January 22, 2018 Board of Directors Meeting

Bloomington Community Band Board Meeting Minutes

In Attendance: Jerry Jerome, Jenn Strayer, Julie Kraft, Lloyd Orr, Doug Davis, Bob Appelman, Joseph Car, Phyllis Solnzeff, Don Talbott, Richard Van Arsdel, Andrew Felt, Tim Bitzer, Ron Hardesty

Meeting called to order at 7:02 PM

DATE: January 22, 2018

  1. Past Minutes
    1. Jenn motioned to accept as written; Bob seconded.
    2. Motion passed.
  2. Treasurers Report
    1. Julie motioned to accept; Jenn seconded.
    2. Motion passed.
  3. Jerry: Welcome
    1. We’ll try to make meetings productive and not just have a meeting for the sake of a meeting. At times, Jerry might also need to call special meetings though.
    2. Please feel free to contact Jerry whenever necessary.
    3. Board members represent the leadership of the band and should be especially careful to follow official policies, including those regarding uniforms.
    4. Musical fraternity Mu Phi Epsilon is dissolving. It is distributing its funds to local musical community organizations and gave BCB $200.
      1. Jerry will send the thank you.
  4. Old business
    1. Bob: Director search
      1. Only Dominic (Owen Valley director) and Tom Wilson (North HS) have expressed interest in the position.
      2. Dominic is available to conduct the first rehearsal.
      3. Bob plans to send out a list of all the people he’s contacted to show the band that we have been actively searching for a new conductor.
        1. Should we also offer the band opportunities to recommend people not on the list?
        2. Jerry thinks this might just complicate things after an already long process.
      4. There will be a short form (probably shorter than the last search) that members can fill out regarding their opinions of the candidates.
      5. What pieces should the band play for the conductor’s auditions?
        1. Probably something familiar and unfamiliar to the band.
        2. Jenn suggested “The Viking March”
        3. Bob, Joe, Richard, and Jenn will continue to investigate this.
    2. Jerry: Sexual harassment policy
      1. Given previous concerns in the past, we should have an official policy about handling sexual harassment.
      2. We can use notes from the private session to start our policy.
      3. Ron: It would be helpful from an insurance standpoint to have an official policy.
    3. Jerry: Ivy Tech Activities Fair
      1. Jerry and Doug attended the Activities Fair to recruit students.
      2. They also connected with a representative of Community Kitchen to possibly do a fundraising concert.
      3.  Locations
        1. Bob: The B-Line Trail might have space.
        2. The Community Kitchen representative said that their board members would probably have location ideas.
        3. The City won’t allow a fundraiser for the 3rd Park.
        4.  Organizations
          1. Andrew suggested that we might get more publicity by partnering with Boys and Girls Club because of their existing publicity network.
          2. Jerry will continue to investigate.
      4. The Development Officer position still unfilled.
        1. Doug: It might work to combine this position with the Publicity Officer position because much of the work overlaps.
          1. We would need to change by-laws
          2. Andrew will look at the two job descriptions and see if they’re manageable for him together.
  5. New Business
    1.  Program/Brochure
      1. Without a Development Officer, we’d need an ad-selling committee. It would still need someone to head it.
      2. Brochures need to be finished by the end of April.
      3. Bob: Having helped sell ads before, he felt like there needed to be more training or planning for how to approach business owners. It would also be helpful to have some data about demographics and numbers of concert attendees that sellers could share with businesses.
      4. Lloyd: Ads bring in about $2,500, and it’s the second-largest fundraiser for the band.
    2. Director Plans
      1. Publicity
        1. Jerry: We need to develop our following in Bloomington. Many people don’t know we exist.
        2. Andrew:
          1. We can probably get some free advertising via PSAs
          2. We need to stay on top of social media more, especially Facebook.
            1. Members need to use the page more, like it, share items to increase exposure.
            2. Social media requires almost daily posts to keep a page in people’s feeds.
          3. Fun pieces and emotional pieces tend to set us apart from other ensembles in town.
        3. We might be able to share recordings online, but there might be copyright issues. There are also concerns about sound quality and social media users not listening to links with audio.
      2. Phyllis: Historian
        1. She’s still looking for box of materials.
        2. Jenn can show Phyllis and Richard around the library.
        3. Gary’s video for the Historical Society could go on YouTube.
      3. Jenn: Personnel
        1. Jenn would like to create a recruitment brochure similar to the New Member Brochure she created last year.
        2. She’s going to try to use the band’s Twitter account more.
        3. She’d like to put together a guide for the new OATS system, but she needs more information about what system we’re using.
          1. Don will continue working on the new system.
      4. Lloyd: Finance
        1. Most of the major changes took place after the audit, and he’s going to continue working on better communicating about the band’s financial status.
        2. He recommends that a letter go out to past donors each year in order to solicit new donations.
      5. Tim: Scheduling
        1. We currently have 12-13 events, quite a bit less than the 18 from last year.
