November, 24 2025 Minutes
7:00 PM
Branding Iron
Call To Order:
Nathan S
Roll Call:
Nathan S, Nathan T, Kelsey, Heather, Mike, Katie, Derek
Approval of previous minutes:
Motion to approve: Mike, Second: Nathan T, unanimous approval
Public member commentary:
N/A
Executive Director Report:
Grants
I heard back and we did not receive the Jim Hess grant for this cycle. I had applied to get money for the Kid’s Camp we are planning this summer. This would have covered everything for that event. This is unfortunate, but I will be looking for other grants to cover that event. This is the second time we haven’t gotten this grant, which sucks a bit, but maybe next year. This upcoming season is almost set and then I will move forward with applying for other grants for the season, including BHE, BHFCU, Midco, Walmart, and more. I am hoping for around $6,000 in grants for next season, possibly more if we do well for the kid’s camp.
Sponsorships
As soon as the dates are set for next season, even if I don’t have show names I am going to start my Sponsorship push, I will start with our current sponsors before the Christmas show. Then I will work my way through the rest of the list after that. I hope to have hit most of that before Christmas and then wrap up after the first of the year. Any help I can get with businesses people have personal contact with would be appreciated.
It’s a Wonderful Life
Bella has cast It’s a Wonderful Life and they have begun practices. I am liking how things are shaping up for this show and I think it should be a good one. I will be working with them on sound starting next week as well as set work, which will be minimal. Hunter Anderson came in and took some photos last week and I was able to get a poster done over the weekend so we will get those up and marketing has begun. Tickets are sale now and I went with the revised pricing we spoke of, $10 – $5 – $3. We will make a huge push for ticket sales and hopefully have a great turnout for this show.
I have spoken with Bella and I am requesting a budget of $3,600 for this show. I can break this down further for the BOD at the meeting.
Motion to approve budget: Nathan T, Second Kelsey, unanimous approval
Silent Auction
I have been working on getting items for the auction without much luck so far. The hope was to have this running during the Christmas show. If we can’t get enough items in time, worst-case scenario we run it online closer to Christmas or around the first of the year. We used to do online auctions in the past and they did just fine, so it can work. If anyone is able to help with this, please let me know.
2026 Arts Conference
I was able to get my proposal submitted for us hosting a workshop for the 2026 Arts SD Arts Conference in time. I was told there were 26 submissions for 5 spots. They are supposed to be contacting people soon on their decision. If we are picked I will begin work on our presentation for this. I think regardless, it would be worth sending a person or two to the conference, it will be held in Rapid City again in 2026.
GOAT Retreat
We had spoken at the last meeting about BFACT covering a portion of costs to help host the GOAT retreat since we didn’t get the grant for this. The same question was put to the rest of the GOAT participants, but sadly no one has responded from the other theaters and I think this idea may be dead for now. That saddens me a bit, but there are some other ideas I have for some ways to expand theater participation in the area for us.
Next Season
I am wrapping up directors for next season and trying to get the shows fully set. I am having a hard time getting full commitals at this point, so I am going to get dates locked in with the Rec so we have them and if we have to just announce dates and types of shows to go with them by the Christmas show, we can and announce show names around the first of the year, we can. Hype it up some, and it can be an event when we announce show names. I have also reached out to some people about workshops, and I have had some interested people, my hope is five workshops throughout the year of various types. I would like to possibly lead or co-lead a directors and writers workshop so that takes care of a couple. I have spoken with Geno and we are getting things moving forward with Improv and that is taking shape. There are some other ideas floating around about reading series, writers groups, and possible black box series of plays out there as well I am hoping to lock down once the season is in place.
Through the Volunteer Committee we are also going to be hosting a Volunteer Appreciation event in January at some point, so that will become apart of the season. Beyond that I would like to do another Gala of some kind, since we learned a lot from the one this year. Eventually, I would like to start a committee for that to get that started.
Center of the Nation Playwriting Festival
The Arts Midwest story came out about the Center of the Nation Playwriting Festival and it was really great. There were great quotes from one of the authors and from Bella. It is available online.
