SBMT Board Minutes

December 8, 2021

Started 7:06 pm

Board Members Present: Michael Hirsch, Barbara Heninger, Jay Steele, Steve Sammonds, Dan Singletary, Raiña Parks, Sharon Peng, Ed Hunter, Doy Charnsupharindr, Tipu Purkayastha, Aly Suleman

Not Present:Jennifer Maggio, 

Other members present: Sara Dean (ED), Jeffrey Henson (Facilities), Doug Hughes (Marketing) 

ð  Please note highlights of activities that Board can take, below. ?

DISCUSSION

Updates

Retreat is this weekend. Scheduled 10:00am – 5:00pm. There will be a brunch available. Lunch will also be served.

Marketing report from Doug (see his report). 

Completed photoshoot for Company on Sunday. Used photographer who has their own studio. Will roll out with a press release scheduled for publication tomorrow.

Planning to start releasing videos via Tik Tok.

Fundraising efforts continue with a follow-up Email to be sent out in the near future. 

We’re currently at 299 YouTube subscribers!

Facilities: Problem with voltage in fluorescent bulbs no longer being supported. Will need to swap out ballast in the fixtures in order to get bright enough lights. Working with the landlord to see if we can get the ballast replaced. We are responsible for the light bulbs.

Trailer water cooler is dispensing hot but not cold. It’s hard to find a water cooler now. WVLO is willing to split the cost with us on the water coolers which run about $300.

Blankets are being treated with fire retardant.

Long lost Bridges of Madison County stuff will be coming back from the loaned group soon.

Technology: 

Lighting project has started. There are approximately 100 circuits in the theater. They have been cut out of the old strand rack and will be re-wired into the new rack. The new rack is smaller than the old rack and will require some repair/painting on the floor. All of the lights were removed in one day. Expecting to bring materials over to the theater as early as 12/20. 

Dan asked to replace the lock on the lighting booth as the keys are not working.

Projector cages selected and order is pending. Expect to receive them in January.

Dan replaced the planks for the stage scaffolding. Should ask WVLO if they will split the cost. 

Bought a 10 pack of LED work lights to replace those in the booth and hole.

Beware of phishing and scams. Dan has turned on 2-factor authentication for our SBMT accounts and drives. The 2-factor authentication works for Thunderbird as well.

Financial: 

No update today. Will start in the new year projecting the next 2-3 seasons of budget. Braeden has been doing a great job staying on top of all of the details involved in Financial planning

eStudio – Programming: 

Nov. 16th: South Bay Cabaret, Ryan Sammonds did an amazing job. 10 live participants and 274 YouTube views.

Nov. 29th: 

• Demystifying the Musical Theater Audition Process with Cathy Snider had 33 love Zoom participants
• Live Discussions at Zohar Dance with approximately 10 in attendance. 

Executive Artistic Director Updates

Discussed potential shows for next season. Narrowed down to 7 shows.

OTT Auditions happened this week. 90 signed up and 70 showed up, including a huge group of people that the company doesn’t know. Hitting against conflicts with a couple other shows scheduled for near the same time. Callbacks will be in 2 weeks.

Audition forms now have QR codes 🙂

Community, Inclusivity, & Accountability:

Chairs: Sharon Peng, Aly Suleman, and Doy Charnsupharindr

Next meeting is 12/16 at 7:30pm. It might move.

ASL incorporation still being considered. Looking at subtitles/supertitles

Development and Fundraising: 

Updated the charter which is located in the Google Drive Fundraising folder. 

On track to hit the “end of the year” goal by the end of the year although the campaign continues through Feb. 18th. Will increase the goal for that campaign.

Thanking Donors: Sent personal notes to all 2021 donors. (THANK YOU to volunteers Kama Belloni and Janet Miller).

Kathy Switky will organize a “singing thank-you” to donors as well. 

ð  Board members: If you sing, we’d like you to be a part of this singing spectacular!

Started brainstorming 60th Anniversary event for 2023.

Discussed additional donation opportunities (i.e. stocks, “Leave a legacy” donations through wills and trusts).

Grants: should plan to hire someone to write these going forward as this is a specialized skill that is outside of the executive artistic director’s time and duties. We should not expect to maintain the level of grants we’ve been awarded in 2021 going forward.

Organization and Development: Chaired by Jay and Tipu. 

Questions about employee benefits and sick time to make certain that we offer what is legally required. Will also review our processes and documentation including organization of such. Tipu will be reaching out to someone to do a legal review of our handbook.

Vision & Planning: 

Last meeting was Nov. 22 at 7:30pm.

Had dialogue around Season Development and Criteria for Show Selections. 

Steve will lead a session around Vision and Planning during the board retreat which is expected to inform what our structure will look like in the coming years.

Discussed the board’s involvement in operations tasks particularly around selecting the new season. 

Adjourned at 8:45pm.

Respectfully submitted December 8, 2021

Updated per input …