Tag: meeting minutes

The following text are the minutes from the SMCT Board Meeting on May 30, 2015. Click the link below for a downloadable PDF version.

SMCT December 2015 Meeting Minutes (public)

 

SMCT Board Meeting Minutes – December 2015

December 12th, 2015, 10:00am Benjamin Eddy Building, Foster, RI

Members present (voting members in bold): Dennis Chretien, Laura Giorgianni, Shane Inman, Kaila Rubin, Eric Dubois, Liz Dubois, Chris Brostrup-Jensen

Meeting Begins – 10:10am

Finance

-Box office cutoff has been changed from 2 to 3 hours before show, change will be upheld

Creative

-Chris offered a formal apology for his lack of time management during rehearsals

-Going forward, having a community liaison should address this issue

-Christmas Carol performances have been going well

-Liz asked if there will be a dinner theatre between Christmas Carol and M*A*S*H

-Suggested it would be difficult to fit anything into the short time slot

-Could potentially be done at the proposed chili cook-off (see below)

-Full dinner theatre production would not be viable

-Date of Foster Follies has to be decided, as the usual date would fall in middle of M*A*S*H

-29th of April, 6th and 13th of May will be checked to determine best option

-M*A*S*H

-Dennis anticipates tech issues due to operating room being set up off-stage

-Lighting and seating will have to be adjusted accordingly

-Clarification: first Tuesday after last show is storage cleanup, first Thursday is cast party

-Creative Studio

-Chris expressed concerns about the image presented by CAST-sponsored videos

-Over winter break, more videos will be made

-Long-term archiving of files has to be figured out

-DVDs would not be ideal, online backup service might be best option

Events

-Chili cook-off in late winter

-Eric suggested doing a sneak preview of M*A*S*H, showing one scene

-Original cook-off date was on Easter weekend, has to be changed

-BYOB with corking fee would probably not go over well

-Silent auction could be good addition, but item donations would be needed

-May be safer to choose different event

-Ultimate conclusion: event will need to be investigated and date reworked

-Dennis suggested starting a yearly auction

-Would need at least a few big ticket items to pull people in the door

-Zink Alloy could be hired to play for an hour for a fundraiser with food and silent auction

-Might be better to do in May

-Nikki will be asked about changing cook-off event

Public Relations

-Shane suggested prominent “Buy Tickets” button be added to website

-New web platform still under construction, will hopefully be done before M*A*S*H

-Dennis suggested creating Swamp Meadow filter on Instagram for additional publicity

Fundraising

-Meryn will determine if Foster has any intentions regarding new community building grant

-Dennis suggested SMCT could step into the gap left by the departure of Fostering Arts

Facilities

-Futon will be removed from storage unit by original owner and given to Savers

-Could large swathes of fabric in storage unit be sold on Ebay?

-Unlikely to ever be used

-Some fabrics could be kept, such as more specialized materials

-Old tech equipment should be posted on Ebay

Communications

-Shane hopes to get all board members on Slack before next board meeting

-Will compile email to illustrate benefits of platform and attempt to encourage adoption

Meeting adjourned – 12:02pm

The following text are the minutes from the SMCT Board Meeting on May 30, 2015. Click the link below for a downloadable PDF version.

(public) SMCT Board Meeting Minutes 14 November 2015

 

SMCT Board Meeting Minutes – November 2015

Nobember 14th, 2015, 10:00am Benjamin Eddy Building, Foster, RI

Members present (voting members in bold): Shane Inman, Kaila Rubin, Leslie Carter, Eric Dubois, Artie Robillard, Carol Mauro, Rachel Stevens, Bob Hollis, Chris Brostrup-Jensen

Meeting Begins – 10:15am

Sub-committee meetings

-Behavior policy has not yet been written

-Notes from producer/stage manager meeting have been sent out

-Progress was made on delineating roles

-Next meeting must be scheduled and topic decided

-Chris put forth use of rehearsals to build SMCT culture/community as potential topic

-“Liaison” meeting could be combined with another topic

-Several people suggested focusing on delineating precise meaning of board positions

-Unlikely to take very long, would mostly involve clarifying existing lines

-Leslie suggested setting up separate meetings (with separate topics) to occur simultaneously, then coming together afterward to discuss

