SMCT Board Meeting November 2014

Members Present (bold means voting member): Dennis Chretien, Heather Christie, Kaila Rubin, Liz Dubois, Eric Dubois, Bob Hollis, Artie Robillard, Laura Giorgianni, Maia Grandy, MaryJo Chretien, Emily Chretien, Michelle Chretien, Gabrielle Dworkin

Corresponding Secretary
Still don’t’ have anyone, but don’t really have correspondence. Anyone know anyone?
Haven’t really promoted it, have we?
Heather will put out a call in the newsletter and on website
Events Coordinator
Robin Agrela has decided to see what it is and possibly volunteer
Get her working on Follies to let her see how she feels
No date yet for Follies, usually April something
Christmas In Valley – Foster Country Club
Still need people
Heather will email Nikki Boss, since I know she wanted to
Emily and Dennis can cover all Saturday, but Emily and MaryJo can’t make it anymore
Gabrielle will take the Sunday 12-2 slot over Isabella
Spring show
Not sure that we’ve applied for rights – Little Shop of Horrors?
Laura needs help on this, and we haven’t heard from Chris
No paperwork for Christmas Story either – haven’t paid anything. Haven’t been able to get a hold of Chris
Need someone else to make those calls, since this isn’t working
Need to know so we can set auditions and publicize for it. Need to know by the 20th
Chris is coming in a few minutes, will return to this
Submitted request for Little Shop of Horrors through RPI (?) and hasn’t heard back, will follow up soon
Apply for something else? Odd Couple is performed by Bradley, Spelling Bee? Being done now, but would be done by the time we performed. Will move to applying for the second one
Use a redo of Folktown as a fall-out? We might have to pay them, though
Will contact Aubrey and Elwood as well, since we’re running out of time
Christmas Story Rights
Needed to order scripts, ordered twice and haven’t heard from them
Chris will order again
New backstage curtains
THANK YOU, LISA! She’s sewn 2 of them, they take about 2 hours each
Heather will send a thank you note
Dennis got grommets for them from Harbor-freight (check)
Have to install the grommets, but the curtains look very nice
Sides are salvage, hemmed bottom
Knit type (so slightly see-through), all same color, can drop sandbags on them
Can stay up permanently, due to fire retardation
Question is allocating the money
Fabric - $300 and change, but they’re used for everything, tech
Motion – Eric – second – Bob – put it to tech budget
Victorian Carolers
Numbers are dwindling
Haven’t been getting as many gigs, so we’re getting paid less and lower numbers make venues give less
Is it worth continuing?
Communication is not the greatest
We don’t really promote them because it’s hard to promote without information
Need someone to be in charge so we can get that info
Need a liaison between us and carolers - Kaila will bring this up to them
Does bring in money
Maybe need to actively recruit
Heather can put on website, since she has to put this on as well.
Maybe tighten up planning process?
Internal organization
Database manager? – Heather is willing. Not a board position. Would come under assistant executive director
Use to track grants?
Survey on interests with mailchimp – Heather will look at it
Heather will work as manager and secretary and then will let board know if we need the roles separated
Strategic plan is tabled for now
Finance reports
Inserts in FHJ were beautiful
Divide with admin, xmas story and Shakespeare?
Heather needs to send publicity for Shakespeare to Artie for FHJ
Will put ~$200 towards Shakespeare, rest to xmas story
No admin publicity budget – seems like an oversight for us
If we don’t have this, we need to make one up for next year’s budget
Heather will talk to Andy about promoting ads for the dinner theatre
Excellent work on budgeting by Laura
Our Town reached out to schools, so we should do that for more shirts
Need to remember we can order more playbills in between weekends
Christmas Story
Probably going to be longer
Cast often runs late
Producing and directing all at once – not recommended
Playbills – not sure how many – Laura will email Lisa about how many
Holiday production is harder, since it’s split with the fall production and comes after it.
Should we really do two at once?
Need more of a commitment from the cast, because they don’t help set up or break down
Christmas story needs to break down Friday night – don’t need to, actually, no santa thing
We need better communication/education about how things get set up and put away so that they can actually do stuff instead of feeling like they can’t help at all
Have someone in charge of a section who grabs their team and tells them what to do and how to do it
Michelle was saying it would help if directors were stricter or more firm about the rules
Teen troupe
Putting Sherlock on hold and making effort to help with spring production
New Building
Confusing, because they said “tell us what you want” and we did and they just shut down.
Owners would like to know how much of the building we could do to make the building work
If they can provide materials, we can do construction
Maybe negotiate reduced rates on materials using our contacts?
Mike Paolucci might do electrical work for us
They would need to fix the bathroom and make the door
We can build the walls, but the materials is a concern
Laura will keep going down that path
Hopkins hill road, building for lease 10,000 sqft, warehouse, 12.85/square foot
Another one $15/sqft, 24,000 sqft
Building with hair place and chinese restaurant 10,000 sqft, want to sell for $950,000
Jewelry building east a ways on 6? Would need texting done, ~$400,000, 6,000 sqft
Follies – Gabrielle is interested in helping, don’t do 1st weekend of april due to Passover
Shakespeare
Can we perform in the senior center?
Using some of the round tables – ask about whether they have smaller tables
Need to get through the storage unit to find stuff – no purchases
Grants
One due in December – $300,000 RI Innovation Fellowship – must show you’re making a major difference socially, economically, politically in your town
Missed RISCA October thing due to time constraints – next one due in April, $2500, but eligible for a yearly assistance. Look at real program for teen troupe which includes getting professionals to meet with us once a month and put on one show a year
Champlain – supports buildings, but we need a building plan first. Could help with Champlain. Love self-sustaining groups
Got approved for $1000 from CAST again
Motion to adjurn – Dennis, Eric and chris seconded, all in favor