The Board of Directors of the Albuquerque Theatre Guild convened in the Thomson-Reuters Building on Masthead. Present were all Board members for 2012-2013: Marty Epstein, Reeve Love, Linda Lopez McAlister, Ninette S. Mordaunt, Valerie Scott, Scott Sharot, Regina Bell-Dawley, Denise Schulz, Micah McCoy, Donna Marie Barra, and Hugh Witemeyer. Also present later was Kay Grant for a presentation from TLC.

1. Call to Order, Thank-yous, and Approval of Minutes and Agenda

President Witemeyer called the meeting to order at 10:40 a.m.  (The meeting started late due to technical difficulties.)  He thanked the outgoing Board members (Ray Orley, Joel Miller, Jeff Anderson, and Claudia Mathes) for past involvement, and Donna Barra for hosting the gathering. The Board approved the minutes of the June 2 meeting (Linda McAlister moved to approve; Denise Schulz seconded; all voted Yea) and the agenda and committee reports for the July 7 meeting.

2. Appointment of Valerie Scott

The Board agreed unanimously to appoint Valerie Scott to complete the final year of Claudia Mathes’s term on the Board.

3. Election of Treasurer, Treasurer’s Report, and Designation of Check Signers for 2012-2013

Marty Epstein moved that Denise Schulz be appointed Treasurer and Reeve Love seconded the motion.  It was made clear that Denise will be Treasurer only on the contingency that Claudia Mathes be appointed as Bookkeeper.  The Board unanimously elected Denise Schulz as the new Treasurer under these conditions.
Linda McAlister then moved that Claudia be appointed as Bookkeeper at a fee previously determined; Val Scott seconded and the Board unanimously agreed.

Marty Epstein moved that the President, Treasurer and Bookkeeper be authorized as the official check signers for the coming year; Denise Schulz seconded. The Board unanimously agreed with this proposal, which means that Hugh Witemeyer, Denise Schulz, and Claudia Mathes, respectively, will be the ATG check signers for 2012-2013.

Denise passed out copies of the Treasurer’s final report for the previous fiscal year.  Denise moved to approve the budgetary report for 2011-12; Marty seconded; the Board approved it unanimously.

4. Renewal of ATG Membership in AACT

As our membership in this organization expires next month, we discussed various options, but because of our tight cash flow this year, it was decided to renew for one year only. Denise Schulz so moved; Marty Epstein seconded, and all were in favor. The ATG obtains its liability insurance through the American Association of Community Theatre.

5. Symposium on Theatre Archiving Project (ATAP)

Linda McAlister reported that we did indeed get the grant from the NM Humanities Council to fund this symposium, which will take place at the end of October 2012.  The hitch was the venue, but that is being addressed.  The possibility exists that the symposium could take place on Sunday October 28 instead of Saturday October 27 if an appropriate venue cannot be secured for Saturday.  Representatives from live theatre organizations throughout New Mexico will be invited to the symposium.

6. Constant Contact E-Newsletter

A contract is ready to start with Constant Contact, an email set-up service, as soon as funds from our bank card are made available. Constant Contact will use our list of about 1,000 addresses that may be added to, and will send out a mailing at least once a month, maybe twice.  It will include a monthly performance calendar in the same format that Kelly Koepke used in her press releases.  An editor is needed and the Buzz Committee will look into that.

7. Business Affiliates

There is not much to update on this question, though it was briefly discussed.  However, someone is needed to spearhead this venture, making contacts with various businesses, before more can be accomplished.  A marketing strategy in the Fall would be a good idea.

8. Free Night of Theatre

A contract has been received and sent on to Claudia Mathes for payment.  First we need to know who our member organizations are for 2012-2013.  ATG will be responsible for getting members –and ATG members only– to participate. We need to know what shows will be featured in October/November 2012 in order to send the correct information to “Free Night of Theatre”’s website. XtraMark will also be involved in this with marketing probably happening in September.

9. Marketing Initiative

Chris Cordova of XtraMark is drafting a survey working closely with the Buzz Committee for feedback. This survey may be ready to be sent by next week. Member theatres will send out their own link to the survey and the prize for this will be 4 free tickets to some theatre. Theatre-goers who answer this survey will provide a baseline which can then be broadened to include non-theatre-goers.

10. Member-Generated Projects

A report was included as part of the Committee Reports, etc., sent in by Ray Orley acting as head of this committee. Since the amount envisioned had to be reduced due to budget constraints, only one project generated from member organizations and one from individual members will be supported. An announcement will go out soon for proposals to be considered and decided upon, probably during September.

11. Season Preview Fair

About 11:30 a.m., Kay Grant of TLC addressed the Board with an idea for a “Season Preview Fair” as laid out in a submitted report. There was much discussion about the venue and time of year: February 2013. The event must be open to the public. It must not cost the member organizations anything (cost may be covered by raffle tickets, refreshment sales, some TLC budget, and yet-unknown sources). Performances may be adjunct, but the main thrust is the information on upcoming season. Contact with theatre members is the first order of business to get their feedback, determine conflict dates, as well as finding out what is going on in The City at that same projected time. Scott Sharot and Val Scott volunteered to help TLC people get basic information and make initial contacts.

12. Arrangements for August and September Meetings

August’s meeting will be held on the first Saturday as usual, i.e., August 4; venue TBA. It was decided to hold the September meeting on the second Saturday, i.e., September 8, to avoid the Labor Day weekend.

13. Committee Reports, etc.

A report had been sent out which did not include the June Auditions.  This will be added into the next Committee Report for the August meeting.

14. Adjournment

Marty Epstein moved that we adjourn and Denise Schulz seconded the motion; meeting was adjourned at 12:05 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by
Ninette S. Mordaunt, Secretary