-Meeting topic will be liaison, as mentioned above, and guideline review

-Meeting will be held on January 11th, 2016, at 6:30pm at the Dubois’ house

-Meeting will be open to the public

-Potential future topics include tech, publicity/hospitality, and membership outreach (finding interested people)

Creative

-Christmas Carol is in good shape

-Much farther along in deciding technical details than previous shows

-Disruptions to rehearsals as a result are unfortunate, but worth the benefits

-Chris is unsure of how far along costumes currently are

-Still looking for concessions coordinator for one week of shows

-80-90% of the way to getting replacement for Joe Turner

-Efforts have been made to shift it more in line with how it was described in meetings

-Specifically, responsibilities and “workflow” will be made to more closely conform to the decisions made at the director/producer/stage manager organizational meeting

-Planning to shoot promotional videos in coming week for promotion

-Official cast list needed for by the 24th for Foster Home Journal

-USO Show

-Still trying to find musical coordinator

-No need for a producer

-Show will be performed on November 12th and 13th

-If live musicians cannot be found and organized, Artie is willing to fall back on prerecorded music

-Suessical

-Budget is being discussed with Laura Giorgianni

-Creative Studio

-November CAST production needs to be written and cast, volunteers are wanted

-Final edit of October CAST production will be uploaded soon

-Bob will get youth reps together soon

Public Relations

-Dennis, Andy, and Eric are working on the new website

-They have decided to switch after Christmas Carol to avoid disrupting the production

-Buying an ad in Motif would be unlikely to bring in larger audience, but may encourage someone from Motif to review the show, aiding in long-term organizational building

-Leslie suggested posting blurb on Rhode Island Performance Exchange website

Communications

-Shane requested that Communications be moved up on the schedule for a future meeting

Next meeting is scheduled for December 12th.

Motion to adjourn meeting – Seconded/Passed

Meeting adjourned – 11:58pm

The following text are the minutes from the SMCT Board Meeting on May 30, 2015. Click the link below for a downloadable PDF version.

SMCT Board Meeting Minutes 24 October 2015 (public)

 

SMCT Board Meeting Minutes – September 2015

September 26th, 2015, 10:00am Benjamin Eddy Building, Foster, RI

Members present (voting members in bold): Liz Dubois, Andy Affleck, Chris Brostrup-Jensen, Shane Inman, Dennis Chretien, Kaila Rubin, Laura Giorgianni, Leslie Carter, Eric Dubois, Meryn Flynn, Carol Mauro

Meeting Begins – 10:15am

Creative

-Christmas Carol is continuing to go quite well, with good forward progress

-Additional help wanted in creative outreach area, non-traditional publicity

-Andy Affleck volunteered

-He would like to make a behind-the-scenes video of rehearsals

-Leslie suggested putting up fliers at AS220

-Also suggested emphasizing the fresh take on the play

-M*A*S*H script is under revision by Andy Affleck and Rob Lebeau

-Pre-production has been slower than hoped

-Sets must be constructed to eliminate difficult strikes during tech week

-Builder needed for construction of set

-Numerous props and costumes are very much needed

-Audition scripts intended to be up by December

-Young men are needed for the show

-Andy wants the mess tent on-stage to be used as the concession stand during intermission

-Seussical is confirmed as Summer 2016 production

-Creative people for costumes/sets are needed

-Max cast of 30

-Carries implication of needing to turn down kids who audition

-Aiming for audition process in May

-Meryn does not have young children in her caroling troupe, Christmas Carol may need to be edited to accommodate this

-Creative Studio is up and running

-Bob Hollis has taken care of October CAST responsibility

-Andy can train for sound, lights, and camera for those needed

-Dennis wants a form for people to sign when withdrawing equipment, assuming responsibility for it

Events

-Halloween event garnered 36 total ticket sales

-Laura expects that SMCT will lose a negligible amount of money on the event

Public Relations

-Eric Dubois has registered for the new pair.com site in preparation for the server move

-Andy Affleck mentioned that even with pair.com, SMCT may have to use another reputable email-sending service to avoid being marked as spam

-Dennis Chretien mentioned that the asset library could be used for Creative Studio, but people would have to be cautious of licensing issues

