Tuesday May 10, 2022, 7:30pm
Attendees: BOARD MEMBERS-Christian Montes, Nathan Brown, Steven Irving; Erin Trampel, J.J. Pearse, Alex Welch, Rameka Sahadeo Staff: Lee Hartman, Ian Bradt, Jeanine Asay; Members: Den Preston
Acting Proxy: Alex Welch for Rose Rodriguez
Called to order at 7:35 pm.
Reports
Secretary,
No Report submitted.
Artistic Director, Lee
Congrats on a concert band season well done. So many things to highlight including our first ever chamber concert, surviving through COVID restrictions with minimal exposure, and a season ending concert that was one for the ages. Still planning for next season’s dates and programs but i’m just so so thrilled about how everything turned out. Congrats to Chris Werner and Joy Hope for being named New Member of the Year and Debra Leiter as Member of the Year. As this list is getting extensive now I’d like purchase a running award plaque so we don’t lose that history (we’ve budgeted for it). I would like to do a simple membership survey with the following questions 1) What does MAFB do well? 2) What does MAFB need to work on? and 3) What does MAFB mean to you?
Assistant Artistic Director, Jessie
Full steam ahead for our show on June 28th! Tuesday, June 28th, 7:30 p.m. at the B&B Live stage.
Rose Day is Sunday, June 5th. Call time will be 12:45 and we will play our first set from 1:15-1:45ish, have an hour break to explore the event, and finish with our second set 3:10-3:30ish. I also toured the Rose Garden last week with the volunteers/organizers. There will be no dance component this year, and they are placing us “above” the garden at the top of the north stairs. $500 service fee for our performance, and we will prepare 2 20-40 minute sets of well known charts, reprising a few from our POP concert and adding in a few easy ones from our library.
Still struggling with finding a piano player to join us.
Board Chair, Christian
Yay for the great concert on Sunday! I echo Lee’s remarks above!
Thank you everyone who voted. Our two delegates for Chicago are Alex and I.
I will be scheduling a board retreat next month to go over our expectations for the board as we start the fiscal year in July.
Last call for any receipts for in-kind donations. These are really important in our grant applications and reflect the true cost of operating MAFB. Please get them to Nathan before the end of June.
Vice Chair, Alex
Thank you everyone for the hard work put into the concert last Sunday!
I’m looking forward to representing MAFB in Chicago at the end of the month at my first in-person conference since we hosted during my first season. Thank you to all who voted on the delegates!
During recent membership committees meetings, as well as conversations with individual members, it’s been brought up that we should look into having a designated Historian for the organization. I’d like to formally discuss this and get this set up as soon as possible. During aforementioned conversations, Kathi Krouch was suggested to be the person to approach first for this role and I agree that she would be an excellent choice.
Treasurer, NathanStatement of Activity
-Called BoA today to get process started to update account holders to current Vice Chair & Secretary.
-Walk-in tickets & raffle brought in about $600 at the May concert. Thank you front of house staff & Kelly!!
Business Operations, Ian
Several updates on several things:
Grant Paperwork:
The final invoice was submitted to the Missouri Arts Council for the current award year.
The ArtsKC award paperwork has been signed out and returned to ArtsKC
MAFB received award notification for the NTDF award on 08 May 2022. That paperwork has not yet been returned. There are several documents that must be submitted alongside that paperwork, most of which are readily available. Since we’re already registered as a vendor with the city, I’m trying to confirm if we need to submit a W9 with the award paperwork or not.
NATHAN: I need a PDF copy of a voided check to submit with the award paperwork
Season 20 Concert Dates/Venues:
Working with the Gem Theater to determine feasibility of October and December concert dates. The Gem is being more heavily used and there are already many events on the books for next season. The concerts, if at the Gem, will be on Saturdays but we’re trying to confirm dates. If we are unable to arrange acceptable dates with the Gem, we will look to (1) identify alternative venues and (2) secure Season 21 dates at the Gem as soon as possible.
The May concert will be at the Folly as we are unable to get into the Gem.
MAFB’s New Home:
As most are already aware, our negotiations with the Gem to be our new home were unable to reach a favorable outcome and new options are being considered for the future.
The planned rent increases at the Church make the need to find a new home more likely; though we could plan for and budget for the additional costs, if needed.
It is unlikely that we will find a new home that will be at the same cost as we currently pay for the church.
Current Home
The current Church rent has not been formally communicated to us at this time so we stand by pending new paperwork.
The request from the Church to go ahead and pay for a period of time (monthly or a period of months) is reasonable while we await new paperwork.
