July 15, 2024 Minutes

7:00 PM
Grap’s Wine Room

Call To Order:

President Nathan S

Roll Call:

Nathan S, Nathan T, Kelsey, Heather (remote), Sharon, Mike, Al, Derek

Approval of previous minutes:

Motion to approve Sharon, seconded by Mike, unanimous passage

Executive Director Report:

Grants

We have received word that we have gotten the SD Arts Council grant we applied for in the amount of $5,000. We can only pull out money as we use it and will pull out the last $500 next June. I will request a check for my salary as well as for paying the Rec Center rental for Murder on the Orient Express tomorrow. Then we probably won’t pull money out for another month or two.

We have also received the $5,000 grant from the SD Community Foundation. I do believe this will be a single check. That should be coming soon.

I also applied for a $5,000 grant through the Black Hills Community Foundation. This had to be done by this past Friday so I had to hurry and get it done. I did speak with Nathan before applying. We are applying for this grant to help get the documentary work paid for. I had mentioned at the last meeting that I was looking for some grants to cover this. We should know soon if we are going to get this one. This was also a grant that we would not really have qualified for except for this project, it had very narrow parameters that did not really fit our season. There will be more project grants like this out there that we may want to start thinking about in a broader sense if we have programming that might fit.

I have been waiting for the First Interstate Bank grant to become available, their system has been down for months. As soon as this is available, I will be applying for this grant, I am not yet sure how much can be applied for until I get into the system.

I am also wanting to do some research into the FL Clarkson Foundation, which is run out of Pioneer Bank. They do give money to local organizations. They do not have a website that I could find so I will speak to our Pioneer Contact to try and learn more.

Documentary

I have spoken to the Board about the 15 Year Documentary project before. I budgeted $2,000 this season to go towards this. I would like to budget some more money next season to finish it up and hopefully we receive the Black Hills Community Foundation Grant. I am going to include some info on this project here so we can discuss and I would like to make a final vote on this project soon:

BFACT has served the Tri-State/Northern Hills area with 14 seasons of community theater since 2010. The organization has survived many hurdles over the years through strong leadership and a passionate community. We are celebrating the 15th season in 2025 with a new initiative to sustain and grow the organization. This includes the creation of video assets that promote BFACT as a cultural establishment of the region, recruit community connections, and fundraise for the next 15+ seasons of performing arts in the area.

The assets will include a short documentary about BFACT’s history and its unique engagement of local playwrights. These will be used to support marketing for the organization and to share at presentations. In addition, several short cuts of this documentary, and some additional production work, will be shown at performances to share with potential donors/sponsors and recruit volunteers on social media.

We are collaborating with a Belle Fourche award-winning filmmaker to create these assets. This individual has been a volunteer at the organization for many years and is providing this service at a discounted rate. Under our proposed budget everything is covered from planning and production to equipment rental and travel. Project planning has begun with interviews to start in the fall featuring founders of the organization, as well as recent leadership and volunteers. Shoots will include rehearsals and back-stage activity during the remainder of our current season going into the start of our next season. The smaller videos will be ready for showing at the first performance of the 15th-season in early spring of 2025. The main documentary will be ready to view by the main show scheduled for that summer.

These videos, in conjunction with our 15th-season celebration, are a catalyst for new engagement and programming moving into the next stage of BFACT’s growth, while also rooting the organization’s presence in the community. Part of the 15th-season initiative is to grow our volunteer numbers, collaborate with cultural/city entities, and start building a foundation of individual-donor giving for long-term support. We believe these videos will help us accomplish that goal by telling the story of BFACT, how it’s made a difference in the community, and the value of performing arts in small-town South Dakota.

Murder on the Orient Express

Overall I would say Murder on the Orient Express was a big success. There was some turmoil behind the scenes that I have been working to address. The surveys we made available to the cast and crew has given some interesting information. I will be meeting with Melita to go over her thoughts on how it went after the Festival in the Park is done. I do think there are some things we can implement that will help shows run smoother in the future. The show was a large hit though and the cast and crew really poured a lot into the show to make it great. We got lots of great comments and compliments on the show and I think we have interested some new people in getting involved, as well as some of the new volunteers from the show will hopefully come back.

