BOARD MEETING MINUTES February 24, 2015 Time: 6:30 pm Rehearsal Hall In Attendance: Dawn Leverett Jim Loder Sheila Weaver Eugene Wong Gary Ambrose Bob Swanson Robert Rust Jim Guenther Shannon Flora Staff: Laura Lee Mathew Wright Absent: Deborah Williams Katie Koch Judy Pigott Liz Bentler Terry Williams Guests: Edie Neeson Jeff Michelson Colton Josephson
CALL TO ORDER 6:34 Welcome ArtsWest Mission Good News The meeting was opened with introductions. Colton Josephson, is serving as a development intern working with Danielle and Jeff Michelson is visiting as a potential board member were introduced to those in attendance. New lights were donated and delivered. Boxes are sitting in the gallery. Jim Guenther took paper records to be shredded at the Queen Anne Windermere office and got unsolicited positive feedback about ArtsWest. VOTE: MATERS for DECISION V1: Consent Agenda Motion: Sheila moved to approve the Consent Agenda; Jim Loder seconded and the motion carried by majority vote. INFO: MATERS TO REPORT I1: Managing Directors Report Staffing Laura reported that Sandy Fry will be retiring. She has been a rock through many transitions at ArtsWest. She would like to come back and volunteer. There is no official end date. Laura will be posting her position and plan a retirement party. The Development position has been posted and will close at the end of February. There are several well qualified candidates that have applied, with some being referred from Intiman Theatre s Managing Director. Interviews will begin in March. Danielle has agreed to stay and help as needed and will continue to work on the gala. Concessions We received a letter from John Bradshaw from Seattle Shakespeare Theater stating that non-profit theaters are included in a legal category, with cinemas that serve food and beverages, that prohibits taking alcoholic beverages into the theater. Some theaters are ignoring this policy others are no longer allowing beverages into their houses. We may no longer be able to allow liquor into the theater. A board member from Seattle Shakespeare, who is an attorney, is writing a letter and asking theaters to sign it to overturn the inclusion in this grouping since we don t 2
have servers in a dark space or children running around in our theater. Laura said we will likely see this change in our theatre soon. The concern was raised that not selling drinks to take into a show would reduce concession revenue. Building Equipment update The next step in the process of collecting information about what is needed in terms of building maintenance and equipment is to have the building professionally inspected. The facilities committee helped collect referrals for an inspector who could do this. An inspector was chosen and will give us a quote for this inspection. Laura has checked his reviews and next step is scheduling. This will happen in the next few weeks. Edie Neeson, Audience Development committee member, past Executive Director and founding member of ArtsWest joined the meeting and was introduced to those present. I2: Alhadeff-Kongsgaard Award/Christopher Zinovitch Memorial Christopher Zinovitch Memorial Shannon Flora read a letter from Chris Zinovitch s family. Shannon, Edie and Jim Guenther shared some of Chris accomplishments to inform those members who did not know Chris or the extent of his involvement. There was brief discussion about ways to honor Chris body of work including presenting the Alhadeff-Kongsgaard Award at the gala, a potential naming opportunity, a plaque or physical memorial in the theater and/or an event in the theater space. It was suggested that an Ad Hoc Committee be formed to present ideas to the board. Shannon volunteered to lead this committee. Jim Loder volunteered to be the active board member chair, per the By-Laws. Jim and Shannon agreed to involve a few other members from Chris past on the committee. There was discussion that this is not an opportunity to reopen or evaluate Chris departure but to focus on honoring his work at ArtsWest. Alhadeff-Kongsgaard Award Dawn announced that Michael Alhadeff has determined that Chris would be the recipient of the Alhadeff- Kongsgaard Award and honored at the gala. Jim Loder suggested that we communicate with Michael to let him know that there is a committee looking into other ways to honor Chris and perhaps he might be open to other options. Concern was expressed that the gala may not be the best place given that the room is often filled with newer/current donors and subscribers and the history may be lost in this setting. Suggestions were submitted that his presence be memorialized in the theater space. It was suggested that Shannon agreed to talk to Michael about the fact that there is a bigger discussion and there may be other ways to honor him that might be more appropriate. I3: Audience Development Committee Update Chinglish Jim Loder announced that the cast and director of Chinglish would like to have audiences for the two preview nights to test comedic timing. This is an opportunity to invite people to come to the theater for free. It would be best to get new audiences in the door. Jim announced the ADC committee s involvement in the City s Cultural Arts District pilot program led by Mathew Richter with the City of Seattle. The committee s task is to identify artist and locations that produce art to catalog 3
