The Board of Directors of the Albuquerque Theatre Guild convened at the N4th Theatre. Board Members present were: Georgia Athearn, Eli Browning, Lou Clark, Kristen Loree, Virginia Ludvik, Linda López McAlister, Claudia Mathes, Preston Mendenhall, Joel Miller, Ray Orley, Hugh Witemeyer
Also present: Val Scott

Quorum present?
Yes.

Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order by President Hugh Witemeyer at 9:00 a.m.

Appointment of replacements for Ray Orley.
Because Ray Orley will be away on an extended visit to Australia starting in January, 2010, it is necessary to appoint replacements for his various ATG positions.

• As Individual Member Representative. Valerie Scott, who was elected by ATG members as an alternate Individual Member Representative at the General Meeting in May, has agreed to become an Individual Member Representative upon Ray’s departure.
• As ATG Treasurer.  Claudia Mathes had earlier offered herself as a candidate to serve as ATG Treasurer and the Board approved.
• As Chair of the Finance Committee.  A decision on who would take over as chair of the Finance Committee was postponed pending the Board Retreat later in the day, at which time suggestions for restructuring that committee would be discussed.
• As contact person for McCune Foundation.  Lou Clark agreed to serve as our contact person with the McCune Foundation and to write the final report due to them after we spend the remainder of our grant monies.

Fire Marshal matters.
Hugh Witemeyer reported on the article on the Weekly Alibi by Julia Mandeville about our meeting with Lt. Skip Navarrette of the Fire Marshal’s Office.  We discussed how we can help disseminate information to our theatres about regulations.  Hugh will attempt a first draft of a distillation of information and Claudia and Lou will assist.  We will follow up on setting up a second meeting, tentatively on January 23 or 30th.

Directors’ Circle.
Linda López McAlister reported that she received 28 replies to the survey but has not completed tabulating the responses because several just came in within the last few days.  Leadership of the Circle needs to be determined, either at a future organizational meeting, or by contacting a few people who might be interested in assuming that role.

Playwrights’ Circle.
Hugh Witemeyer reported that there will be a staged reading of 2 one-act plays by members of the Circle at the Vortex Theatre on Jan. 31.  They are Alpha Omega Pi: a metaphysical fantasy by Tess Light, directed by Ken Bennington, and Babe, Inc. by Rosemary Zibart, directed by Rose Provan. 

Circle postings.
A question was raised as to whether Circles should be allowed to post things to the Performances and Events sections of the website and we agreed that they should be able to do so when appropriate.  If they have such postings they may send them to the who will post them for them.

Membership Committee.
Hugh Witemeyer reported that the Membership Committee will be meeting on January 18th to discuss how to set up a membership category for high school drama groups.  ATG will also have a table at the NM State High School Drama Festival, on Saturday, January 16th.

Unity Committee.
Virginia Ludvik gave an update on the ATG Social Event, Jan. 24.  So far about 40 RSVPs have been received.

Buzz Committee.
Linda López McAlister reported that the 2010 brochures would probably not be available by the January 28 contracted date, but she expects that we will have them by the fall-back date of February 4th.  Our graphic designer was hospitalized for a period during December and that’s the reason for the delay.

Next Board meeting:
Saturday, Feb. 6, 10 a.m. in UNM Department of Theatre and Dance

Adjournment.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 a.m. so that the Board Retreat could begin.

Respectfully submitted,
Linda López McAlister, Secretary