April 13, 2016
Sweet Pea Board Meeting
Page 3
MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF
SWEET PEA, A FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS
April 13, 2016
Pursuant to notice duly given, a meeting of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Sweet Pea, a Festival of the Arts (the “Festival”) was held on Wednesday, April 13th, 2016 in the basement of the organization’s office located at 424 E. Main Street, Bozeman, Montana.
INTRODUCTIONS
Glenniss Indreland, the President, called the meeting to order at approximately 6:08 p.m. Erin Sullivan, Secretary of the meeting, confirmed that the following members were present, constituting a quorum of the Board: Rachel Anderson, Larry Bratke, Elizabeth Brock, Eileen Carpenter, Adelaide Cho, Chelsey Clayton, Jim Cole, Lacey Egelus, Christina Gauron, Grant Gilmore, Courtney Grigg, Todd Hoberecht, Cheryl Holm, Glenniss Indreland, Robyn Miller, Travis Miller, Kris Olenicki, Beth Orser, Rob Pertzborn, Melanie Ross, Cassidy Seymour, Julie Snapp, Erin Sullivan, Katy Taylor, and Kevin Thane.
Matt Sloan was absent; Grant Gilmore served as proxy for Performing Arts. Lauren Patti was absent; Festival Exhibitions was unrepresented. Dawn Burgess was absent; Chelsey Clayton served as proxy for Admissions until her departure from the meeting.
SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS
Glenniss told of a shout-out she heard for the Festival at a tourism conference in Kalispell.
The Board briefly paused to take a photo for “Wear Orange Wednesday” in support of No Kid Hungry.
MINUTES
Glenniss asked if there were any changes or corrections to the March 9, 2016 minutes. Kevin moved to approve the March minutes; Travis seconded the motion. The March minutes were approved without revision.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT
Rob welcomed Dance Chair nominee Todd Hoberecht, who introduced himself and named his prior positions on the Sweet Pea Board. Todd was voted in by ballot vote. Rob noted the two remaining vacancies on the Board: Merchandise Festival Sales and Children’s Activities. Updated rosters are available in print and on the Boardsite.
SECRETARY/TREASURER’S REPORT
Distributed prior to the meeting were the 1st Quarter Profit and Loss Report and Balance Sheet. Erin noted that it balances as it should and invited any questions about either document. She reported that Kris has worked with an accountant to “clean up” the categories in QuickBooks. She assured that all money is still accounted for in the report; it has just been recategorized. Taxes are done and submitted on time.
Glenniss reported that the final figure for the 2015 net gain is $3,342.68. Kris has transferred that amount to the Net Funds account. Kris explained that $2,420.00 of it has been allocated to permanent supplies; $922.68 remains unallocated.
Erin announced that there was only one budget increase request submitted on time—that is, by tonight. It will be presented by the Marketing Division during its upcoming report. The deadline for additional budget increase requests will be extended to April 22nd.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Kris has secured the state of Montana permit to sell beer and wine—the first of several permits to be obtained. Insurance has been renewed. Larry begins regular office hours again on May 10th. Kris gave a reminder to track volunteer hours, then an update on the status of division planning meetings. After considering multiple proposals for website redesign, Kris has conversed with the Executive Board and agreed to, for the short term, focus specifically on making the website more mobile-friendly. Further upgrades may be considered later, but Kris believes that implementing them would compete too much for her time and attention as the Festival approaches this summer. She assured that the long-unchanged homepage pictures would be changed. Glenniss added that a more significant overhaul may be in order for the 40th Anniversary next year. Kris proceeded to introduce two proposals—neither of which falls under a specific committee. The first is from the Pre-festival Exhibitions Division, which proposes the hiring of a professional chalk artist to create an 8ftx10ft piece of chalk art at Chalk on the Walk. The artist, Bill Spiess, would begin early in the morning on the day of Chalk on the Walk and finish just before the Bite of Bozeman the following day. The total cost would be $500. The location would be in front of US Bank. Katy moved to approve the proposal; Grant seconded the motion. Discussion ensued about where to draw that money from and about the process of approving it given budget uncertainties related to upcoming decisions. Katy recalled her motion so that the Board could hear the second proposal before making a decision. Kris proceeded to present a proposal from Festival Exhibitions to introduce two 2-hour painting workshops to the Festival. Tentatively, they would take place on the afternoons of Saturday and Sunday at the Lindley Park pavilion. Entry would be restricted to 50 people total—30 adults in one session and 20 kids in the other. Renowned local artist Loretta Domaszewski would operate the workshops with her own volunteers and provide all of the necessary materials for a total fee of $750. Kris predicted that an additional $100 would be needed for signage specific to the workshops. Kris fielded questions and a couple of concerns about the proposal, including its compatibility with Children’s painting, procedural considerations, admission policy, and the 2016 budget. Katy then renewed her motion for the approval of the chalk artist proposal. The motion was passed by a ballot count of 7-2 with 1 abstaining. After further discussion about the painting workshops proposal, Rachel moved to approve the proposal. Grant seconded the motion. After still further discussion, Rachel amended her motion to the effect that the workshops would be for adults and not children in consideration of the existing painting activities for children. The amended motion was passed by a ballot count of 8-1 with 1 abstaining.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
No unfinished business.
PARTNERSHIP COMMITTEE REPORT
Kris reported that AleWorks has confirmed their donation of gift certificates again this year. Upon Chelsey’s request, Kris will ask about their expiration date, which was much sooner last year than previously. Lehrkind’s has also confirmed, bringing the confirmed donation totals to $3,900 in-kind and $15,000 cash.
