January 8, 2020 Minutes

Leaky Pot

Roll Call:

Robert Soderstrom, ToiLyn Flick, Derek Olson, Nathan Schreier, Heather Pittman, Kelsey Gronlund, Jonathan Tinsley, Becky Tinsley

Reading and approval of the minutes of the preceding meeting:

Motion by Jonathan, second by Kelsey to approve minutes as presented.

Review and approval of bills:

Motion by Nathan, second by Heather to approve bills paid.

Report of the Executive Director:

Discussions with the City

We have a signed contract with the city and things are in effect
There is a new Executive Director at the BFACC, I will try and schedule a meeting with him in the near future to discuss the theater
I have already been running lights and sound for multiple events, as things settle down I am going to start training other people to help with these

Christmas Show

The Christmas show went great, a good turnout of people and great donations for the bake sale
Arts People seemed to work well, curious on Kelsey and Heather’s thoughts taking tickets, would definitely like to push online sales more
We now have the CC swiper to use at the next show
We have had some discussions about changing pricing to $13 for adults and $10 for kids, maybe a little cheaper for the Christmas shows and things like that. We maybe should do Veterans and Senior pricing
The bake sale went well and we should look at doing something like it again

Website

The website is almost ready to launch, just need some help with contenting and a few technical things and it will be ready to go

Graphic Design

I am going to be working on creating new versions of our various documents so everything has the same look and feel

Regional Theater Meeting

Met with a group of Spearfish, Sturgis and Lead/Deadwood theater groups, they would like to share some resources amongst each other, they also want to have inserts in each other’s programs for info on each theater’s activities
They want to do a show with the four different theaters at each location, a night of one acts, 20 – 30 min shows that are mostly family friendly
Possibly Sept 25 26 27 28

Beacon newspaper

Beginning discussions about actors to help with summerstock/re-enactments. Derek is getting more information from Doug Cole.

Reports of Officers and Committees:

President

We may need to consider providing more guidance to sponsors about which information is needed to promote/advertise them at shows and on the website.
We need to share packaging information with people who are donating to the concessions for the shows to ensure that we have uniform presentation.

Vice President

CHRISTMAS SHOW THOUGHTS
- This is also my vice president’s report so I will most likely incorporate a bit more into this report than just what I thought worked for the show and what I thought did not work. Let us begin with the rough edges so that we can end with the awesome stuff.
- I spoke with Carrie about these things too since she was assisting, and her insights and opinions are valuable. The largest problem we saw was the dates of the performances. We lost 3 adult actors because it was too close to Christmas. Losing the adult actors was especially disappointing because they are a resource we need for our organization to flourish and grow. December 21st and 22nd proved to be at the tail end of a very busy 2-week period at the BFACC. There were several school concerts during that time, for one of which teachers decorated on Thursday, December 19th and then performed the entire day on December 20th. This made it quite difficult to do any kind of set for our play. There was also a funeral that ate in to some set building time. It did not cause any real problems, but it is something to keep in mind for the future. The short time frame was also tricky. It worked, but only because this was a play of sketches. The only other format that might work in this same time frame is one acts. While our advertising was good, I think we may need to do more in that area as our organization progresses. I think we need to brainstorm and really try to think outside the proverbial box as to what we can do for advertising. A large and upsetting thing to me was the Chamber putting the Parade of Lights festivities on our opening night. I would like to talk to them about that. I’d like to let them know that it was disrespectful to our organization. However, I will defer to the Board and do whatever we all think is best in regard to this situation. Carrie also mentioned the tight budget was a challenge, but in this case there was nothing to be done about that. And due to the lack of time we could have an actual set on stage, the tight budget really didn’t hamper the show.
- There were numerous wonderful things about our first production as the BFACT! To begin with, the script worked very well and was quite funny. Its sketch format allowed for flexible scheduling and the opportunity for actors to play multiple roles. This was VERY helpful given our timeframe and scheduling conflicts. This also allowed for us to see how the adult actors in particular did playing different roles which could be useful for later productions. The script allowed for a large and varied cast and we had one. There are always challenges working with a cast made up of diverse ages, but it is also rewarding. The audiences tend to be larger and it helps fulfill our mission of educating about and providing opportunities in theatre. The simple set worked well and the costuming got many compliments. It also made strike much easier! The mastermind behind the holiday concessions deserves a medal as this was clearly successful. It, along with the live music provided by Anna, added the perfect festive air to the performances. Hearing the cast belting out Jingle Bells as I entered the foyer is a memory I will carry with me for many, many years. It really felt like a Christmas production and I think people ate it up…pun intended! The free-will offering for the treats also fit the Christmas setting and accentuated the season of giving. Thank you Heather, for your hours spent in the kitchen! It was a lot of work, but I think it is something we should do with every Christmas show. The Arts People ticket taking system seemed to work extremely well. Heather, Derek and Kelsey can probably speak more to that, as I was running around doing other things and crossing fingers for a good house. The final thing I can think of to add as a plus for this show is the advertising. The posters were beautiful, FB was covered with reminders of our show, and the radio interview was awesome. I really enjoyed doing that and would encourage us to use that resource for everything we do. I do not know how many people that station reaches, but they are very easy to work with and open to helping us.
We did it guys! We built an organization and launched a very successful first show! I heard nothing bad about The Little Town of Christmas. I even had people who didn’t get to come tell me they were told by lots of people how good it was. All of the actors had a great time and the ones I questioned intend to do it again. I think we can even get several of them to become members. Jessica Carr’s husband mentioned that he would be willing to build stuff for us if we get a hold of him. He’s the one who created the gigantic pumpkin the Rec has had during Halloween and the gingerbread house that’s been in the parade of lights a time or two. We should maybe talk to him about a sponsorship….

