5 students. Will work on new designs for merch store and promotion.

OFFICER REPORTS: 

• President
  • Want to move forward with archival project with assistance from Nathan T. Also want to meet with Sharon on personal sponsorship with the plan being to launch it next season. Planning to perhaps do a membership drive prior to annual meeting. Will start uploading archival info to the drive.
• Vice President
  • Nothing to report
• Secretary
  • Nothing to report
• Treasurer
  • Rock of Ages bake sale total: $771.86. Thursday was our biggest night for donations. Arts people fees so far for ticketing are $353.75. Current bank balance $13823.32. Tshirt invoice in. 20/shirt, 2 to concord for licensing, 16 to vendor, approx. 50 cents for taxes =  $1.50 made per shirt. Still working on getting signature cards for the bank.
• Creative Committee
  • Meeting
    • Hope to have shows picked before Halloween show. No musical this season. Once shows are picked, a season banner will be created and promoted. 8’x3’ banner is the largest size the rec center and accommodate for us. We can hang it 3 weeks prior to shows. Planning to hold the volunteer thank you night on the same day as Fab, December 2nd. Plan would be to share rental costs but for Fab to mostly have their event first and ours after.
    • Tentative season plan:
      • Valentines Day: Dinner theater?
      • March: Night of one acts
      • June: Agatha Cristie
      • Early Oct: GOAT
      • Late Oct: Radio Show
      • December: Kids Christmas show
  • GOAT 2023
    • The one-act is proceeding well. We had a decent turnout for auditions which is great. Practices have started and are going every night until the show. Promotions have started with the show, posters should be out now. I will be taking photos with the cast on Wed to start really promoting on Facebook with good pictures. I will be at the theater on Wed and next Mon to help Spearfish and Lead get used to our stage and tech so Allie doesn’t have to worry about that and can just practice. Tickets for this show will be back to $10 and $5, we already agreed on this price with everyone months ago. Friday the 25 will be at Spearfish, Saturday here and Sunday in Lead. Everyone is very excited and I think this will be a heck of a show. I will talk with people about the various volunteers we need for this show.
  • House on Haunted Hill
    • Things are starting to gear up with this show. Heather will be directing with me as Assistant Director. We have auditions set for Sept 6 and 7, which we will start promoting later this week. We are working with the Rec and the school on a finalized schedule for practices, hopefully we will have that by next week. I have a proposed budget for the show of:
    • HOHH Budget
      • Licensing: 0
        Scripts: 0
        Rec Center Rental: 600
        Printing (Scripts, posters, auditions, etc): 100
        Misc (Include Photo Booth): 140
        Advertising: 50
        Costumes & Props: 300
        Set building: 250
        Total: 1440
      • Motion to app budget: Angela, Second Sharon, unanimous passage
• Public Relations
  • August – Appreciation Bags for GOAT Casts – Positive Potato and looking for other suggestions. How many do we need? Give them out at our performance in Belle on Saturday the 26th?
  • August – BF Writers extended submission deadline for “Life’s Landscapes” Anthology until the end of August – submit your poetry or short stories (under 2,000 words).    
  • September – Fall Kick Off Open House at BF Rec Center on Sunday September 10th (1-4pm). Need visuals and/or posters for our table. The usual door prize and raffle?
  • October – Silent Auction – online event via BFACT FB page October 14th-19th then paired with live event for hybrid auction during our Halloween Shows October 20th – 22nd. 
  • October – Pumpkin Fest at Tri-State Museum on October 15th – advertise auction and show. Also, would very much like to have 2024 Season Posters to hand out at this event – Doable?  
  • November – Give Big Campaign – Week of November 27th – awaiting details for Souper Opener from chamber – will put BFACT in for free money and see what we get.
  • December – FAB is looking at Christmas Karaoke event at Grap’s on Saturday December 2nd at 2:00pm – if this solidifies, would be a tag-team event with FAB & BFACT – good idea?
  • January – Annual Meeting – Meeting set for January 13th at 7PM
  • Feb / March – 1903 Readers Theater’s “Dark Secrets” postponed until the Spring due to lack of folks at August auditions. Cross-pollinate and have a few BFACT regulars in this show?
  • September 24 – Membership Gala Sept 21? 
• Membership Committee
  • Working on August Newsletter, planning to meet to discuss individual sponsorships
• Grant & Fundraising Committee
  • Chair Allie absent

OLD BUSINESS:

1. Vote on Bylaw – Motion to app: Derek, Second Nathan T, unanimous passage

NEW BUSINESS:

1. Auction – on track for promotion during Halloween show
2. Scholarships- Nathan T and Angela will work on getting templates together on scholarship applications. 