Overall we spent $3,679.42 on this show. Now this includes a $900 lumber bill, most of that lumber will be able to be used again for future productions. Also, we ended up having to spend some money on bake sale supplies because we were very low. In the future we talked about taking out lumber as a line item for production budgets and paying for lumber for the season in another part of the budget. I would suggest we do the same thing for the bake sale. Since much of what is used gets used multiple times we shouldn’t charge an individual show for it. We also did get charged an additional $120 for kitchen rental at the Rec. I was told we maybe should have been charged in the past, but haven’t been for this. They did give us a discount, they only charged us for two hours each performance instead of the full time we were there. It is $15 an hour and will be something we are charged for upcoming shows. We also paid for Pizza and snacks for everyone for the set strike because there was so much to do. Honestly it might be worth making this a common occurrence for shows, it is a good camaraderie builder and helps gets sets torn down. So all in all, there were several things we paid for this show that maybe we shouldn’t consider part of the show budget in the future.

Including raffle and bake sale, we made $5,993.20 for the run. We sold 410 tickets to the four performances, and gave out 15 volunteer/sponsor comps. We made $4,715 on ticket sales. We made $658.20 on the bake sale, which was very positively received. We made $620 on raffle tickets. Both items have been given to the winners. I want to thank Angela Hastings so much for putting together the amazing Agatha Christie basket, we sold almost as many raffle tickets to that as we did the 1880 Train tickets.

Merch

We created 12 BFACT branded shirts and sold them at the show, it cost $210.91 for them. We sold 6 of them during the run, including 1 to myself. So we haven’t made money yet but hopefully we will sell more at other upcoming shows.

I’m not 100% how to proceed with merch at this point. We did have some people ask about other shirts because we only had so many of any size and told them to go online. We haven’t sold any shirts online since the show though so it seems having them in-person helps to sell them. However, to have enough of different sizes will cost quite a bit. My plan is to make some new merch this summer, not just branded shirts, more theater-type shirts. We will make a push and see if we sell any from the website. I will also continue to try and sell the remaining shirts we have at other events. Once most are sold, we can have a discussion about if it is worth ordering more to have on hand.

Marketing

I have spoken with the BF Chamber and they will take and display some of our rack cards, I just have to drop them. Anna and I will also be working on a new theater display for the long hallway glass case at the Rec when we have time. I am also going to look at create another banner of some kind to have for the ticket table and try and get that before the next show.

Rec Center Board

The Parks and Rec Board is now taking applications for those interested. Here is what the release says:

Seeking Individuals interested in serving terms ranging from one to three years. Meetings will convene twice a month, with the specific days and times to be determined at the discretion of the board. Members 18 and older will be voting members, while members 17 and under will be non-voting members. Please submit a letter expressing your interest in joining the Parks and Recreation Board along with a resume to City Hall. Deadline is this Friday.

We should try and get some people onto this board if possible, I know I am not able to join it though.

I am meeting with the City Council Tech Committee tomorrow night in the theater to talk about the theater and its needs. Jody will also be there as will Haggertys to go over the major sound quote that was worked up a while ago.

I am going to create the July Newsletter tomorrow and send it Wednesday. My hope is to work with Mike on this so eventually the PR Committee can take it over.

Officer Reports:

