May 15, 2005 NIETF Board Meeting I. Meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM. Board meeting attendance: Lisa Woodruff, Larry Hinken, Kim Bernstein, Ruth Best, Ken Mertens, Ed Griffith, Mark Ladd, JoBeth Cruz, Karin Albright II. Opening remarks None given by Lisa. III. Consent Agenda Approval Lisa called for a motion to accept the submitted reports. The following reports were approved and seconded. Motion carrier to accept these reports: April minutes Treasurer’s Report Ceremony Committee Report Play Nominations Secretary’s Report Development Committee Report IV. Unsubmitted Reports Musical Nominations Secretary’s Report—Concern that there are 6 viewers below 75%. Ken proposed sending out a notice to these six informing them they have to see every show from now on. Copy notice to Lisa. Motion carried for these 6 viewers to be notified. Marketing Committee Report—None submitted Outreach Committee Report—None submitted V. Old Business a) September Meeting Date—Sept. 18th—Karin Albright is getting married the previous weekend and will be on her honeymoon. Board meeting changed to 9/25/05 and at an earlier time of 5:30 at Genesius Guild. Gala rehearsal immediately follows. Karin can still submit her viewers ballot but earlier than 9/11/05. b) Room & Board for Heather at AACT—Lisa proposed giving Heather her NIETF credit card. Motion carried. Asked that Heather submit an expense report. c) Membership Fee—Lisa asked for suggestions for a cost of membership for participating theaters. Motion carried for a fee of $50.00. Starting in the next viewing year of 05-06. Kim Bernstein is to draft a membership notice that will go out to all 12 theaters notifying them of this change. The penalty for non payment will result in nonviewable shows for that theater. The letter should cover: website/update/maintenance, categories/contacts, inserts, brochures, gala/awards, regional audtions, press coverage, being part of a bigger picture, less than a dollar a week. Money is to be received by October 1st. d) Membership by Board members.—Motion made to make membership a requirement for all Board members. Motion carried Regional Auditions—No new news. Larry and Ed offered to check with the theaters to see who would be interested. Lisa asked that at least 8 theaters agree to participate. If not, a timeline needs to be put in place for next year. Keep in mind the following items that will be needed: We would provide space (IUN), an accompanist, forms, volunteers, and pictures and publicity. This would also take place on a Saturday afternoon. Info would be available on our website. e) LaPorte Visitor Bureau Info?—Lisa wondered on the status of this. A questionnaire was to be put together on the amount of money spent on other items in LaPorte since the Gala is now held there. Waiting for this information from Karin Albright. f) Website – Submitted information was reviewed for the update/redesign of the website from Judith Mayer of Keyword Design. Discussion about the server and updating the new website. The website will be redesigned using Adobe GoLive. Karin currently manages the website with Microsoft FrontPage and will attend a demo at Kim's office in order to learn the new software. The motion carried to accept the proposal from Judith Mayer. Karin is looking into using another server and will have more information next month. Lisa requested getting the word out that we need photos for the website in the next month or two. VI. New Business a) Award—The Foundation was the recipient of the R.O.S.E. award at the Porter County Convention Center. It was presented to a group of Foundation members who performed the opening number from the 2004 Gala at a luncheon. R.O.S.E. stands for Recognition of Service Excellence. All present agreed it was nice to be recognized for all the work that many have done in the last nine years. Information will be posted on the website and the award will be available at the Gala. b) Theatre scheduling—A theatre has once again booked a show on the same night as the Gala. Lisa asked that it be a part of the theatre membership that a theatre agrees to be dark the night of the gala. Motion carried. c) Mission—A list will be sent out as a reminder to inform viewers that soon it will be time to run for election as a viewer. We need to get the word out. We all have a list of people to inform. d) Ceremony—The menu was discussed. There will be 3 stations and a sweets table. Bloopers—Reminder! Viewers when you are at the shows keep your ears open. Ask them if they would share their stories for the gala. Ed Griffith gave us an update on what he has been working on. AV information—Doc working on this. Lisa will contact Doc as she has a contact at the LaPorte Visitors Bureau. Schedule changes—JoBeth scheduled CTG for 9/11/05 for the Viewer Initial Ballet meeting. The 9/18/05 board meeting has been changed to 9/25/05 and will take place at Genesius Guild at 5:30 with a rehearsal immediately following. ADDED: June 12th extra Board meeting. Lisa will try and schedule at Strongbow so we can sample the food. Next Board meeting 6/12/05 at 6:30, Strongbow in Valparaiso????? VII) Adjournment The meeting was adjourned by Lisa at 8:10 PM. 2005 Important Dates: 6/12/05 Board Meeting ADDED at Strongbow? 7/24/05 Board Meeting 8/21/05 Viewers Election 6 PM, Board Meeting 6:30 PM 9/11/05 Viewer Initial Ballot at CTG 9/25/05 Board Meeting at 5:30 Genesius Guild 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