Treasurer

Christmas show ticket sales $2250 (cash/checks), Bake Sale $586.50, total with sponsorships $5066.50
December bank balance $6406.65. We paid Derek’s wages so new balance is closer to $4000
Bills paid: Derek Olson $38.32 (Christmas show), Arts People $165.60 (Christmas show), BFACC $512 (Christmas show)

Secretary

By laws addendum is in the shared drive

Grant & Fundraising Committee

Bake Sale 586.50 made. Would like to do these at each show, even had a few people show just to buy treats
Sponsorships/grants
- Now that the tax year has turned over, we’ll be aggressively seeking this quarter
- We have a good start at $4000
- Now that i have time, planning to start the SD arts grant application this weekend
Meeting
- Will be meeting with my team in the next 10 days to plan dates for fundraisers throughout the year and discuss prospective budgets for anything that will cost a bit of startup
Tax Stuff
- Will be finalizing a form letter to send to donors and sponsors with their tax exempt donation amount and id. Need a postage budget
  - IRS MANDATED
- The name of the organization;
- The amount of cash contribution;
- A description (but not the value) of non-cash contribution;
- A statement that no goods or services were provided by the organization in return for the contribution, if that was the case;
- A description and good faith estimate of the value of goods or services, if any, that an organization provided in return for the contribution;
- A statement that goods or services, if any, that an organization provided in return for the contribution consisted entirely of intangible religious benefits.
  - Will also include:
    - Statement of thanks
    - What donations helped us produce
    - What our goals are for donations producing this year
    - Invitation to participate
We need to create signage for prices (tickets and concessions).

From Executive Director report:

We now have 11 sponsors, 3 of those being in-kind sponsors
That is $4,000 in sponsorships plus 3 $100 donations
We will be hitting fundraising hard now that it is the new year, we already have a line on a couple
We will also be submitting for some bigger sponsorships that are now available again

Membership Committee

No report

Public Relations Committee

Met with Belle Fourche Arts Council-it was a positive meeting. Their concerns are not having any one group monopolize BFACC, making better use of BFACC for projects and producing culturally relevant shows
Facebook Ads for Winter season totaled $132.58. Nathan will report on data at next meeting

Creative Committee

I will be meeting with the Creative Committee next week to lock down the shows we are doing this Summer, plus getting dates for Mr. Beautiful Fork and the Murder Mystery Dinner Theater
We are planning on a night of One Acts on June 4 – 6 with auditions on April 27 and 28
The Night of One Acts will be written by Nathan, Emma Tinsley and myself, figuring out directors now and a theme
Nathan is directing our main show and we are getting what that is locked down, we are thinking something a little older, well known and cheaper. That show will be July 24 – 26 with auditions on June 15 and 16
For the summer shows we have dates locked in with the Rec Center already

Old and unfinished business:

Christmas Show- See Vice President report

New business:

Robert presented information regarding a production of “War of the Worlds”. Potential for a live radio show for Halloween season. He has looked into purchasing a directors script for $80. Derek/ToiLyn advised looking for a less expensive outlet for scripts. Derek offered to assist in finding a script outlet through his current connections.
Membership to American Association for Community Theaters was discussed. We need to research cost vs benefits before we make this financial decision