Tuesday, September 12, 2023, 7:30pm
Attendees: Staff:Lee Hartman, Jeanine Asay, Jessie Davis, Ian Bradt; Members: Rose Rodriguez, J.J. Pearse, Rameka Jennings, Nathan Brown, Christian Montes, Joy Hope, Erin Trampel; Guests: Amy J. Steiner, Lucas Testin
Called to order at 7:30 pm.
Committee Reports
Fundraising, Rameka
I am working on a campaign with Christian and Jessie to raise funds for a new bari sax! The plan is to launch the campaign for the Oct. MMJO concert and carry it through MAFB’s holiday concerts. The current goal is to raise $6,500 via flipcause and different marketing campaigns.
Extra “uniform” shirts were ordered today and will be ready for next Thursday’s (9/21) rehearsal for a tie-dye party! The same shirts/design was ordered through a local vendor, Union Press KC. They were really great to work with and matched the cheaper online quote.
Marketing, Joy
First radio ads are live!
Tiktok brainstorming — requires a lot of content
Example of sister band doing the work — https://www.tiktok.com/@triangleprideband
Press release content — we should be generating and sending this out more often, template in the works
Membership, Rose
Nothing to report!
Question from Ian — QR code reporting? How you doing? 49 check-ins last week.
Connectivity complaints — do we move back to paper?
Let’s print it out!
Should membership committee help w/ this process? Traditionally they have, yes!
Spreadsheet — Charlie is taking charge of that? Establish something more solid
Performance Opportunities, Rose and Steven
Nothing to report!
Question — have we reached out to KC Current or Roller Derby leagues? Rose will work to reach out.
Rieger has reached out to do some holiday-busking (light carols)
Morning drag jazz brunch extravaganza
Old Business
Nothing to report!
New Business
ACB Association Confrence
Amy Steiner from ACB is joining us this evening to answer questions about the potential for MAFB partnering with ACB for their 2025 Conference
Question about 25 volunteers — 25 throughout the day, in shifts
May have resources available if we cannot meet 25 people each day? — Yes, that would be planned w/ ACB. Planning process is mutual, needs can be made up on either end where needed.
Option Conference Band participation — ACB Convention Band is usually ~125 people w/ guest conductor, rehearses Thu/Fri morning, Sat morning sound check, concert that evening
No need for double equipment when rehearsing the Convention Band (separate rehearsal times)
Florida did mass Pride band — amenable to making that work
MAFB would also perform (separately) as part of this conference
Finding a happy medium w/ meeting needs of MAFB members (convention can be performance heavy, opportunity for clinics)
Who carries the insurance — ACB carries insurance for hotel, MAFB will want a rider, MAFB would also work w/ ACB’s insurance
Internal Logistics — booklet contains programs for all concerts, ACB does ask bands to provide programs should they wish for general audience
Comms — input from all sides, website for the convention, comms will go out regularly to ACB members
Comms for venues / vendors — who handles? ACB would provide all details to MAFB, MAFB would be the primary POC for comms.
ACB wants to ensure host band feel comfortable w/ all arrangements, ACB will take responsibility for vendors, venues, food/beverage — all to be fleshed out in the contract
MAFB Thoughts (post Amy leaving meeting)
Ian’s principle concerns — liability / feasibility. Should we decide to move forward, it will require hashing out a comprehensive contract. Agreement will depend on what is in writing
Tax exemption for this group is possible in Missouri, and this is large risk for us to lose liability + tax exempt status if ACB does not secure their own.
Getting volunteers is also a concern voiced by Jessie. Historically this is not a strong suit for our org
Disclaimer for comms — we are relaying the information as set and agreed upon by ACB / MAFB, but the responsibility still lies on ACB’s side
What is the overall benefit for MAFB? Community building, partnering w/ organization we haven’t worked with before, name out there to new folx.
Proposal to meet in a week to decide on whether or not we agree
Motion to table and meet on Tuesday 9/19 to discuss / make decision then — passed.
Mighty Mo would like to allocate $500 from their Venue Rental budget line for hospitality, etc. for the October concert. (refreshments, hors d'oeuvres)
Christian moves to allocate $500 from the Venue Rental budget line for hospitality
Approved / passed!
New bari sax purchase proposal
Amount of $6.5k is in excess of what we may need
Yamaha YBS-480 is what we are looking to purchase
Palen Music has quoted us $5,981 for this model, normally goes for ~$10k
Potential for asking KC Pioneers — specific grant for that this may qualify for
Motion to purchase is seconded — motion passes!
