The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival Board of Directors Meeting November 6, 2008 ATTENDANCE: Bob Cichocki, Harry Dimopoulos, Casey Gallagher, Joel Gilley, Bill Hansell, Greg Honeyman, Mary Ann Kelly, Linda Lapos, Dr. Thomas Lubben, Joan Moran, Patrick Mulcahy, Dr. Stephen Meyers, Dennis Razze, Bill Scharf, June Schlueter, Father Schubert, Bob Snyder, and Ruth Spira ABSENT: Linny Fowler, Ben Marcune, Christine Perrucci, Andy Roman, Douglas Smillie, and Michele Varricchio Staff: Timothy Walling I. Opening Prayer 1. Father Schubert offered the opening prayer. II. Approval of Minutes from September 4, 2008 meeting 1. Bob Cichocki moved to approve the minutes, seconded by Ruth Spira. The motion passed. III. President s welcome 1. Harry welcomed all members, and introduced new Board members: Bill Scharf, and Mary Ann Kelly, newly-elected Guild Board President. 2. Harry also mentioned that John Russo agreed to join the board, but was unable to attend tonight. 3. Harry reviewed his first year as president-a very successful year for PSF. a. Recruited 7 new board members. The board has now 25 members and the goal for the year was set for 24. b. Orientation for new board members. c. Governance & committees i. Defined the roles and priorities. ii. Reporting of progress by committees. d. Evaluation of the position of the Producing Artistic Director. i. Leading to compensation and other recommendations to Father O Connor. ii. Understanding for the need for restructure with PAD having more time in external engagement. iii. Added staff levels and accelerated goals for addition of staff. e. Introduced special topics/presentations at board meetings, ie. June Schlueter and Greg Wood. f. Introduced board member self evaluation. i. Board evaluation forms will be sent through email. Hard copies were handed out at the meeting. 1
IV. Committee reports (Executive, IA, Recruitment, Gala) 1. Executive (Harry): a. Executive committee met the week prior and reviewed the agenda and other materials for the meeting. 2. IA (Greg): a. Turned attention to the 2009 Raffle i. Proposed a trip to California and wine country to tie into the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. 1. Time restraints with this idea. Suggestion for pursuing this item in 2010. ii. Tuscany Trip will be the raffle for 2009. 1. Joan Moran has again generously and graciously afforded this opportunity. iii. Increased number of tickets to sell to 400. 1. Intention to market it earlier during the year. iv. Possibly pursue a trip to England in 2011. b. Reaction to raffle and ideas concerning raffle: i. June Schlueter stressed importance of going to a theatre that does performances in rep. ii. Tom Lubben stated that a theatre week in England is very appealing. iii. Linda Lapos raised the point that there are some people that are not interested in Shakespeare. There should be broad appeal and flexibility. iv. Bill Hansell suggested a trip to Washington, D.C. with theatre productions there. c. Update on Producer s Circle i. Each board member is asked to submit at least three names to contact for membership in Producer s Circle. 1. Annual responsibilities for membership: a. Attend one performance during PSF b. Bring someone to a performance at PSF c. Contribution of $100 or more d. Attend one of the three PC events a year. ii. Ideas for events for Producer s Circle: 1. WillPower at Labuda 2. Shakespeare s Birthday in April 3. In-season event to include backstage tour prior to show 4. Performance and talk-back 5. September Board meeting with artist as guest 3. Recruitment (Bill Hansell) a. Bill Hansell has accepted the responsibility to chair the recruitment committee. b. Identified the need for a financial expert on the board. 2
4. Gala (Casey): a. The date of the upcoming gala is May 30, 2009. i. So far there is nothing planned in the Lehigh Valley on that date. b. Committee will contact each board member to discuss gala tables. c. Casey Gallagher is the interim chair for this committee. d. November/December meeting will be scheduled for committee. i. Casey will email committee members. 5. Audit (Bill Hansell) a. Identified the need for a financial expert on the board. i. Recommended that Joan Cole, retired Vice President of Lehigh Cement, be recruited to become a member of the audit committee. ii. Send name to the recruitment committee who might want to fill the role. b. Met with Jim Bova and discussed the scope of the audit. i. Focus on internal controls of the audit. ii. Full compliance with the new 990 1. The new 990 will be in effect FY09 and thus will not apply to FY08 audit. V. Administrative update Casey and Patrick 1. Casey a. Membership brochure has been mailed out. b. Fall Quill has been mailed and includes a glowing letter from a patron of PSF. i. Includes information of the upcoming season. c. 2009 Subscription campaign will be mailed out shortly. d. DSU has donated another storage space for PSF s use. 2. Patrick a. Measures of Success i. Patron Feedback posted on the website ii. Surplus for 2008 season iii. Board involvement has increased iv. DSU Support 1. Father O Connor sponsored a trip for Patrick and him to visit the Stratford Festival. 2. DSU considering building housing units in the future that would also serve PSF s need well. TBD. 3. DSU donated more storage space. 4. Debt has been forgiven by the University. v. Finding Support 1. Successful sponsorship campaign. vi. Next Generation 1. WillPower Program 3
a. 14,000 plus students WillPower will be reached this year. b. Opened a performance to paying customers. i. Showed our patrons exactly what we do when we visit a school. 2. Shakespeare Competition a. Will be held on February 28, 2009 3. Shakespeare for Kids a. Pilot program in the works to have a scaled down Shakespeare performance in the mornings for kids on the main stage. 4. Teacher Training vii. Attendance 1. Attendance targets were not hit viii. Website 1. Video footage on the website 2. 24 hour turnaround for web changes ix. E-list 1. Goal number was aggressive. 2. Open rate for emails is higher than the average rate. x. Development 1. New sponsorship record 2. Grant revenue up 3. Government grants goal was met in one year. 4. Raffle very successful. 5. Gala did not meet goals. a. Silent auction did well. 6. Membership did not go down. VI. Budget Revision/2009 Season 1. Budget for 2009 season was reviewed. a. Recession proof season is the goal, the extent that is possible b. Contain costs and make prudent cuts without sacrificing core experience of PSF for the patrons. i. Know where to draw the line. c. Bill Hansell moved for approval of budget and Tom Lubben seconded. 2. 2009 Season a. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) i. Schubert Theatre ii. Directed by Matt Peiffer iii. Run 4 weeks b. 1776 i. Main Stage ii. Directed by Dennis Razze iii. Run 3 weeks c. A Midsummer Night s Dream 4
i. Schubert Theatre ii. Directed by Jim Helsinger iii. Run 4 weeks d. Antony and Cleopatra i. Main Stage ii. Directed by Patrick Mulcahy iii. Run 3 weeks VII. Guild Update (Mary Ann Kelly) 1. Guild Thank You Dinner went very well. 2. Focus to increase membership in the Junior Guild. VIII. New Business 1. No new business was brought before the board. IX. Adjournment 1. Meeting was adjourned at 8:59 p.m. REMINDER: Next Board meeting: Thursday, February 5th 7pm DeSales University Center Hurd Room 5