Minutes of April ATCA Ex-Com Conference Call April 16, 2015
Prepared by Barbara Bannon, ATCA Secretary:
Bill Hirschman called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. EDT. The following Ex-Com members were present: Charles Giuliano, Lou Harry, Brad Hathaway, Bill Hirschman, Erin Keane, Wendy Rosenfield, Ed Rubin, and Martha Steketee. Barbara Bannon, ATCA secretary, Barry Gaines, ATCA administrator, and Mark Lowry, ATCA treasurer were also present. Jonathan Abarbanel was absent.
Barbara had distributed the minutes from the meetings in New Orleans before the call. Brad Hathaway made a motion, seconded by Ed Rubin, to accept the minutes. The motion passed unanimously.
There was discussion about posting the minutes of Ex-Com meetings on the website so that the membership can access them. If there are things the board discusses that are unresolved or sensitive, these can be deleted before posting them.
Ed Rubin made a motion, seconded by Erin Keane, to post the minutes of future Ex-Com meetings on the website. The motion passed unanimously.
Board members who had attended the New Orleans conference reported that they had received a survey from conference chair Alan Smason about their reactions. Twenty-four people answered the survey, and some of them had negative reactions. This is certainly something that may be helpful in the future, but the survey should come through the Ex-Com or the Conference Committee so the questions can be better constructed and the assessment will be more objective.
The conference did well financially. Barry estimated that there is a surplus. It helped enormously that Alan was able to get a grant from the New Orleans Theatre Association, especially because we had to pay for many of the tickets to events, which we normally do not have to do. We should definitely try to avoid that in the future. The board members congratulated Alan on the success of the conference as well as Jonathan, Tim, and Barry, who offered invaluable help. Barry said he has sent thank-you letters to appropriate people and organizations.
Bill made a report on the status of next year’s conference in Philadelphia. Howard Shapiro says that Visit Philadelphia will not be able to help us directly, but its hotel liaison will help with securing a hotel. Two possible dates are proposed: March 30 to April 3 or May 4 to May 8. Hotels will be more expensive during the May dates. Wendy said she is helping organize the conference; Lou said he will also help. People are already gathering information to help set the conference up. It is estimated that there will be about $12,000 in income from registration fees. There is an abundance of theaters that we can choose to visit and see shows. Many people will also be driving to this conference, so there is a possibility of car pooling to avoid a lot of bus rental fees. However, we have to be aware that we have a number of older members that we need to provide transportation for. We can survey those who are planning to attend ahead of time to see if some of them will be willing to drive other members.
Bill is trying to compile a list of ATCA committees and Ex-Com members who want to serve on them. He said he will send an e-Blast out to members to find out their interests and try and get them more actively involved in the organization.
International Committee
Jeffrey Jenkins will remain the chair. We definitely want to improve communication with the IATC so we are aware of its schedule of meetings and seminars. Sometimes we receive very little notice of upcoming events that members may want to participate in.
Finance Committee
Mark and Barry head this committee. The Finance Committee has largely been invisible in the past; we should have an active committee and post it on the website with the other committees. Probably Kerry Reid should also be involved as the treasurer of Foundation ATCA. We need to discuss the money we have in the bank and decide if we want to use some of it to expand member services.
New Plays Committee
Lou Harry is taking over the chair of this committee from Bill Hirschman. Martha said she is also interested in being involved. The press release naming this year’s winners of the Steinberg/ATCA Award and the Osborn Award is presently posted on the website.
Conference Committee
The chairs of the past and next conference head this committee. Tim Treanor has some helpful suggestions on budgeting that he can provide to the committee. The Ex-Com needs to be involved earlier on overseeing upcoming conferences. It would be helpful to try and get a high-profile Perspectives in Criticism speaker lined up ahead of time. That might even help attract members to come to the conference, but it is hard to get people to commit so far ahead.
Membership Services Committee
Anne Siegel is the current chair. She has some helpful ideas about making this committee more active and about the printed membership directory that we are working on. We really do need a printed directory. We can also post the updated information on the members-only section of the website, where it can be modified and kept up to date. Before printing it, the Ex-Com still needs to complete the revision of the bylaws. The most important thing is to decide about new membership categories.
Because of poor reception, the board had to abandon the call. Bill said we will aim for a call in early May. He will send an e-Blast to the membership on participating on committees. He will also get an update on the Philadelphia conference.
Ed Rubin made a motion, seconded by Brad Hathaway, to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously, and the meeting concluded at 2:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Barbara Bannon, ATCA secretary.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.