Scholarship update, criteria, etc
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/11PL8iq7akCi8p5LgieGw8CM0OhfgQlCWHnMFjPWFizg/edit
Nathan has put together the above form for membership scholarships
Dates + amounts need to be updated
Requirements updated / emphasizing flexibility or flat number of hours.
Agreement of 8-10 hours of service per season
We don’t currently have scholarship donations segmented
Reports
Secretary, Steven
Seen at Janelle Monáe
Not responding to chair’s email, may need to make a motion to enact policy, TBD at executive session
Creative Director, Lee
Rehearsals are going great and I’m thrilled with the progress of the ensemble especially on the musicianship side. Huge ensemble of great folks. Looking forward to the future. New people seem engaged and the returning folks are committed.
Grant updates:
Metzler-Copaken Initiative for the Folly has been initiated ;-). Anticipating an amount similar to last year.
One big outstanding question: Should we do a pre-show reception for a group of people ie: season ticket
holders? Next version of it due Oct 8.
MAC interim report due 9/25: Should have that done this week ian.bradt@freedomband.com have we signed the paperwork? nathan.brown@freedomband.com can you make sure quickbooks is up-to-date.christian.montes@freedomband.com can you get me a quickbooks login (using Matthew’s old one probably)
NTDF changed up how they are doing their contracts and purchase orders based on the city’s recommendation so it’s just more hoops. We will need to stay on top of this one as the staff changes frequently.
Performance Updates:
Next up is MidMo Pride on Sept 24, 2023
Strong support for the band. Going to pick from between Barbie Girl, Survive, Toxic, and
Montero.
Need uniforms. Rameka is on it.
Request that MAFB cover mileage at the non-profit rate for those carpooling with performers or
a flat $35 per carpooled vehicle. Non-profit rate is 0.14 X 125 miles X 2 ways so roughly $35.
Estimated total cost of $650-500.
Motion seconded and approved — motion passes!
Meeting with the KC Zoo and Aquarium at 2:00 pm on Tuesday, Sept 12 (today) so will give more info on
that at tonight’s board meeting.
Other stuff
Joy- Google offers 10K of free ads to non-profits. (https://www.google.com/grants/)
We’re getting lots of requests about starting chamber groups (two in the last week from horns and
clarinets). I’m all for it. I’d suggest the hour before rehearsal concurrent with MMJO (so yes that means
people won’t be able to do them all. Additional costs will be purchasing of music and ensuring space is
okayed by St. Andrews.
Season postcard. Erin has designed a great one. Just need the zoo info and then it’s
ready to mailed. Ian can we run the addresses out of flipcause and do a
mailmerge at Soli using their indicia?
Yes - Soli can run the mailer for us and use a non-profit indicia
Since we have approval to use one. Just need to decide if we want to go to all Flipcause contacts or a subset.
Assistant Artistic Director, Jessie
Our first show is in less than a month! Looking forward to it. Would love some help from Marketing getting the word out.
Joe Duncan is taking the lead on decorating the undercroft, with assistance from Kelly Pangburn and Adrienne Hixon. As we are not doing programs but have a budget line of $1000 for Mighty Mo Venue Rental that we will not incur this season, I’d like to ask the board to consider allowing use of $500 from that for food, bev, and decorations for the October concert.
Board Chair, Alex
Now that we are all back from the conference I’m going to be working full force on the Election Reform Committee. I still need a member of the board (not myself) and a member of staff to join the committee so we have voices from all parts of the organization.
Vice Chair, J.J.
Nothing to report!
Treasurer, Nathan
Report available upon request.
Executive Director, Ian
Thanks for everyone’s help with inventory last weekend. We still need to do inventory at the storage unit so welcome thoughts on when people might be available to help.
Two-thirds of the Timpani Concerto commission contracts are done. One was sent with an incorrect email address and is being resent this evening (hopefully). Update: Completely signed out an hour ago
The MAC paperwork due on the 24th is still outstanding. I’ll make a priority of getting that completed this weekend.
Not sure how the Executive Director payments usually work but I haven't yet seen July’s.
Librarian, Jeanine
Is anyone able to confirm that Bea and Tyler have been added to the Staff DL? Thanks!
Webmaster, Erin
Some minor ADA adjustments made to the navigation.
Hero updated to sell season tickets - will switch it to the Mighty Mo concert in a week or so.
Executive session called at 9:15 pm.
Meeting adjourn at 9:39 pm.
