November 27, 2023 Minutes

Grap’s Wineroom
6:30 PM

CALL TO ORDER:

President Nathan S

ROLL CALL:

Nathan S, Nathan T (left during CC report and returned 15 minutes later), Kelsey (5 minutes late), Heather, Angela, Sharon, Derek

APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES:

Motioned Sharon, 2nd Nathan T, passed unanimously

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT:

Website

I am currently working through the website now and getting close to having the basic coding all done and then will work on content porting. I am still hoping to have the website launched by the Annual Meeting.

Sponsorships

I have started looking for business sponsors for 2024. I have already messaged all of our sponsors and business donors from last season. First Interstate Bank, Dakota Lumber, Schreier Engineering, TDG, Print Mark-et, and Grap’s will all be returning as sponsors for next season. They will be joined by Monument Health who will be an actor sponsor in the new year. Any of these businesses that I don’t hear from by the end of this week I will reach out again. I am hoping most of them will return as sponsors. I created a new version of the sponsorship document, it is in our Shared Docs. Our sponsorship list is also shared there. I am currently updating it for 2024. If anyone is helping with contacting businesses, please let me know.

Grants

On November 17 I attended a workshop in Custer about Grant Writing. I took a bunch of notes and it was a great workshop. There will be more in the next year. These events are free but a spot needs to be reserved. Derek plans to continue attending. I have shared my notes in our Shared Docs as well. I am going to use this information to help me with my Grant Writing. In the next month I am hoping to have grant applications out to Midco, First Interstate Bank and the State Arts Council. There will be many other grants to do throughout the year and I may need help with finding, writing and gathering information for.

GivingTuesday

We are participating in GivingTuesday this year. It is an annual event through social media. We are looking for $500 in donations, we will see how close we get to that. I have many different social media posts set to go up through the day highlighting our volunteers. I took info I already had from Kelsey and Heather and I got new quotes from Whitney Bridgers and Anna Robinson for it. If you have a chance please share these posts and info about GivingTuesday throughout the day tomorrow. All donations will be taken through our PayPal, the link is on our website. I will need to get with Kelsey throughout the day to get updates on the amount collected.

Sound/Lights

I finally finished the sound/lights document. I sent it to the Rec Center to be printed and laminated. I am waiting to hear back from Renee on a time for me to do some training with her staff. Once I have that time, I will put it out there for anyone interested in learning more about how to run lights and sound. This should help us out whenever we need to provide a lights/sound person for the Rec Center.

Annual Report

I am hoping to start constructing the Annual Report in mid-December so I will need reports by then. Refer to last year’s Annual Report if you have any questions. I will also start promoting the Annual Meeting later this week on social media.

Budget

One of the biggest things that came out of that grant workshop for me is that we really need to have an actual budget for 2024. We have never done an official budget but I think it would help us out. I will need to get information from different people on what they need to spend throughout the year to get this created.

Ancillary Materials

I would like to create some ancillary materials we can use in the 2024 season and beyond. I am working on a list now but it will include a couple of stand-up banners, other banners, rack cards, business cards and more. Once I have a full list I will come to the board for approval to pay for all of it.

OFFICER REPORTS: 

  • President
    • Met with Nathan T on committee assignments and expectations. Still compiling printing costs and still planning to meet with Sharon.
  • Vice President
    • Met with Nathan S, reviewed bank statements for audit. 
  • Secretary
    • Nothing to report
  • Treasurer
    • Current balance: $13797.42. Please make purchases by 12/15 for ease of fiscal year as this is when the credit card statement ends. 
  • Creative Committee
    • Volunteer Appreciation
      • Creative Committee will handle Volunteer Appreciation this coming Saturday. We are going to spend a little on extra snacks for the event. Other than that, we will decorate, bring games, get the word out, etc. Sharon, can we use your tablet that has the karaoke software for the event?
    • One-Acts
      • We have decided on doing new one-acts written by myself and Nathan for this show. We will also use a short one-act I wrote for another event this past year. Stephanie Bussiere and Sharon will be directing these shows. I will get with them soon to get all of the details in and set audition dates for. I should have a budget for this at next month’s meeting. The rental has already been paid for at Community Hall.
    • Writer’s Workshop
      • I am working up the Writer’s Workshop and will hopefully host this in February. During this event we will be on the lookout for a play/playwright for use in GOAT later in the season. There should be no real costs with this event other than some promotions and posters. I will have that next month as well.
    • Improv
      • I am setting up a meeting with Geno to get this moving forward. We don’t really have any new information yet for this event.
    • Murder on the Orient Express
      • At Creative Committee it was decided we don’t have any one of our regular directors to direct this show. I have started reaching out to other groups to find a director. If anyone has any suggestions of who to talk to, please let me know.
    • Sherlock
      • There is no new information here.
    • GOAT
      • We don’t have much information on this show. Allie may direct it, but that is not set in stone, so again if anyone has any other suggestions please let me know. We have requested the Thursday performance date, but I haven’t heard back from the other theaters yet if that works for them.
    • Christmas
      • Rachel will be directing this show with Sharon. We are looking at doing The Best Little Christmas Pageant Ever, licensing will be purchased.
  • Public Relations
    • Went to Soup giving event. Low engagement but maybe more in future. Still attending meetings with chamber, writers group, arts council, etc. 
  • Membership Committee
    • Struggling to find time for newsletters with everything happening during the holidays. Still planning to purchase mail chimp subscription
  • Grant & Fundraising Committee
    • Absent

OLD BUSINESS:

  1. Scholarships: the following updates were made to rough draft of scholarship application:
    1. Scratch transcript request
    2. Clarify 1 letter of recommendation
    3. Submission instructions clarified-send to Derek and strip identifying info
    4. Submission date of 3/15 added
    5. Checking with high school counselor to see if adult signature needed
    6. Final app to be approved at next meeting.
  2. FAB discussion: table

NEW BUSINESS:

  1. Executive Director reviews:
    1. Due 1 week prior to next meeting. 
  2. Committee assignments:
    1. Need to amend bylaws from membership chair to 3rd member at large. Planning an additional virtual meeting to discuss. Bylaw amendments must be announced 2 weeks prior to vote and this change needs to take place prior to annual meeting and elections. 
  3. All submissions for the annual report due January 1st.

NEXT MEETING:

  • 12/21/23. Executive session: 6:15 PM
  • Regular meeting: 7:00 PM
  • Special session: 12/6/23. 6:00 PM

ADJOURNMENT:

Motion: Nathan T, 2nd Sharon, passed unanimously

Submitted by Secretary Heather Pittman.

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