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.

Black Hills Diner
10:00 AM

CALL TO ORDER:

President Nathan S

ROLL CALL:

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

APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES:

Motioned Angela, Second Kelsey, passed unanimously

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT:

Grants, Sponsorships & SAM

We were turned down for the Midco grant, again. We can reapply in July and I will, this time I might ask for less money and see if we have any more luck. We are still waiting on 3 different grants for a total of $14,000. I’m really not sure what our odds are for any but we will cross our fingers. I will make another push for grants once ‘Rock of Ages’ is done and hopefully we can get a couple of others as we finish off this season. I will be calling a few specific businesses to see if we can get them onboard for a sponsorship ahead of ‘Rock of Ages,’ I am hoping we might get at least a couple of more during this push. Lastly I will be renewing our SAMS account at the end of this month, this is used for grants and other government verification purposes.

I need to check with Kelsey to see if we ever got that $250 from Walmart for Spark. If not, I will reach out and try and get that money

Website

I ran into a few technical snags while working on the new website. I have reached out to a programmer we use for our work and he said he would help when he gets a minute. I won’t be able to really crank on the website until after ‘Rock of Ages’ is done but I am hoping to have it done in enough time for the Halloween show. I still need a few sentence bio from everyone on the board except Nathan. Please get those to me in the next month or so. We will be taking photos for ‘Rock of Ages’ at the end of the month and we will work to get BOD photos taken around then. I will let you know when I have specifics.

Banner

I was able to order a banner for the rest of our season, it cost $147.10. It is an 8 x 4 heavy-duty vinyl banner with grommets. We will use this banner on our float for the 4th of July and then the Rec will hang it outside the building on the theater wall. They have agreed to hang the banner several weeks before each show we have left. If you want to look at it, it is in a box in the storage closet in the theater garage.

Cleanup

We started the theater cleanup on June 10 and 11. We had a pretty decent turnout on Saturday and even more on Sunday. We got through a lot of work. Thanks to Sentel we made one large load to the dump and have one more load of stuff that needs to go out of the theater. This needs to be done before June 23. I have spoken with Nathan about this and he is coming up with a date we can do this last load. It will require a couple of hands to load everything out.

When we spoke with the school we learned the storage at the Middle School actually won’t work for the storage of costumes unfortunately. With that in mind we built a rack in the cage for certain large items to hang and a coat rack above the piano. All of the rest of the costumes were gone through and sorted into new totes that are all labeled. Moving forward we will make sure that each group that uses these costumes will put things back in appropriate totes so it will be easier to find what we need. Reva has gotten approval from the school to purchase an additional 20 totes for shared use. We moved a couple of cabinets into the storage closet in the garage and are now storing all tools and items needed for building there. The paint was gone through and put in cabinets on the stage and makeup was moved to the men’s dressing room. We moved props above the piano case and built some more structure around the wood box.

What we have left to do is build some stairs to go up to the wood box which Terry will be working on, a curtain system of some kind to go in front of the black wall, attach the piano door in a new way so it works with the new system, and take a load of items to the storage shed at the HS track. I am hoping to do these either on June 24 or July 1. I will let people know when I have more concrete plans.

Nate has already looked at what we have done and is pretty pleased. We just need to do some finishing touches and then we will be done with this project for a while and there will be more space on the stage and it will look a bit more neat and tidy.

Karaoke Fundraiser

I will let Allie go into the finer details on the Karaoke Fundraiser but things are moving forward with this now. It will be July 14 from 8 – 11pm at the Branding Iron. We have spoken to the cast and most of them should be there for this event. We are telling them to come around 7 to stake out some spots to make sure all of our people have a place in the restaurant. I will be running the sound and we will be using our sound system. Hopefully we can use Sharon’s version of the karaoke app, otherwise I will get it purchased. Marketing is starting on this and we will push it as much as we can. We need to work on getting a list of places that have been covered both for the fundraiser and for future show promotion so it will be easier to get posters up efficiently in the future. 

Budget Issue

We spoke about what should be done when a show goes over budget at the last meeting. My recommendation would be this: if a show goes a certain percentage (maybe 20%) over-budget or a set amount (maybe $500) the Executive Director will come back to the BOD to get that overage approved. I don’t think the budget should have to be reauthorized if it is over by a small amount, that can easily happen when the price of lumber, licensing, etc fluctuates somewhat. That would be my recommendation. Hopefully this won’t be a common issue, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ was the only show in the last few years that went over budget by a significant amount, the other was ‘Take a Bow’ due to the rescheduling due to weather. Upon discussion, we believe it should be 15% or $400, whichever is less. We will be sending this recommendation to the creative committee.

Motioned: Sharon, second Angela, passed unanimously

Catalyst Theater

I was approached by Joana Lawler of Rapid City about a new theater she is a part of. She and her husband directed the 24 hour play I wrote two years ago. They have started a new theater company in Rapid called Catalyst Theater. They already have their 2023 – 2024 season in place and their shows will take place at a space at 513 7th St. She seemed interested in trying to help each other out, so I am going to be meeting with her at the end of the month. Not sure if anything will come of this other than sharing each other’s shows, but we will see. No matter what, it is exciting to see more theater cropping up the area. Allie will join catalyst meeting if able. 

