March 24, 2021 Minutes

Zoom Meeting
7:00 PM

ROLL CALL:

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

READING AND APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE PRECEDING MEETING:

Approved as presented.

REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF BILLS:

Approved as presented.

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:

I have been pushing hard for sponsorships over the last month. I have contacted over 50 local businesses. I have gotten 5 sponsors over the last month with several more I am hoping to hear back from. I will continue a push for sponsorship over the next month with more local businesses and have spoken to Al Schreier about helping me out with contacting some businesses. Right now between business sponsorships and donations we are sitting at $5,100 for the season. I will also be looking into more grants and such. Waiting to hear back from SD Arts Council, WalMart and Midco on grants I already applied for.

I have been talking with Nathan at the Rec and Adam, the school AD, about storage at the Rec Center. We are discussing some options but won’t know anything for a little while. After the school musical I will help them purge some stuff we don’t need to free up some storage space. I am also working on pricing out new flats for the school. Community Theater may help construct them.

I talked with Nathan and Jonathan about Membership issues. We are going to make an online push next week for members and then make a bigger push once we are doing shows in person. We talked about having a table at shows explaining Memberships. We also talked about adding some extra perks for Members to get people to join in that way.

REPORTS OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES:

President
- No updates at this time.
Vice President
- No updates at this time.
Treasurer
- Current balance is $3032.14. $2000.00 to be made. Names/addresses have been changed at the bank, credit card, IRS. Secretary of State still needs updated.
Secretary
- Applied for a grant through Powder River Energy Corporation
Grant & Fundraising Committee
- Online engagement has been a struggle. Perhaps waiting until after the first show of the season will help for better engagement. Working with Derek on sponsorships.
Membership Committee
- Met with Derek and Nathan. Discussed ideas for recruitment through offering a discount off merchandise online, flexibility to use free tickets, having a sign up table with merchandise at shows.
Public Relations Committee
- Working on doing sponsor boosting on social media.
Creative Committee
- Monologue Competition
  - We had a disappointing turnout for the monologue competition unfortunately. We didn’t get any from the kid division but we did get some for adults. I am waiting on the last judge now to get the winners decided. We will be using the donation from tdg for the winner and I decided to give tickets to two runner-ups instead of one. I am hoping to do this again down the road and hopefully we will have more submissions. I think all in all it was worth doing, just maybe not the best timing.
- Art Thou Virtual?
  - We are in the process of doing auditions for our virtual Shakespeare showcase, Art Thou Virtual? Jonny Rey is the director of the show and working with me on it. The show will be May 13 at 7 at Venu 519 in Belle. We won’t have an in-person audience but will sell online tickets like we did for the Christmas show for $5. The show will be several people doing monologues, duets, etc. of some famous Shakespeare shows. We are planning on it being around an hour to 90 minutes. At the show we will ask for donations and push our sponsors. Very excited for this show, I think it will turn out great and be something. Requesting $25 for Facebook marketing.
- Stage Plays
  - I have dates locked in with the theater for our two stage shows this summer. The first show will be a night of one acts and will be June 18 – 20 and auditions will be May 3. The shows will be one Toi wrote, one of my one acts from a few years ago called Collections and I am working on the third show now. I have spoken with Nathan about this. The next show will be Arsenic and Old Lace and that will be August 27 – 29 and auditions will be July 12. I will be directing one of these shows and I am currently working on finding another director. I have applied for the rights to Arsenic and Old Lace and I am just waiting for a reply. Once I do, I will request the funds from the Board to pay it. I will be working on a more in-depth budget soon for both shows.
- Workshops
  - I am still hoping to hold some workshops this Summer, just haven’t been able to spend enough time figuring them out yet with everything else going on. Hopefully I will have some more information next month.

OLD AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

None

NEW BUSINESS:

Within the Creative Committee report requests for funding were made.
Art Thou Virtual: $25 for online ads. Motion by Jonathan, seconded by ToiLyn. Motion passed.
Arsenic and Old Lace: Up to $400 for show rights. Motion by Jonathan, seconded by Nathan. Motion passed.