-Audrey Dubois has been placed in charge of SMCT social media

-Meryn Flynn suggested creating an SMCT Tumblr

-Response was lukewarm

Fundraising

-Meryn Flynn is looking into writing a proposal for a large grant

-Grant writer from Trinity has been added to the database

Communications

-Shane Inman requested that newsletter articles be submitted only in reply to the email requesting said items

-Also asked that any other conversation be kept out of newsletter email chain

USO Show

-Still little luck finding musical director/coordinator

-Music programs of several highschools have been reached out to for volunteers

Storage Organization and Cleanout

-Some cleaning has been done, some shelves have been assembled

-Ebay account for SMCT has already been set up, could be used to sell old lights

-Second day must be scheduled to finish job

-It will be done on Halloween morning, 11:00am

-November 1st is backup date, 1:00pm

Next meeting is now scheduled for November 14th.

Motion to schedule future meetings for second Saturday of each month – Seconded/Passed

Motion to adjourn meeting – Seconded/Passed

Meeting adjourned – 12:05pm

The following text are the minutes from the SMCT Board Meeting on May 30, 2015. Click the link below for a downloadable PDF version.

(public) SMCT Board Meeting Minutes 26 September 2015

 

SMCT Board Meeting Minutes – September 2015

September 26th, 2015, 10:00am Benjamin Eddy Building, Foster, RI

Members Present (voting members in bold): Artie Robillard, Bob Hollis, Kaila Rubin, Nikki Boss, Liz Dubois, Eric Dubois, Rachel Stevens, Laura Giorgianni, Leslie Carter, Andy Affleck, Leah Fidler, Carol Mauro, Shane Inman

Meeting Begins – 10:00am

Motion to accept July meeting minutes: Seconded/Passed

Executive Director

-Establish clearer definitions for positions such as Stage Manager and Producer, and communicate this to those holding these positions

-Bob Hollis, Laura Giorgianni, Liz Dubois, Eric Dubois, and Andy Affleck interested

-Meeting will be open to public for anyone interested in participating

-Date/time/place of meeting: October 26th, 6:30pm at the Dubois household

Productions

-Chris has tentatively finished writing the script for A Christmas Carol

-Meeting of CC production team on Monday, October 5th

-SMCT’s portion of the Christmas Carol raffle will be donated to a different charity each weekend

-M*A*S*H needs a full production crew, producer is most immediate need

-Andy proposed discount to anyone who shows up to M*A*S*H in military uniform (veterans)

-Possible problem with called-in reservations, how would they work with discount?

-Make use of available military jeep for M*A*S*H marketing purposes

Education

-Youth reps have not yet formally met

-Bob will not be doing after-school programs during the Fall do to CAST obligations

Events

-Halloween show

-Approval for Halloween show raffle has been obtained

-Michelle Chretien has volunteered to make foods for concessions, needs more volunteers

-Concessions must be opened before first show

-Fliers will be printed individually by people willing to do so

-Box office will be opened for show

-Tech needs: Microphone and stand, power extension cord for speaker, extension cord for microphone

Public Relations

-Spam filter on Box Office email is not functioning properly

-New server may remedy problem, in addition to outgoing mail being labeled spam

-Alternatively, Spam Sieve could be purchased

-Pear.com is best apparent option

Motion to allocate funds to purchase two years of service with Pear.com servers – Seconded/Passed

-Andy suggested having a single person in charge of SMCT marketing to maintain a unified public image and vision

-Idea of creating subsidiary position of social media coordinator (likely beneath PR board position)

-Must be someone familiar with both SMCT and social media

-Audrey Dubois will be asked

Facilities

-Shelves need to be assembled, storage units cleaned

-Tentative date: Saturday, October 3rd, 9:00am

Mailing Lists

-Artie asked if the newsletter could be sent out closer to the middle of the month, rather than the beginning, Shane agreed

Motion to adjourn meeting – Seconded/Passed

Meeting adjourned – 12:15pm

The following are the minutes from the SMCT Board Meeting on July 11, 2015. Click the link below for a downloadable PDF version.