NEXT MEETING:

9/9/23 Black Hills Diner 10AM

ADJOURNMENT:

Motion: Kelsey, Second Nathan T, unanimous passage.

Black Hills Diner
10:00 AM

CALL TO ORDER:

President Nathan S

ROLL CALL: 

Nathan S, Heather, Kelsey, Allie, Angela, Sharon, Derek

APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES:

Motion to approve Angela, seconded by Kelsey, unanimous passage

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT:

Sound

We ordered another mic system for $309.99 and it has come and I’ve gotten it working. It is a set of 4 which brings us to a total of 12 mics which should cover most shows we would do. We will eventually need to purchase more headset mics, the older set of 8 are missing 2 headsets, but we don’t need to worry for this show. FAB is going to help cover the cost of these new packs, I am waiting to get final confirmation of this from Toi, they were looking at $200. I have been spending a lot of time on our sound system for this show since we are hoping for a large turnout and I want it to sound the best possible since that is our most common complaint. I think I have finally found a sweet spot for mics and speakers and I am pretty happy with how it is shaping up.

Set Build

I had to purchase a new saw blade for the miter saw at the theater. I didn’t charge it as part of the show since the blade that was on there was the original blade from like 7 years ago. This blade will last for a long time. The cost was $48.84. Shawn Collins brought a small portable table saw which was great to use. It might be worth looking into getting one eventually for the theater, maybe we share the cost with the HS. He said it cost around $400.

Catalyst Theater

I met briefly with the founders of the Catalyst Theater in Rapid. It ended up being spur of the moment so I wasn’t able to add Allie into the call but I think they would love to talk more with us and we can set up something else coming up. It was interesting to see what they were doing. One of the founders is the technical director for BHCT and he gave me some advice about our sound issues which was very helpful. We also talked about giving each other space in our programs to cross-promote shows.

Sponsorships

We received a $50 check from Allie’s birthday Facebook fundraiser. I don’t know if we have received our $250 from Walmart Spark, if we haven’t I will reach out to them to get that money. We need to work on promoting this program to our audience. I am also happy to announce that Schreier Engineering will sponsor again this season for $500, I am just waiting on a check from them. We are also adding The Farmhouse in Spearfish as a sponsor thanks to Heather and her brother. I don’t have a level of sponsorship from them yet, I should know for sure early next week, but they are definitely sponsoring at some level. I think this will be it for business sponsors for the season, I had made more calls recently to try and pick up some stragglers without much success unfortunately.

Grants

Once “Rock of Ages” is done I will get back to grants. We can reapply for the Midco Grant, which we haven’t gotten yet but I will keep trying. I might ask for less money and see if that helps. Paul works for BHP and Allie’s dad works for midco. Perhaps we can ask to reference them for our grant applications. 

Website

Progress has slowed on the website but I will work to finish it quickly after “Rock of Ages” is finished.

OFFICER REPORTS: 

