DALLAS THEATER CENTER

Board of Trustees

Executive Committee Meeting

MINUTES

Dee and Charles Wyly Theater

Swisher/McGehee Education Center

December 16, 2011

Executive Committee Members in attendance:Ken Bernstein, Missy Boone, Diane Brierley, Barrett Bruce, Linda Custard, Rebecca Fletcher, John Howell, Frank Risch, Bart Showalter, Shannon Skokos, Sarah Warnecke, Jim Wiley, Donna Wilhelm

Staff in attendance:Heather Kitchen, Kevin Moriarty, Cynthia Calabrese, Ramona Jordan, Jeff Gifford, Wayne Goodwin, Hillary Hart, Rachel Hull, Martha-Elena Lopez

4:05 p.m. Ken Bernstein called the meeting to order.

-Minutes from theOctober 24, 2011meeting were approved.

-Opening Night of Lysistrata Jones was a success. There were many great reviews in the New York press and Liz Mikel was excited to see so many familiar faces in the audience.

Management Update Heather Kitchen

Facilities:

-Chris LaBove is in transition to be the part-time IT Manager. We will be hiring a maintenance technician. An Operations Manager has accepted an offer for DTC employment and will start on December 21st. With these changes, the general management budget for personnel has been raised by less than $10,000 and other GM expenses has been reduced to absorb financial change.

-Heather Kitchen and Hillary Hart met with Maria Munoz-Blanco (City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs) on November 15. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the Kalita and DTC’s desire to renew the current contract and dissatisfaction with the city’s response to work orders. Since this meeting, the City has been more responsive in addressing long-term outstanding work orders and completing them.

-In regards tothe Kalita, DTC will be unable see the master plan until Spring 2012. City of Dallas must first vote on the changes/updates being proposed for the Kalita. City Council will vote on these changes and updates in January 2012. John Howell and Heather Kitchen to work contract details to renew lease.

-Uptown Players is also interested in the Kalita but City prefers to lease to DTC.

-Important that we invite Dallas City Council Members and other City officials to productions at the Kalita.

-Important to reconnect with Ann Abernathy. She has many ideas regarding the future of the Kalita. Sarah Warnecke has also suggested that Ms. Abernathy be invited to be part of the Advisory Council.

Development:

-An offer has been made for a new position (Development Assistant). This is a hire that will improve the productivity of senior development personnel. Other expenses in the department have been reduced to keep overall development expenses as budgeted.

-For the first time, the year end appeal was done totally electronically this season. This resulted in a $5,000 reduction in expenses. Last year’s direct mail campaign netted only $880 from 32 donors. To date, we have raised $3,240 from 23 donors this year with no hard cost. The appeal is being reinforced through social media, like Twitter and Facebook.

-Gala invitation dropped on December 16.

-Sam and Carol Pack, with the help of Brian Melton, have become our new supporters and have donated a total of $10,000. (Brian Melton is one of our new Board members.) He has brought in five new donors of at least $1,000 since September, with a total approaching $20,000. We are grateful for Brian, who keeps finding more opportunities to pitch Dallas Theater Center.

Campaign:

-Campaign total is $9.35 million. The budgeted goal for the year is $2.7 million. To date, we have raised $.875 million. We have recently received new gifts from the Beasley Foundation ($75,000) and from Linda and Bill Custard ($100,000). Still need to raise $1.8 million.

-Karen Waller and Dini Partners have been verbally retained, contract to be finalized soon. We begin with Karen in the new year and will put together over arching strategies to secure the needed funding for this year along with the remainder of the campaign.

Marketing:

-New performance reminder system implemented last week. It is an effort to help patrons identify which theater to physically attend and to reduce the number of no-shows.

-Samples of collateral are available, including a key piece to wrap up subs campaign. Post cards hit on December 15. We have over $10,000 in sales in last 24 hours. No telemarketers were involved in this campaign so no commissions are being paid.

-Subs Campaign now $125,000 from goal. Expect to each goal of $1.586 million by the end of 2nd quarter.

-JOSEPH pricing scenarios are being carefully examined. Thoughts include limited youth price tickets to areas 2 through 4. In 2010, 8.8% of tickets were youth tickets. In 2011 it has been 12 % of tickets. Currently, we are selling 24-25% youth tickets. Other suggestions that are being considered are blocking dates for youth nights. All of this will be discussed further with the Marketing Task Force. Having youth prices help, they bring in our community as a whole and youth can be inspired to become future patrons and donors.

Finance

-Hannah Bartholomew, Personnel Manager, Payroll and Accts Receivable, has left Dallas Theater Center. A temp has been hired and the search for a new full time person to fill this position has begun.

-Audit is complete. The accumulated deficit was determined to be $12,325, not $85,050 as stated at the Board Retreat. The lower amount was due to re-stated earnings prior to 2011 and to using a new accounting principal. At the conclusion of the audit, there were no concerns or discrepancies.Due to timing issues, BBO was not able to present to the Finance and Executive Committees, however, they did meet Larry Angelilli, Heather Kitchen and Ramona Jordan to discuss the audit. Thanks to Ramona Jordan for her leadership during the audit.

-The employee handbook is being updated with the leadership of Jeff Gifford.

Artistic Update Kevin Moriarty

DTC Collaborations:

-SMU: Just finished a one week play development workshop with Will Power of his first draft of his first act of STAGGER LEE. SMU paid $50,000 to commission this play. First draft of full script should be available for a reading in May 2012. A staged workshop to follow in the fall/winter. Expecting to have STAGGER LEE on stage during the 2013-2014 season.

-Playwright Aaron Loeb was commissioned by DTC last year. He has decided to write a play inspired by an event in Sam Houston's life.

-DMA: Working to create a collaboration with the DMA in conjunction with a DTC production of RED in the near future.

TCG Conference:

-On December 8 and 9, we received a visit from Kevin Moore, Managing Director of TCG and Dafina McMillan, TCG Director of Communications and Conferences. Dallas, along with Kansas City and Houston, is being considered for the 2013 TCG Conference.

-Dallas Theater Center spearheaded the visit. Other collaborators included the Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, the Convention and Census Bureau, Dallas City Mayor and area TCG theaters. This feeds into our strategic plan goal of forming alliances with area TCG theaters and the community. Many more theater contacts have been made through the coordination of the TCG visit.

-The possible TCG conference in Dallas will have no direct financial impact (costs or income) on Dallas Theater Center. TCG raises money that funds the conference. ATTPAC and the Arts District have agreed to donate space. Conference would bring about 1,300 theater artists, managers, and directors to the Dallas area.

Strategic Plan:

-The Strategic Plan and Goals that was approved at the Board Retreat has now being reviewed by all DTC staff. They are coming up with plans, strategies and six month goals to achieving the six goals.

-Goals are also being connected to appropriate committees. Hope to use committee members’ expertise to further the goals. We will create dashboards to show the progress being made.

Executive Committee Meeting – Minutes: Friday, December 16, 2011 Page | 1