        2. Tim will send the schedule to Don so he can put it on the website.
        3. 3rd Street Park date (June 1 or 8?)
          1. June 1 would mean two concerts on Memorial Day Weekend.
          2. Tim will contact Crystal Ritter to select June 8.
        4. Bloomington Bicentennial (April 29, 4th Street)
          1. Board definitely feels obligated to participate.
          2. Small groups can also participate.
          3. Tim will contact Robin to express interest.
        5. Farmer’s Market—Tim confirming for June 14
        6. The BCB received invitation for band festival for Alexandria, IN (over two hours away)
          1. Tim will contact to say we’re not interested.
        7. We are definitely interested in the 4th Street Festival but probably not in the Arts Fair on the Square.
        8. Benefit concert
          1. This would fit well in autumn because we don’t have any other concerts.
        9. Carmel
          1. Tim will contact Charlie Conrad to see if we would be considered for the festival again.
        10. Julie: If all the concerts above make it on to the schedule, this is probably the maximum of what we should be doing, especially after last year’s attempts to ease the concert schedule.
      6. Richard: Library
        1. Jenn and Doug will assist Richard as he gets settled.
        2. Jenn will contact Kyle to see what’s currently in the folders.
      7. Julie: Secretary
        1. Julie will be responsible for posting minutes to Dropbox.
        2. Once rehearsal starts, she’ll send a message to the listserv letting people know that the minutes are available on the website.
      8. Bob: Equipment
        1. There are no plans for any more new equipment.
        2. He will continue to work on the inventory, including items from the trailer.
        3. He needs to find out who has the Eb clarinet (Chuck Davis?)
        4. He wants to color code equipment so volunteers have a basic idea of where to put things into the trailer.
        5. Julie: It would help if information about the sections that are responsible for loading/unloading was more widely disseminated to the band.
      9. Joe: Music selections
        1. He’s not making big decisions until we know who the main conductor will be.
        2. He already has 8 concerts scheduled for other organizations that have concerts outside of Bloomington.
    3.  Technology
      1. Don is Web Master. He’s in charge of the website, listserv, and Facebook page.
      2. Lloyd: Do we want to post the budget on the website as well?
        1. Maybe on the “Member’s Only” section
        2. Jerry: We need to continue considering this issue.
      3. People who need access to the Dropbox files can get access through Jerry.
    4. Ron: Insurance
      1. BCB’s policy also covers Directors and Officers.\
    5. Doug: We need more opportunities to get to know the band better.
      1. Christmas party was very successful.
      2. We’ll have name tags for rehearsals.
      3. People are most likely to attend social events if they’re part of an existing rehearsal.
      4. Tim belonged to a band where everyone brought in drinks for “happy hour” afterward.
        1. Might create liability issues of bringing alcohol.
      5. Andrew was in a group where each section was responsible for bringing snacks each week.
        1. Refreshments could go in the church’s kitchenette. The instruments should be safe if people are socializing in the hallway, like they usually do anyway.
        2. There might be some challenges to getting members to contribute refreshments.
          1. We don’t want it to be the same people bringing things again and again. (E.g., in similar situations women often end up bringing more foods than men.)
          2. It might help to make it a bit of a competition to bring the best refreshments.
          3. Doug and Andrew volunteered the tubas to set an example by being the first section to bring refreshments.
        3. We can start with socials being once per month.
          1. This means that sections would usually only need to bring refreshments once per year.
          2. Socials would require longer breaks than usual, so monthly rather than weekly treats would take less time from rehearsals.
        4. Breaktime socials could have activities where we sit with people with don’t know.
      6. Jenn hopes to start up the tradition of going to the Office Lounge after rehearsals.
    6. Jerry: Section leaders
      1. We need to develop our section leaders’ leadership. They currently don’t do very much.
      2. They need to help not only with music issues but also attendance reporting, equipment handling.
      3. Section leaders need to have regular attendance and good communication with the membership.
      4. The conductor should not necessarily have to be in charge of section leaders.
        1. Could have a “lead” section leader
        2. Should probably include a board member
      5. We need to make sure that section leaders are getting actively reappointed (by the director or a committee) each year so that they take their responsibilities more seriously.
        1. Some section leaders are more interested in the musical than organizational responsibilities.
        2. To what extent should the responsibilities of dividing parts and solos belong to the sections leaders? (This is currently written into the responsibilities.)
          1. Should there be a separate “first-chair” position that is in charge of dividing parts and handling musical issues? If so, how would this role be appointed since our group doesn’t have auditions and our principal players are there by “tradition”?
      6. We will wait until we find a new director to decide how he would like to handle section leaders’ responsibilities.

Meeting adjourned at 8:30