OFFICER REPORTS: 

• President
  • Updated information from IRS still not received. Will get ED contract to Secretary for physical record keeping by next meeting.
• Vice President
  • Quarterly audit complete. Waiting for a letter from the city on float position for the parade. Terry’s truck and trailer have been donated for the float. Still in need of bluetooth speakers but will put call out to cast and crew to see if one is available. Will also connect with derek on getting the banners and decor for the float. 
• Secretary
  • Nothing to report at this time
• Treasurer
  • Current bank balance: $9508.33. We do currently have a paypal, will look into getting venmo prior to the fundraiser.
• Creative Committee
  • Summer Camp
    • The summer camp was held on July 6 – 8 from 1:15 – 3:15 pm at the Middle School. We worked together with the Jam program on this. Nathan, Tyler Schone, Toi Lyn Flick, Reva Potter, Naomi Bricker and Olivia Furrow all volunteered their time to teach some basics of theater to the kids. I was there as well on Thursday. The event went really well and the kids, there were 30 – 40 of them, seemed to really enjoy it. The Jam volunteers seemed very pleased with the event as well. Sharon had a nice write-up in the last newsletter about it and included comments from the kids themselves. This was such a success we will be looking at doing something similar next summer.
  • Pride & Prejudice
    • I don’t have the final number of money brought in for the show, Kelsey should have that number, but I believe our raw numbers between tickets and bake sale was around $2,500. That doesn’t include Arts People fees, we don’t really know what that is until we get paid out from them. Our total expenses were $2,604.77 so we came pretty close to breaking even. I was hoping for a little bit more of a financial success, but overall the show went great and we attracted a lot of new volunteers to this show. Word of mouth was also very good so I am hoping that helps get tickets sold for the rest of the season. If you want to look at our budget and expense, you can view the budget here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17Dmo2jdCPvfMkRQ3sjZphFAGtY2r1vF8uB2szwS30IM/edit?usp=sharing
  • Rock of Ages
    • ‘Rock of Ages’ has begun practices and it is going really well. We had a good turnout for auditions and we have a lot of first-time volunteers with this show which is a good sign for upcoming events and shows. Marketing will really begin towards the end of the month and the cast will be on our float for the 4th of July and at the Karaoke Fundraiser. We were able to work out a deal with the Arts Council and Rec Center to have the rain site for the Summer concert series in the park to be the Rec Center gym on July 26 since it will be our final dress rehearsal. Thank you to Angela for helping get that all sorted out.
  • GOAT
    • Allie and Tyler have picked the one-act we will be performing for GOAT, ‘Couch Potato.’ I have gotten the show ordered and licensed. It cost $174.30 for licensing and taxes and $87.92 for scripts and shipping. The scripts were a little more because PlayScripts requires the purchase of at least 8 scripts for each show, regardless of cast size. Auditions are set for August 4 from 6 – 8pm and August 5 from 4 – 6pm. We will start promoting auditions in July. I will work with Allie when I get back from vacation on a practice schedule and budget. We will have the budget ready for approval at the next board meeting. I have also started talking with the other theaters about the show to iron out some more details and we will be meeting at the beginning of July to go over these. I will be creating the marketing materials again for the overall show that others will use.
  • Next Season
    • The Creative Committee has begun work on finding shows for next season and once ‘Rock of Ages’ is done we will start getting more concrete plans in place. Board recommends perhaps looking into a cabaret or doing individual scenes from various shows. 
  • Director Communication
    • Nathan and I spoke at some length about the issues we ran into with ‘Pride and Prejudice’ as far as budget and other issues. When we looked at the form we had created before about responsibilities we realized a lot of things were laid out directly there so the issue was not that we don’t have policies, just that we didn’t follow them closely enough and I didn’t communicate them enough to Nathan. To address this issue I will do a better job going forward with Director communication. I will meet with any Director before the show starts auditions and go over all of the responsibilities we expect of them. I will also check-in with the Directors on a weekly basis. I will start this with GOAT, we don’t need to worry about it with ‘Rock of Ages’ since I am directing the show. We will see how GOAT and the Halloween show goes and see if we need to revise our policies then
• Public Relations
  • River fest fell through due to weather. Continuing to attend meetings with tri state museum, arts council, chamber of commerce, and writers group. Planning to meet with head of walking history tours to get more info on upcoming events and potential for actors needed. 
• Membership Committee
  • Newsletter went out, working on getting it out sooner. Hoping for 1 week prior to the fundraiser. Intending to promote the show with interviews and pics, recap of parade, and upcoming couch potato auditions. Picked up some lovely clothes from the theater cleanup that were judged too nice for costuming. Will look into the value and potentially auction to fundraise for the theater. Allie and perhaps her mother can assist; allie’s mom has an estate sale business. Angela will also offer assistance. 
• Grant & Fundraising Committee
  • The plan is to keep the fundraiser as simple as possible. No door prizes. No cover charge. We will be in the main restaurant so we can use existing staff to serve, we will not be charged for rental. Nathan S will host in character as Lonny, tip to sing a song or bid to make someone else sing. Allie and Nathan T will be around collecting money with buckets for cash and qr codes for venmo. A poster will be drawn up with the rules. Nathan S will announce dares and we will boo people who refuse (lol). Angela will donate glow sticks and hersruds is donating a DJ. derek will look into adding them as an in kind sponsor for this generous donation. Angela is still planning to run the auction in the fall. 

OLD BUSINESS:

1. Proxy Voting- tabled to bring exact language to next meeting
2. Parade- see report of vp. 

NEW BUSINESS:

1. Vote on bylaw- Nathan S will print and sign new bylaw.
   1. Motion to amend bylaw to include diversity statement: Angela, second Allie, passed unanimously

NEXT MEETING:

July 15th, 10AM, Black Hills Diner

ADJOURNMENT:

Motioned Kelsey, second Nathan T, passed unanimously