DIVISION REPORTS
Marketing/PR: Rachel reported that the division has been figuring out how to divide its budget; a large part of it is for advertising. She praised Kate for her work in accelerating social media exposure. Marketing is working with Grant to coordinate a Facebook release event for the music lineup announcement when finalized. There was some discussion about the release sequence, which was clarified according to last month’s meeting minutes. Grant indicated that he is close to having a lineup finalized. Further coordination with Admissions will be necessary to ensure that wristbands are available before announcing it. Rachel reminded everyone to contact Beth for graphics and Lacey for press releases. Kris noted that partner logos need to be included as appropriate on signage, posters, etc. As discussed at prior meetings, Sunday FUNDay is April 24th, and GiveBig Day is May 3rd. Those who are writing pages for Gallatin Valley Life Magazine have until this Friday to have their submission compiled and submitted. Rachel then presented a budget increase proposal for $10,000, explaining that she anticipates having to counter bad PR in the wake of this year’s one-band admission change and that the proportion of Sweet Pea’s operating budget allocated to marketing is currently well below industry standard. Approval of this proposal is contingent upon the Finance Committee, which will bring a recommendation back to the Board. Glenniss asked how the division plans to use the extra funding; Rachel named direct mail and magazine inserts as intended advertising strategies to impliment. Further questions were invited. Other advertising strategies and PR talking points were discussed.
Admissions: Chelsey reported that she is ready to order wristbands tomorrow. Eventbrite is expected to be ready to go on May 2nd. Admission band colors have been selected; adults’ will be dark blue, and kids’ will be pink. Gina is trying to arrange to buy some used iPads for will call and credit card sales at Admission gates. Kris is looking into getting a wifi hotspot from Verizon.
Merchandising: Cassidy reported that there was one submission to the button design contest on Facebook. She displayed the design and proposed that it be accepted as the winner. The design was unanimously approved.
Pre-Sales. Cassidy reported that Kori is on top of presale inventory. Board order forms are expected to be ready at next month’s meeting.
Poster. The poster contest entry deadline is April 30th.
T-shirt. Courtney presented three adult T-shirt design finalists, which were selected by a panel of judges from the pool of 50 entries. Before beginning, she explained her proposed process for choosing a design and colors. Minor features such as text and placement are subject to change as deemed necessary by the T-shirt Committee. Courtney asked the Board to consider marketability and appeal to both genders. She proceeded to present the adult designs one by one and share the judges’ comments for each. A lengthy discussion ensued. Among the topics discussed were materials, trends, sales history, and possible manipulations to the designs. The question of whether “none of the above” is an option was raised. Kris affirmed that the Board could overrule the judges’ choices, go back to the pool of 50 designs, and reconsider. Courtney expressed concern about the production timetable and about discrediting the jury process. With no decision reached after some time, Courtney presented the three finalists for the children’s shirt. She explained that there was only one children’s contest entry this year; finalists were selected from the adult contest entries and did not include the one children’s submission. Questions were raised about the implications of this for the contest as a tradition and how to proceed outside of the usual process. Courtney shared the judges’ comments for the children’s finalists and facilitated further discussion. Kevin motioned to accept children’s design #3 as the adult T-shirt design. Katy seconded the motion. It was decided that the presented adult designs should be decided on first. Kevin changed his motion to take a vote on all 6 presented designs to determine the adult T-shirt winner. DCs then casted 2 votes each to narrow the field to options 6, 3, 5, and “none.” In a second round of voting, DCs casted 1 vote each. Design 6 (Children’s #3) was voted the winner. Courtney presented color options, and after discussion the Board chose teal for women’s shirts and light gray for men’s. It was then decided that the children’s shirts would be white with the same design. Kevin moved to award the one entrant in the children’s contest an honorable mention and a portion of the prize money, but then rescinded the motion upon learning that the submission was not on time.
Performing Arts:
Music. Grant presented options for the last remaining music slot to be filled—Sunday afternoon. He prefaced his presentation by saying that all options presented would require a budget increase. Grant discussed and played music video samples from the following bands: Hardworking Americans, Blind Pilot, Brett Dennon, Gregory Allen Isencoff, and Cloud Cult. Criteria discussed included popularity, demographics of appeal, musical style, necessary size of budget increase, and projected additional ticket sales. DCs took a non-binding vote (contingent on booking negotiations), casting ballots for first and second-choice acts. Hardworking Americans received 8 first-choice votes, Cloud Cult received 7 second-choice votes, and Brett Dennon received 1 second-choice vote. Grant will attempt to book Hardworking Americans and submit a budget increase request to the Finance Committee for $8,000.
Physical Arrangements: Glenniss asked about the idea of flying a drone over the park to capture videos and/or photos. Grant will investigate legal requirements and logistics of the idea.
Food Concessions. The first round of food vendor applications are due Saturday. All prospective vendors should be directed to Wendy by e-mail.
Pre-Festival Exhibitions: No report.
Children’s Activities: Kevin gave just a brief affirmation that preparations are progressing.
Festival Exhibitions:
Arts & Crafts. Kris reported that 190 Arts & Crafts vendor applications have been received. Jurying is in progress. Lauren will send out invites by April 22nd.
CONFIRM BOARD MEETING AND ADJOURNMENT
Pursuant to the previously adopted annual calendar of regular Board meetings, the next meeting is scheduled for May 11th, 2016. Travis motioned to adjourn the meeting; Kevin seconded the motion. Glenniss adjourned the meeting at approximately 9:20 p.m.
Approved by:
________________________ Date: ____________________
Erin Sullivan, Secretary/Treasurer