SMCT_MeetingMinutes_7-11-2015 (public)

 

SMCT Board Meeting Minutes – July 2015
July 11th, 2015, 10:15am Benjamin Eddy Building, Foster, RI

Members Present (voting members in bold): Dennis Chretien, Artie Robillard, Carol Mauro, Shane Inman, Bob Hollis, Mary-Jo Chretien, Emily Chretien, Gabrielle Dworkin, Kaila Rubin, Nikki Boss, Chris Brostrup-Jensen, Michelle Chretien, Maia Grandy, Meryn Flynn

Meeting begins – 10:15am

Executive Director

-Policy sub-committee meeting

-Need to continue discussions, need more meetings
-Meetings need to be scheduled
-Details of meetings need to be more clearly defined
-Dennis will put together topic/date and email other members

-Have rights for Tom Sawyer been paid for?

-Unsure. Chris will investigate and remedy situation

Creative

-Creative productions; Chekhov plays will not proceed under Chris’s lead

-Replace Chekhov plays with The Sea Wench dramatic reading for Unplugged

-Meryn will determine whether it can be done
-Performed as dinner theatre at Country Club in addition to Town House performance
-Very little time for advertising
-Perform as Unplugged in the Summer, as dinner theatre in the Fall
-Saturday evening, Sunday matinee
-Unplugged performance done in early August
-Admission by donation for Town House performance
-Bob will find dates for Country Club performance
-Use author’s personal story for promotional purposes
-Chris will write article for Artie by Thursday (23rd)

Public Relations

-Discussed press releases in Coventry Reminder before shows, Artie agreed to do it

-Discussed Bob taking on relationship with school (superintendent, etc.)

-Decided responsibility should remain with Artie

-More outreach to community? Fewer local people involved and coming to shows

-Every Door Direct – send postcards to everyone on a carrier route
-Refrigerator magnets with season and contact information; 8 per page size
-Local commercials; investigate cost and benefits
-Radio ads also a possibility

-Swamp Meadow Banner

-Moving forward with replacement banner
-No use rushing it for Tom Sawyer, wouldn’t be up long enough

Motion to replace lost banner – Seconded/Passed
Motion to produce magnets by Old Home Days with $200 limit – Seconded/Passed

 

-Nikki will write something up for Tom Sawyer and Foster Idol

-Eric is not available to run a full-page color ad for Foster Homer Journal, may need to hold off and run it in the Bargain Buyer

-Dennis will run the ad

-Old Home Days

-T-shirts from all shows around booth
-Some kind of fishing game (involving magnets) to promote Tom Sawyer
-Liz may not be able to make coloring sheets; if not, Connor could handle it
-Have flyers been made yet? Find out from Eric
-Nikki will ask Connor if he would be willing to draw caricatures at the booth

Fundraising

-C.A.S.T. has approached Bob about grant money they would like to spend by September, and are looking at SMCT and another theatre to do so

-“40 asset builders for community” (family and community values, avoiding drugs, etc.) to be incorporated into 20 minute skit
-Troop needed to perform piece at schools and at mid-October event
-Unclear exactly what the audience is; elementary through middle school most likely

-Creative studio will be asking for money from CAST in return for monthly video or podcast promoting the “40 asset builders” for one year

-Nikki will look into large-scale fundraisers for 2016

Motion to ask CAST for grant money in return for monthly productions for a year, with no current intent to continue seeking a similar grant on a yearly basis – Seconded/Passed

Events

-Halloween show; one night, half hour show – Seven Wives for Dracula

-Production team required to provide guidance
-Potential for costume contest before show
-Two shows, first at Isaac Paine, second at Senior Center

Motion to fund Seven Wives for Dracula as short Halloween show – Seconded/Passed

-Nikki will look into establishing presence at Scituate Art Festival

Facilities

-Mic stands and boom mics are needed for Foster Idol

Membership

-Nikki will contact Trinity regarding showcase event

-Showcasing Little Shop would portray SMCT as children’s/teen’s theatre
-Any vignette from Our Town would lose weight without previous scenes
-Chris will contact Zach and Laura Gibb about showcasing scene from Cuckoo’s Nest
-Incorporate stories of how kids move on to great things with SMCT

Communications

-Shane will talk to Andy about getting the entire board integrated into Slack

Other Directors

-Artie is in negotiations with senior center as a location for USO show. No definite answer yet

-Show will take place weekend of Veteran’s Day
-Producer is needed for show, request will be attached in newsletter

Motion to adjourn meeting – Seconded/Passed

Meeting adjourned – 1:20pm

The following text are the minutes from the SMCT Board Meeting held at the Annual Celebration on June 9, 2015. Click the link below for a downloadable PDF version.

