April 17, 2005 NIETF Board Meeting I. Meeting was called to order at 6:37 PM. Board meeting attendance: Larry Hinken, Kim Bernstein, Ruth Best, Heather Clark, Ken Mertens, Ed Griffith, Mark Ladd, JoBeth Cruz, Karin Albright, Myron Nidetz II. Opening remarks None given by Larry. Lisa stopped by to drop off extra agendas and she had to leave a) Report Format—Heather clarified this. Reports turned in for the Consent Agenda should be an overview of the meeting not the Committee’s minutes which she had previously sent in. III. Consent Agenda Approval Larry asked that we review the reports submitted and pull out any items we wanted to discuss. Kim reiterated the Consent Agenda process of reviewing the reports prior to the meeting and submitting the parts to the President prior to the meeting to be put on the agenda. The following reports (minus the exceptions) were approved and seconded: March minutes Treasurer’s Report Ceremony Committee Report Play Nominations Secretary’s Report Outreach Committee Report Development Committee Report IV. Old Business a) Scholarship Amount—pulled from Outreach Committee Report. Consensus was that the scholarship amount be no less than $1,000 each. Myron offered to look for outside donors. Since we want to announce this at the Gala the individual college scholarships would probably not get off the ground this year. However, the committee should continue to work on the criteria for individual scholarships. Moved and seconded. Ruth raised question about scholarships for theater workshops. Maybe matching scholarship amounts for theaters for education classes. This may be something that could still be put into effect this year. Ken proposed for the Outreach Committee to work on a grant proposal for children to take classes at participating Theater organizations. Moved and seconded. b) AACT—Heather had received the information about the seminars available at a retreat with AACT. It is June 14th-18th. At a cost of $160.00. Moved and seconded for Heather to go and for NIETF to pay for the retreat. Heather asked for us to think about the cost of a Hotel and food during her stay. Put on agenda for next meeting. VI. New Business a.) Viewer Confidentiality Policy—Policy submitted by Mark was reviewed and discussed by the board. The following Viewer Confidentiality Policy was approved and seconded by the Board.: “Viewers should be aware that the opinions of viewers are seen by the public as the opinions of the Foundation. Viewers shall not make derogatory comments or reference to nominations to anyone. These comments include but are not limited to the quality of any production, theater, or participants therein.” b) Mission—Tabled till next meeting in May. c) Ceremony—Anne Nicholls was present to show her design for the table decorations. (Was actually moved to beginning of meeting so Anne could leave.) The following suggestions were given: Numbers of tables needed to be larger, pictures on back of design should be in color (JoBeth offered use of her color printer), there should be borders around the design of the play listed on the front. Anne said the cost would be around $100.00. She was given the go ahead and thanked for her time and effort. d) Board recommendations from Development Committee (pulled from Consent Agenda)— 1) Hotel room raffle in LaPorte on the night of the gala. Questions from the board: When would they get the room? This year or next? Drawing would occur when? Suggestions were made to offer a free ticket raffle instead. Drawing for free ticket would be held on October 1st. Or depending on the supporting level you get a reduced ticket price (which we already do). Ruth is going to check into the requirements in hosting a raffle since we are a nonprofit organization. 2) Development Committee asks that a budget be submitted for projects. 3) Development Committee requests approval for an Invoicing program. Per Ruth this falls under Development. It is more efficient way to keep track of funds not paid. Per Larry and Heather many companies requests invoices before they will pay. Kim recommended Invoice software she has worked on before and has agreed to do it. Moved and seconded for software to be purchased. Ken suggested we look into making sure the software can interface with other programs such as email, etc. Kim will look into this. 4) Membership Committee now a subcommittee of Development. Headed up by Kim Bernstein. Ruth has lists of members. e) Special Achievement Award from Outreach Committee (pulled from Consent Agenda)— Discussed that this Award should not become a popularity contest. Should take more thought. If we let everyone vote that is what it would be. It is a Foundation acknowledgement and only viewers and members could vote. For the time being leave this alone and do something else for fun. Such as; Most likely to trip on stage award, etc. and let people decide this. See how Bloopers go this year and maybe incorporate this next year. f) Other 1) Ken read an email. Christine Wiegand is resigning from being a Viewer (Musical). Per Lisa, Ken is to draft a reply. 2) Ed gave list of people representing us @ Porter County Convention Center on May 11th. The opening number to 2004 Gala will be performed. 3) Karin asked that the September meeting dated be changed. Talk about at next meeting Next Board meeting 5/15/05 at 6:30, CTG in Valparaiso VII) Adjournment The meeting was adjourned by Larry at 8:24 PM. 2005 Important Dates: 5/15/05 Board Meeting 7/24/05 Board Meeting 8/21/05 Viewers Election 6 PM, Board Meeting 6:30 PM 9/11/05 Viewer Initial Ballot 9/18/05 Board Meeting 10/18/05 Plays Rehearsal 10/20/05 Musical Rehearsal 10/22/05 Ceremony 11/20/05 Board Election 6 PM, Board Meeting 6:30 PM Respectfully Submitted, Kim Bernstein NIETF Recording Secretary 2005 BACK TO MAIN LIST OF MINUTES