where the arts related organizations are centered or located in West Seattle. Jim emphasized that this is not a staff or even board project but more a volunteer committee project. Jim announced that a letter is being sent to local artists to go to the city s arts and cultural district website to fill out the survey that will not be from ArtsWest or on ArtsWest letterhead. Edie is heavily involved in this project and helped explain more about how to get involved. Edie announced that the Southwest Seattle Historical Society received a grant from 4 Culture to do an architectural survey of the Alaska Junction because the City Council, spearheaded by Tom Rassmussen, is working on legislation to have conservation districts in Seattle to preserve buildings of historical significance. Edie believes that ArtsWest could have a huge influence on and encourages the board to get active in these efforts to make ArtsWest shine in the neighborhood. She, as a volunteer, would like to work on it. The questions was asked if this is work for the ADC and Jim said the link back into the theater is through the ADC and while we will meet people we didn t already know, the focus of this effort is not to attract audiences and we need to continue to work on meeting our numbers. Jim G mentioned that there is similar work being done by another group, the Morgan Junction Community Group with a $25,000 grant. He asked if AW could use this information to apply for other grants. Jim hopes we appear coordinated with other groups in this effort. I4: Education Program Mat presented the plan for the education program. The notion is to build an education program around the work that we do at ArtsWest. The 5 th Avenue Theatre has cancelled their summer school due to budgetary reasons. There were 100 kids served in a 4 week program at The 5 th. ArtsWest will be presenting a musical theater education program to fill this need featuring teaching artists from The 5 th Avenue past programs. Anya Rudnick at 5 th Avenue will be referring students to us. There are 3 levels of musical theater camp, elementary school, middle school and high school. In addition there will be a conservatory program for high school kids. It will be an audition based, ensemble generated theatre program for 20 kids. This will be a 4 week program with morning classes in every aspect of theater and an afternoon session working with Mat to create and mount an original work. This program is modeled after an MFA program. Ideally the group will create a piece that is of topical relevance to their lives, which aligns with our mission. There are scholarships built in to create diversity in the group. There will also be a revenue stream in that there will be 4 performances for ticket sales. Mat and Laura presented a budget showing an estimated potential net profit of $20,300. The board was excited by the presentation of the education program. The question what could go wrong was asked. Mat and Laura explained that lack of interest and enrollment would be the risk, however they feel confident that the program will be well received and successful. Mat has been the director of the Rising Star Program at 5 th Avenue should make this program very appealing to potential participants. There will also be various future workshops to prepare actors for auditions. Jim Loder moved that the board approve the Education Program Budget with an estimated expense of $35,300. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. Eugene suggested that we ensure that the gallery show is age appropriate during the education program. Laura reported that she has asked Susanna to hold off on securing/announcing the gallery season until we are certain it is in sync with the theatre season. 4
I5: 2015-2016 Theater Season Mat distributed the proposed season line up and explained that the notion behind his choices. His choices are a result of thinking hard about the mission statement, gaining clarity while working in the Policy Governance session to define the ends as well as having conversations with other theaters in town about prioritizing cultural diversity and diversity in the types of stories that we tell and from whose perspective. Area theaters are also prioritizing providing work for actors of diverse cultures we could become leaders in this front. The theme that emerged for the season is The American Dream. Asking the philosophical question What is the American Dream? Who has access to this American Dream and what does it mean now verses decades past? Three questions that Mat asked when making his choices were 1) Does it have artistic value? 2) What is the entertainment value? 3) Does it address the question on providing varied lenses or perspectives? Mat presented the 6 productions for the season. He is very excited about the season he has chosen and feels incredibly optimistic. Laura is excited from a marketing perspective and has some great ideas for promoting the season. Due to time, the Policy Governance portion of the agenda was tabled until the March meeting. The latest version of the policies was distributed and the board was asked to review and give input on which policies they would most like to work on first. A question was raised about how the gallery exhibits may coincide with the plays next season. Mat said he and Laura have a meeting set with Susanna and it is his desire to have the art relate to the work on stage in some way. He says it s an ongoing discussion and there are challenges with Susanna needing to program the art further in advance than the stage productions. Dawn announced that Katie s husband Tom Koch would be running for the District 1 City Council seat. Edie reminded the board that if they go to any forums that we ask about the candidates position on the arts. The board was reminded that the season proposal is highly confidential until it is officially announce on March 30 th. The meeting was adjourned at 8:37PM. 5