Albany Museum of Art Board of Trustees Meeting

Albany Museum of Art Board of Trustees Meeting

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Members in attendance: David Lanier, Banks Haley, Kirk Rouse, Rip Bell, Brandi Singleton, Jane Anne Sullivan, Jim Wilcox, Chazz Williams, Beth Lakhanpal, Nealy Stapleton, John Powell, Sylvia Berry, Rosemary Hamburger, Jim Womack, Karen Snyder

Members absent: Banks Margeson, Rebecca Dill, Bo Henry, Katie Gatewood, Alyssa McGrath, Rosemarie Mundy-Shephard, Raines Watkins, Al Seely

Staff in attendance: Paula Williams, Cristin Kirbo, Abbey Sinyard

1. Welcome: Meeting started at 12:00pm

1. Kirk called to approve minutes. Nealy Stapleton seconded approval.

1. Director’s Report: Paula Williams thanked everyone on Board for contributing to Patron Party and recognized Jane Anne Sullivan and Steve Hinton for organizing and decorating the event. The second Menaboni mural officially belongs to Museum- it has not been accessioned yet, but Jane Willson has agreed to purchase for Museum. Rue Morrison, former Board member, bequeathed to the Museum two chandeliers, two candelabras and a tea caddy. Paula mentioned upcoming event: Stewart Nachmias workshop/lunch and learn to be held on November 15. Paula and Kirk met with Elizabeth Runkle with Momentum and discussed the Museum’s strategic plan. Paula announced that Bishop’s Clean Care will be coming to the Museum every Monday to clean. Staff is working on getting a calendar of events three months out to send to members and community.

1. Committee Reports

1. Nominating: Kirk reported in KK’s absence. There are openings for 5 additional board members. Discussed sending out minutes of meetings immediately after the meetings to members, especially for those who were unable to attend. Discussed moving members who are not able to commit fully to board to a task force. Motion to nominate the following for board membership: Drew Sandbach, Angie Barber and Parker Douglas. All in favor.
2. Collections/Exhibitions: Chazz Williams discussed that the goal is to have an exhibition schedule in place for the next 3 years. Main priority is to replace lighting in galleries. Committee met and reaffirmed the themes of the galleries: East/Hodges- regional working artists from the South; rest of the galleries will stay the same, McCormack- works from our collection; Evans- sporting. They are working on presenting an exhibition budget FY 2015-16.
3. Education: Brandi Singleton reported they were unable to meet, but they had been emailing. Their main goal is to get an educator, either contract or part time, at the Museum. The committee is setting up basic program ideas: after school art academy, home schoolers getting more involved, create art classes for all ages, mommy and me class, outreach to schools, develop docent program, summer camp, volunteer database management, work on educational materials for exhibits, refresh AMAzing space.
4. Development: Jim Womack mentioned need to go into broader regions of the community rather than hitting up same businesses for money/donations.

• Touch a Truck: Cristin Kirbo said we are saving on some expenses because of the supplies left over from last year. Cash donations as of today are $10,050. We lost some large sponsors this year like Paul Davis and Pellicano. Oxford Construction signed on again for the Big Rig Sponsor which is $5,000. This year we will host “Touch a Pup” with Humane Society and Dr. Odom, Dockery & Deriso as sponsors. We have 28 trucks registered and $4,400 in in-kind donations, not including Oxford. Committee members, Christie Cole bought the Museum a popcorn machine to use day of Touch a Truck and for future events. Darton baseball team is helping again. Jim Wilcox had the suggestion of selling pictures after event online on our website.
• Let’s Make a Bid

1. Financial Report: Rip Bell, Treasurer, announced there is $31,000 in the bank. There will be $5,000 more from MillerCoors and in October there will be $20,000 from the Haley Trust. He mentioned several problems with the building including air conditioning and roofing which totals to $17,000 in repairs. Last month there was $10,400 in patron memberships and $7,500 in rentals. John Powell asked about credit card, we still owe $7,900. Paula Williams mentioned we using the credit card only when absolutely necessary. The Executive Committee wants to create a separate account for legacies and bequests. In years past these funds have been used for general miscellaneous needs. Nealy Stapleton motioned to open an unrestricted bequest fund. The motion was seconded and approved.

1. Behind the Scenes: Membership: Abbey Sinyard gave a presentation on the current status of memberships at AMA. There are 237 total members to date and of the total 100 members are at the Patron level and above. Abbey will be sending out 60 renewal letters for November at the end of the month. Staff is working on new membership brochures and rack cards. We are also working on getting the “Contemporaries” started up again with Parker Douglas as the Chairman. Jim Wilcox mentioned Emerge Albany and trying to get together with them for this new Contemporaries project.

1. New Business: It was decided to cut the rental discounts for Non Profit Rate to 25% rather than the 50% that was previously offered. Patron members and above will receive a 10% discount on rentals, and Collector’s Circle will receive 25%. Discussed prices for auditorium and full facility rentals: $700 for auditorium, $300 for lobby and $1500 full facility. Those renting the auditorium and not the lobby have use of the restrooms.

Kirk Rouse nominated Steve Hinton as a lifetime board member. Motion was seconded and all were in favor.

Paula Williams has agreed to work as Interim until the Board finds a permanent Director.

We are moving our bank account from SB&T to Flint Community Bank.

Board will host Stewart Nachmias, artist featured in East Gallery, for drinks Friday, November 14 at the Manor House. He will be doing a workshop/lecture the following Saturday.

1. Adjourned at 1:07pm.