Until such time as a new agreement is presented and agreed to by both parties, the terms of the original agreement remain in force so long as (1) the Church considers to accept our rent payments and (2) the agreement is not otherwise modified in writing.
Per the terms of that agreement, should we find a new home, we have a 60 day obligation notification so we may have to pay out that term, even if we vacate before the 60 day timeline.
New Home Options
As a point of reference, MAFB currently occupies about 3,500 sq. ft of space (500 office/storage, and 3,000 rehearsal space)
There are a few possibilities for new homes. Ideally, if we could find a reasonably priced space that would be ours as a dedicated space, that would be great. That is probably low probability given budget constraints but it is still being investigated.
I am working on emails out to Block and Copaken Brooks to inquire whether there are arrangements that might be workable for any of their spaces. These represent two of the largest leasable property holders in the KC metro. Block has been amenable to working with other non-profits for limited terms and may be amenable to a longer term agreement. Copaken Brooks controls some interesting spaces that would, from a size perspective, actually work quite well but, absent some sort of special agreement, may be cost prohibitive at market rates.
I also had a favorable visit with St. Andrews Episcopal Church is Brookside who has an interest in hosting us. My engagement with their Director of Operations was coincidental at an Mid America LGBT Chamber event. This is an option that may be worth considering.
Pros:
St. Andrews is eager to host us and work with us; though it is worth noting that any such agreement would still need to go through a few approvals including their artistic staff and clergy. Neither of which are anticipated to be problematic
The rehearsal space is about the same size as our current space (~2,900 sq ft) and has no columns which makes things easier. It is slightly longer and skinnier than the current space but very workable.
Our use of the facility would give us access to their other spaces as well including their meeting rooms and the community center for board meetings or other engagements.
Parking is ample (~160+ parking across 3 lots)
Access is very amenable and likely less restrictive than our current access requirements.
Cost is likely to be favorable. St. Andrews is very flexible in the cost and I would anticipate that we could come to an agreement at < $5,000 per year. The starting point for discussion is ~10% of gross receipts; however, there is a lot of flexibility in that and, for us, a lot of that would be dependent on what gets counted in that.
Cons:
Storage is workable but could pose some challenges. They have one room that they could give us pretty much dedicated (with just a couple of their items in it) but it is only about 150 sq. ft. There are two other rooms that we could use, one would be shared space with the church and the other may not be available for several months. The latter would likely only be suitable for storage of some items as I’m not sure how good the environmental control is in that room. I need to confirm abilities to secure these storages spaces
The other downside is the location of the space on the lower floor. There is an elevator but it is rather small. Some of our larger items (stand racks, etc) would likely not fit; making load in and load outs more time consuming. I think this would be workable but not as easy as roll in, roll out like we do today.
If there is interest in looking at this option more, I can arrange a visit for a larger group of people.
Maybe the week of the 23rd to have a walk through, but preferably after Pride Bands Alliance Conference.
Kelly, Social Director
No report submitted.
Jeanine, Librarian
Nothing to report.
Webmaster, Erin
Still looking into making MAFB sweatpants.
Committee Reports
Fundraising, Rameka
The leftover merch sale was a hit at the concert. We only have a few mugs left! Everything was priced so that we made all the money back from purchasing + 25% (which is awesome, because the cost of the initial investment was already covered by the timpani campaign…it’s all profit!!). Can anyone tell me how much we made? ($284 for tickets and merch) I think it is worth the conversation of having some additional merch available at concerts that we can bring/sell if Erin and FOH folk can manage.
Items to consider:
Fans (thwap!)
Bandanna (human or pet)
T-shirts - I think this should be a separate fundraiser, it would be really cumbersome to haul these around.
I will be posting Bad Drag committee info in our forum, so we can get planning!
Marketing, Grace
The drive is live for photos if you’re willing to share.
Membership, Alex
Scrapbooking social gathering. Information to come soon. Looking into an end of year banquet still depending on available space, this would be to recognize and celebrate everything we’ve done throughout the year.
New Business
Raising Dues to $90/yr, $80/r paid before oct 1st.
Alex moves to have MAFB raise their yearly dues to $90/year with an early payment amount of $80/year if paid before October 1st, motion seconded by Nathan. No objections, motion carries.
Den contacted Pride about our involvement. Deadline is June 3rd for registration. There’s an opportunity to play for the attendees as they enter the venue for Pride, the request would be that we get paid for this service by waiving our fees-parade and registration fees. No booth for pride this summer, unless they can come to some type of agreement.
Meeting adjourned at 9:00pm.
