September 15, 2021 Minutes

Grap’s/Zoom
7:00 PM

ROLL CALL:

Robert, ToiLyn, Heather, Kelsey, Nathan, Becky, Jonathan, Emma Tinsley

READING AND APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE PRECEDING MEETING:

REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF BILLS:

No new bills

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:

Sponsorship and Grants

I was looking at applying for the Humanities Grant but unfortunately we don’t qualify for it being a performance theater. But I did apply for one for $4,500 through the Arts Council who is giving money out for the American Rescue Plan. We won’t know for a while the results though. I am going to be contacting all sponsors for the past year over the next two weeks to see if they will sponsor again this year. I will also try again for Wal-Mart, Midco and BHE grants and hopefully we get some from there. I also requested the last $1,000 from our last SD Arts Council grant, which should be here in a few weeks. At the beginning of October I will begin my big push for sponsorships by contacting local businesses. I also want to work with Heather to figure out some kind of big fundraiser to do maybe this winter.

Volunteers

During the last season of shows volunteers have been way down. This is for all aspects of theater. Our monologue competition did not get many submissions and people who came out for both plays were barely enough. We really didn’t have much for specific tech in either show. I have had trouble getting help when I need to do specific tasks. We have some really dedicated people that put in a lot of hours, but that’s not enough to sustain us. I will need some help from the Board in trying to do a volunteer push. My time is just stretched very thin and I just can’t do it all. I am reforming the Creative Committee and I hope that will help with my workload but it will take all of us to keep BFACT going.

Annual Meeting

I would like to have all Annual Meeting reports to me by the first week of October so I can get the document created.

Concert Series

I am doing the first show but will need help with other productions. I will train anyone interested in helping. I will also create a document with instructions. A calendar will be posted to the shared drive.

REPORTS OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES:

President
- No updates at this time
Vice President
- Reached out to Jim/Amber about scheduling back room at Graps for Annual Meeting- waiting to hear back.
Treasurer
- Gave ToiLyn statements for audit
- Bank= $6124.38
- Fundraising this year about $13,000. Previous year was about $10,000.
Secretary
- No updates at this time
Grant & Fundraising Committee
- Costume contest fundraiser (people/children/pets) maybe check with Rec/Chamber to coordinate. Possibly have a table at Spooktacular at Rec.
Membership Committee
- Meeting with Nathan/Derek to prepare for membership drive
Public Relations Committee
- Chamber of Commerce wants 60 promotional packets (cost of about $9). Would like to offer 50% off on one ticket in a packet.
Creative Committee
- The Committee
  - I have reformed the CC and the new members are Nathan Schreier, Toi Lyn Flick, Rachel Johnson and Collin Hockenbary. I am going to set up a meeting soon with them to get them started. I have high hopes for the committee for this coming season.
- Mr. Beautiful Fork
  - Originally we had Mr. Beautiful Fork was scheduled for Oct. 9 but I have pushed it to Nov. 13 to give us some more time to get everything ready and be able to advertise the heck out of it. I am also concerned about COVID but I hope by then we might be past our peak. We are also tracking down one more contestant, one had to drop out last week. The show is going to be great and I am very excited about it. I am requesting a budget of $350 for this show:
  - $100 – Gift cards to Grap’s to giveaway during the show
  - $50 – Drink tickets to Grap’s to giveaway during the show
  - $50 – Misc items we need for the show
  - $50 – Printing of marketing materials
  - $100 – FB Advertising for the show.
  - (Motion Jonathan/second Heather to approve budget)
- The Christmas Show
  - Toi will be directing the Christmas show this year and we will be getting that show picked very soon and start promoting it in October. There has been a lot of interest in this so far so I am hoping things pick up a little for it. Tentative date Dec. 10-12 at Rec Center.
- The Rest of the Season
  - I am waiting on the Christmas show to figure out the rest of the season. We have some big ideas for this upcoming season but if our volunteer level stays where it is now we can’t accomplish them. If the Christmas show does very well I think we will be more ambitious this coming year, if not, we will keep it a little small for one more year.

OLD AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

NEW BUSINESS:

50% off one ticket in promotional packet for Chamber (ToiLyn motioned/Kelsey second to create packet with discount coupon).
Robert – idea of adding board seats specifically for community members/Chamber of Commerce representatives/other organizations to increase involvement. Look for people with specific skill sets- attorney, carpenter,etc.
Emma – Reach out to theater department at BHSU for student volunteers. Contact Dean of Dept. to see if they have credit for students to volunteer.