President
- We maintained a presence in the 4th of July parade. Derek created 3 great banners. I built a frame to hang them on, and I put that frame in the back of a very nice truck that Mike arranged for Hersruds to loan to us! Thank you to you both for helping make that happen!
- We were not able to do a float this year, but that is completely understandable due to how busy many of our regular volunteers and board members were with MOTOE. I am happy that we were present, and I hope that all the volunteers and board members got a well-deserved break.
- We bought the parade posters from QuikSign in Spearfish, which were $20 each. I will bring a receipt for reimbursement at the next board meeting.
- I met with the Public Relations committee, and Mike was able to wrangle his committee to distribute posters for MOTOE, which was great to see.
- I still need to meet with Fundraising and Volunteer committees. It was a busy month for all!
- Accumulated printing costs since Break A Leg have come to $15.00. Once again, I can get reimbursement for this at the next meeting.
  - Misc..
  - Code of Conduct 30xB&W $1.50
  - Acting Workshop Fliers 20xColor $2.00
  - Murder on the Orient Express
    - Audition Posters 30xB&W $1.50
    - Posters 70xColor $7.00
  - Sherlock
    - Audition Posters 30xColor $3.00
  - GRAND TOTAL $15.00
Vice President
- Audit completed, nothing further to report.
Secretary
- Nothing to report.
Treasurer
- Current balance $14,392.11
Creative Committee
- Workshops
  - Allie and Emma led the Acting Workshop on the 20th and I was told it really went well. They had 13 people there and it seems like everyone enjoyed it and got something out of it. The attendees were all interested in another Acting Workshop, so Allie and Emma are starting to work on some new ideas for that. They are also thinking about some other workshops they would be interested in leading.
  - I am planning on hosting an Advanced Writing Workshop before the end of the year, probably November. Once I get a date set we will start promoting it as well. I would also like to host a Director Bootcamp after the first of the year.
- Sherlock Holmes
  - We have auditions set for Sherlock Holmes & The West End Horror for August 5 and 6. I am working with Tyler on a practice schedule now. We drew some interest from attendees to the past show so I am hoping we get a pretty good turnout for auditions. We will need ticket takers, bake sale people and possibly ushers to help with this show. I will work with Sharon on finding these people coming up.
- GOAT
  - Allie will be directing GOAT this year but since she has accepted the Assistant Director job at the High School for the theater department, Emma Tinsley will be helping her out so it doesn’t become too much. Stephanie Bussiere is set to write this show, she already has most of a script completed that she brought to the Writers Workshop which is why we picked her. The script isn’t quite finished, she was very busy with this past show. The rough draft has been completed and I am talking with Allie and Emma about what they need with it.
- Christmas Show
  - As we get closer to this show I will work with Rachel and Sharon on audition dates and practice schedules. We already have everything purchased and scripts are here already.
- Next Season
  - We are trying to get next season solidified. Right now a lot of the hold-up is trying to get all of the other theaters committed to a date for GOAT next season. We are looking in late March for 2025, I am just waiting on confirmation. This was a request to move by the other theaters, but I think it will work fine for us. Lead just got a new Executive Director, so I think that is causing a delay in their response. Once we have that date set we will get all of the other dates in stone and can start moving forward with finding directors. Hopefully this will be done by August. Right now we are looking at Is He Dead?, a musical of some kind, GOAT, and a radio drama for Christmas. In addition we are hoping for multiple workshops, possibly an outdoor performance of some kind, a new play showcase, improv and more.
Public Relations
- Got posters out for MotOE. Reached over 15,000 on FB and got more than 1400 reactions. Spent only $50 so got a lot of outreach for the price. Sherlock materials in development.
Volunteer Committee
- Sharon, Allie, Anna, and Nathan S met last week. Discussed putting more effort into committees working together. Also discussed gathering and following up on data collection from volunteers on all activities. Working on volunteer specific outreach materials. Suggest volunteer fair to present what we do and how people can be involved. Suggest volunteer recognition activities. Focus on retention and years of service. Perhaps nominated by volunteers and voted on by the board? Awards could be presented at an annual meeting.
Fundraising Committee
- Unable to pursue downtown Thursday nights as we do not have a health license or insurance.
15 Year Committee
- Medieval times gala? Art day? Further meetings to be had.

Old Business:

Strategic planning committee : Another board retreat to refine goals? Must choose committee. Ideas: stakeholders- existing board members, former board members, ED, volunteers, outside organizations we work with that have similar goals. 9 person committee- president, 2 board members, ED, 2-3 volunteers, 2-3 other stakeholders. Goal to have first committee meeting in September, plan to hopefully appoint committee at August meeting.

New Business:

Painting the stage – tabled, Derek must discuss with rec center for potential dates before we can determine
Lumber and operation costs – for 2025, will separate out lumber and bake sale expenses as line items. Will continue to budget 2024 as we have been.