• President
  • Bylaw addition printed and ready to add to laws. ED contract given to secretary. Designed asset spreadsheet that is ready to be used in drive. Should be covered under the rec center’s insurance in case of disaster. All things should be photographed. Will prepare labels for items. Toi handed over a bunch of historical things for the organization. Will begin organizing to maintain and perhaps put up at the Tri State Museum. 
• Vice President
  • Absent. Noted that parade went well and loved being up front. Will try to register early again next year.
• Secretary
  • Nothing to report 
• Treasurer
  • Current balance: $7509.70. Venmo set up, there was an option through our paypal will get added to programs and bake sale tables. 990 was approved by irs website. Need new signature cards for the bank account. 
• Creative Committee
  • Rock of Ages
    • Things are progressing well with the show. It is going to be a whirlwind until opening night but I am sure the show is going to be amazing and a hit. Tickets are on sale now and currently have sold a total of 17 presale tickets which is not bad, I think we will have lots more coming in soon on that. We made the decision to do tickets at $15 for adults and $10 for students/veterans/seniors, we will see how this increase goes down with people. We will revert to our normal pricing for our last two shows of the year and look at a permanent increase for next season. We are looking at being slightly over budget for this show, the biggest culprit is that printing ended up being significantly more than we thought at the start. Overall, if we go over it won’t be by much. If it starts to look like a bigger number, I will reach out to the board to discuss it with them. Lastly, the Black Hills Diner will be providing lunch for our set building on July 15, a very generous donation that we will make sure to thank in our programs. Show is about $200 over budget due to printing expenses but this is without the overage amount previously discussed by the board. 
  • GOAT
    • Things are moving forward on the starting of GOAT. Allie is directing with Tyler Schone as her assistant director. Auditions are set for August 4 at 6 – 8pm and August 5 at 4 – 6pm. We have our schedule approved by the Rec Center and all of the scripts have arrived. I have recently met with the other theaters and everything is looking good for the show. We will start a bigger marketing blitz as “Rock of Ages” ends. There is a lot of excitement for this show from the other participating theaters and we expect this to be even bigger and better than last years’. The show we are doing is “Couch Potato” which looks like a very funny one-act. Our performance night in Belle is Saturday. Below is the budget request for this show:
    • GOAT Budget
      • Licensing: 174.3
        Scripts: 87.92
        Rec Center Rental: 200
        Printing (Scripts, posters, auditions, etc): 40
        Misc: 40
        Advertising: 50
        Costumes & Props: 25
        Set building: 25
        iStock Photo: 15
        Gifts: 50
        Total: 707.22
        Licensing and scripts already purchased, voting on additional budget of $445
      • Motioned: Allie, Seconded by Kelsey, unanimous passage
  • Next Season
    • Once Rock of Ages is finished and we see final sales and costs we will start making final plans for next year’s season. Also planning to look into the idea of season tickets. 
  • Karaoke Fundraiser
    • Hersrud’s donated the money to pay for a professional to handle the karaoke part of the fundraiser on July 14 so we are listing them as a Patron sponsor for the rest of the season as in-kind.
  • House on Haunted Hill
    • Nothing to report at this time on this show. Progress will start being made as soon as Rock of Ages is finished.
• Public Relations
  • Keeping FB page active and continuing to attend meetings with Tristate, the chamber, arts council, and writers group. Will look into the possibility of doing something for art in the park next year. 
• Membership Committee
  • July newsletter out. Engagement of 93 with 63 opened. August newsletter plan: GOAT, spark announcement, and karaoke/show recap. 
• Grant & Fundraising Committee
  • Allie’s mom will do the costume auction as long as we put her logo in the programs. Karaoke night went great, high engagement, made $1005 at practically no expense. Will look into planning more community events. 

Old Business:

1. Electronic meeting and voting:
   1. Amendment of bylaws: allowing for electronic voting in regular or special meetings
      1. Purpose: the current bylaws do not envision the option for electronic voting in regular or special meetings. 
      2. Article IX, Section 1: each board member shall have one vote
      3. Section:1.1: voting may occur in person at a regular or special meeting of the board of directors or by telephone or of similar communications approved by the board of directors in compliance with these bylaws.
   2. Amendment of bylaws: allowing for electronic meeting
      1. Purpose: the current bylaws to not envision the option for electronic meetings
      2. Article IX, Section 3: the board of directors shall meet monthly. The date and place of each scheduled meeting shall be made available by social media and on the organization’s website. 
      3. Section 3.1: members of the board of directors may participate in a meeting by means of telephone or of similar communications by which all persons participating in the meeting can communicate with each other. Participation in a meeting in accordance with this section shall constitute presence at such meeting.

Motion to put forward language of proposed amendments for voting at next meeting by Allie, seconded Heather, unanimously passage

NEW BUSINESS:

1. None

NEXT MEETING:

Monday August 14th at Graps at 6:00 PM

MOTION TO ADJOURN:

Sharon, seconded by Allie, unanimous passage.