Sound
The new sound system is in and I was given a quick tutorial ahead of the HS play so we could make sure there were hanging and floor mics for that show. I also took apart our speakers and board, we are going to need to find a place to store those speakers, for now they are in the corner but we will need a better space eventually. The new system is very robust but will be very easy to use if the need is just a single wireless mic or two, the Rec Center has purchased to wireless mics and a headset that can easily be turned on from the stage. To connect anything more is a bit of a task that not just anyone will be able to do. After the quick training I have the basic idea of how to string up more mics and the basics of the new board in the light room. It is a very complex board with lots of options, but the basics should be easy enough to use, the setup is the harder part. We will no longer have any mics always hooked up like before, the hanging and floor mics were always hooked up, that will no longer be the case. So anytime anything needs hooked up beyond the mics the Rec has, it will take some work. My hope is that will still require our help and that our contract can still be kept intact with the city, this is work not just anyone can do and the Rec does not want someone to just come in and do, they want training for anyone who does it. Speaking of, Mike and I will do a more extensive training tomorrow for four hours and once that is done we will be able to train some other BFACT people on how to set up sound. There will be a Concert Series event on Sunday the 30th. Bella is going to run that event, but either Mike or myself will have to be there to help setup and to show Bella how for the first time.
All in all, it is a nice system and the speakers are really nice and give off great sound. There are also monitors in the light booth, the garage, the hallway and the dressing rooms which will be nice. There are no monitors as of right now, so for musicals we will need to hook up speakers for that, we could use our speakers for that. I also spoke to the Rec about eventually changing out the cord track that is on the front of the stage since we need to start connecting/disconnecting more regularly. They are going to look into it.
Annual Report
As we come to the end of the year, we need to begin working on the Annual Report, so we need to set the Annual Meeting date so we can announce it and promote it. Beyond that, I will need to start work on the report so the sooner I can get reports, the better. Ideally as close to the first of the year as possible is best.
Kids’ Camp Committee
We held our first Kids’ Camp Committee meeting on November 14. The current members of that committee are Nathan S, Katie A, Toi Lyn Flick, Reva Potter, Sharon Thompson, Geno Pesicka and myself. We have begun discussions on what we would like this kids’ camp to look like, how many days, how many kids, curriculum, etc. We had a great preliminary discussion about all of this and didn’t come to any conclusions yet. This first meeting was to discuss the basics Iand to get people thinking. After Thanksgiving we are going to set another meeting and try to lock down some dates, length and some other basics. We will only meet a couple of times more after that and then goal is to turn it over to someone who will actually lead the Camp and put them in charge to really put this thing together. This would be a person we would pay as well. I will have more information at the next meeting.
Nathan S declares Derek official chair of special committee
Misc
Everything on the website is officially up to date and the production history and timeline section are nearly complete. Still working on the original Is He Dead section and Don’t Dress for Dinner.
I suggest we get a thank you gift for Bella to show our appreciation for her hard work as our intern and also suggest we send flowers to Jesse Schanzenbach. He was an early contributor to community theater back in the day and his wife is currently in the hospital. I have discretionary funds to do this without a vote, just wanted the general ok from the board.
Officer Reports:
- President
- Nothing to report
- Vice President
- Nothing to report
- Secretar
- Nothing to report
- Treasurer
- Current bank balance $16,309.39. Paid for PO box renewal and got community hall deposit back from the writer’s presentation.
- Public Relations
- Engagement down again as marketing campaign for Christmas show is just starting.
- Volunteer Committee
- Looked into services to send postcards for events. Postcard mania and print place both can do 500 postcards to $62.50. Do we want to send postcards for annual meeting? Will look into applying for bulk mailing with usps. Next coffee hour set for December 13th. Will discuss volunteer appreciation event to occur in Feb or march.
- Fundraising Committee
- Absent
- Strategic Planning Committee
- Go over handout
Old Business:
- Derek’s contract – complete performance review
New Business:
- Intern’s contract – not currently in need of an intern. Will discuss again in future if needs change
- Annual meeting date – tentative date: 1/24/2 at 2pm. Venue 519?
Next meeting:
12/16/25 at 7pm Branding Iron
Adjournment:
Motion to adjourn: Mike, Second Nathan T
Respectfully submitted by Secretary Heather Pittman