SMCT Annual Meeting Minutes (public)

 

SMCT Annual Meeting Minutes

9 June 2015 6:00pm, Woody Lowden Recreation Center, Foster RI

Members Present (voting members in bold): Heather Christie, Dennis Chretien, Bob Hollis, Andy Affleck, Laura Giorgianni, Kaila Rubin, Artie Robillard, Chris Brostrup-Jensen, Leslie Carter, Steve Carter, Carol Mauro, Emily Chretien, Michelle Chretien, Shane Inman, Gabbi Dworkin, Nikki Boss, Maia Grandy, Mike Grandy, Jonathan Safford, Sharon Safford, Rachel Stevens, Donna Nichols, Laurie Murphy, Nancy Wolf-Jensen

• Dennis wants to say thank you – we had a great season! Annie took off, Xmas Story and Our Town did great, in terms of quality of what we put out, we’re getting better, and it says a lot for everyone involved. Lots of work, but we’ve got some new people – need to get everyone working and helping out.
• Events
  • Thank you to Robyn Agrela for organizing Foster Follies!
  • The Board has decided not to do Karaoke this year, as it tends to lose money and we haven’t had much interest lately.
  • Events for next year aren’t planned out quite yet, especially since this position is up for election.
  • SMCT will have a slot at Trinity Rep’s Season Kick-Off party in August! We’re currently putting together our program for that, but need details from Trinity before we can go much further.
• Productions
  • This season will be:
    • Summer – Tom Sawyer (5 performances, Andy Affleck directing)
    • Fall – Christmas Carol (9 performances, Chris Brostrup-Jensen directing)
    • Spring – M*A*S*H (6 performances, Andy Affleck directing)
    • Dinner Theatre – TBA (2 performances, director TBA)
  • We’ve had questions about submissions. They’re all online, but it seems the online system is possibly unclear. We will try putting a deadline for when the next season is being considered so that people submitting can know roughly when the show they suggest might happen.
  • We’re debating changing the performance dates of M*A*S*H due to Mother’s Day, proms, and college graduations. We don’t want to go too far into April, because of school vacation. Andy will work through dates and get back to the board.
• Publicity
  • We’ve got good advertising in Foster, but continue to struggle further afield. We got wonderful coverage in Coventry for Little Shop, so we’re hoping to expand on that.
• Facilities/Tech
  • We made some huge advancements this year with our new LEDs, new mics and sound equipment, and our new light board. A huge thank you to all involved with tech for researching, acquiring, and learning these new systems!
• Membership
  • We would like to keep a tally on how many new people we add each year, just to see trends. Dennis and Heather will work on this and get it to Leslie soon.
  • We’ve had a lot of people hearing about us through word of mouth, which is great!
• Internal organization
  • We need to review and update our organizational structure. We also need to identify and define our roles, not just within the board, but within a production and also within SMCT as a whole. We have begun holding meetings about this, but we need to continue. We’ll figure this out at the next board meeting.
  • Liz will hope to get an ethics committee together in the coming week so they can have some discussions before the summer show starts – she will send an email out soon.
• Election of Officers!
  • We only had one nomination for each position:
    • Assistant Executive Director – Kaila Rubin
    • Communications Director – Shane Inman
    • Public Relations Director – Eric Dubois
    • Technical and Facilities Director – Andy Affleck
    • Membership Director – Leslie Carter
    • Assistant Finance Director of Funding – Meryn Flynn
    • Assistant Creative Director of Events – Nikki Boss
    • Assistant Creative Director of Productions – Liz Dubois
    • Assistant Creative Director of Education – Bob Hollis
    • Director At Large – Artie Robillard
  • There was a motion to approve slate as presented, it was seconded, and all were in favor
  • Rachel Stevens, Izzy Giorgianni, Maia Grandy are our 2015 – 2016 Youth Representatives to the board.
• Our next meeting will be July 11^th at 10:00am at the Benjamin Eddy building in Foster, RI.