Present: Ed Paynter, Carole Gall, Barry Levitt, Susan Meyer, Rob Sherman, Jan Withers, Barb Cesnik, and Deb Boyer

Minutes of the ITMDG Board Meeting 5/24/2000

Items for the agenda were listed and the agenda approved by all.

TREASURER’S REPORT:

We’ve been operating with a shortfall every week for some time. Average attendance has been around 27 on most Tuesdays. This is not enough to cover the rent on the dance space and payments to bands and callers further worsens the bottom line. At current rate, we only have about 5 months left for expenses.

These suggestions were discussed: raise admission, reduce payment to performers, raise attendance to about 40 per dance night, cancel Saturday dances (we are losing about $200 on each of those), dance every other week.

 

CHANGES TO SCHEDULE AND COSTS:

After much discussion, we agreed on the following points:

o We will not schedule any more Saturday dances this year.

o We will cancel the July Saturday dance which was already scheduled.

o We will keep our commitment to the June Saturday dance because it’s

too near to give enough notice to performers.

o We will still hold Gypsy Moon Ball in October because we usually at

least break even and it’s an area event that draws out-of-town dancers

as well as locals.

o We will change our system of paying performers as follows:

o Each band will receive a flat $50 to divide among itself. "Special"

out-of-town bands will receive more, but for now we are not

scheduling any more "special" bands unless some really great

opportunity happens to come through town.

o Callers will continue to receive $15.

o We will not pay any extra for gas/mileage for out-of-town performers.

o We will raise admission to regular Tuesday dances by $1. That is,

starting in July: Members pay $4; Non-members pay $5.

We will look into applying for grants now that we are officially a non-profit corporation. Susan noted that it usually takes some time to write a proposal and get approval, but we might aim for some kind of funding for Gypsy Moon.

To help attendance at regular Tuesday dances, we discussed the following points:

o enlist a volunteer willing to bring ice, drinks & cups to regular dances

o find a place to go socialize after the dance, perhaps Lockerbie Coffee

House

o maintain positive attitude, spirit of fun.

 

GYPSY MOON BALL:

Gypsy Moon Ball talent (Critter du Jour) has agreed to our offer about main band playing later shift, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. We still need a band to play the earlier shift, possibly ask Frank Hall to take 8-10 p.m. Chris will call 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. We’ll have pick-up callers 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. Possibly ask Jonathan to call 8-9 p.m.

 

FREE DANCE OPPORTUNITY:

We are dancing July 22 at the Indiana Historical Society event. Eddie Grogan will be calling a 1-hour dance on Saturday afternoon. The dance is free to us because the IHS is paying for the band.

 

STATE FAIR PLANNING:

We are dancing 8/15 and 8/20 at the State Fair. Ideas for promoting the group better at the Fair: We want to hand out bandanas with a card attached with our name, contact info, and "one free admission" to regular dance. Rob will look into getting a box of 100 or so bandanas donated from Target or Big Lots or a store like that. We will ask regular dancers to wear a light-colored T-shirt so folks who join in will be more readily able to recognize experienced dancers. We need two signs: a large vinyl banner and a sandwich-board sign to identify the group and activity. Rob will look into costs of vinyl banner. Deb suggested there may already be a sandwich board sign somewhere.

 

WEB SITE UPDATE:

Ed and Carole have been investigating where to move our Web site to. Of all the ISPs investigated, looks like Xoom.com is the best option for offering free Web space (small ads will appear on our site at their discretion). It has a good reputation for not crashing too often. There is no contract. Carole and Ed will follow through.

 

QUADRILLE WORKSHOP:

We agreed to ask Tamara Lowenthal if she would like to conduct her quadrille workshop on the Tuesday after Labor Day, Sept. 5th. Barry said he would contact her about that.

 

CHILDREN AT THE DANCE:

The board amended the Children at Dance policy and voted on it. The policy passed 5-1. (See separate document.) The next board meeting will take place July 12th at 7:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Janet M. Withers