BOARD MEETING MINUTES

November 14, 2003

CALL TO ORDER: President Lilah Crowe called the meeting to order at 6:20 p.m. Present were

Jody Allen Crowe, Board Members Jill Evans, Blenda Hagberg, and Darlene Hendrickson, and

Stephanie White. Dave and Naomi Anderson arrived at 6:30. Also attending were Barb Matich,

Gina Hill, Josephine Crowe, Arielle Schnur, Marcy Hendrickson and Kim Johnson.

CONSENT AGENDA:

Agenda: Jill moved to approved the agenda, seconded by Darlene, motion carried.

Secretary’s Report: Darlene moved to approve the minutes, seconded by Mary, motion carried.

Treasurer’s Report: No report, Bob was not present.

Producers Report: Will be combined with other agenda items later.

OLD BUSINESS

Presentation Report: (Tabled until Dave and Naomi arrive)

Radio Show Committee and Program Committee Report: Committee met twice and will meet again at 8:00 pm on Monday, 11/17/03 at Park United Methodist Church (where Radio Show rehearsal will be taking place). Jody will be in North Dakota, so Lilah will conduct the practice and the meeting(s). New people involved with the Radio Show are Randy and Nate Cousins (with Dawnielle – an “old hat”), Gina and Katie Nelson and Dave Torkelson. (Note: sound effects items are not at the church as of today. Dave Anderson will be running the sound board. Mark Fuerderer will do all of the sound/lights for $300.00.

NEW BUSINESS (Item Inserted)

Radio Show Budget (added to Agenda): $450.00 had already been allocated for custodial services. Another $550.00 was proposed for light and sound ($300) and $250 miscellaneous. Darlene moved to approve a total of $1000.00 for the Radio Show, seconded by Jill, motion carried. Jody relayed that there was about $1800.00 in the bank, so there was enough to cover this proposal.

OLD BUSINESS (cont.)

Radio Show Schedule: Jody commented that the Radio “pre-show” will begin at 7:00 pm and the show will begin at 8:00 on Saturday. Pre-show on Sunday will be at 1:00 and show begins at 2:00 pm. It will be broadcast live on KLKS Radio, 104.3 FM. The show will also be put on in Grand Rapids on Dec. 6^th with as many people as can go. Additional cast will be added with theater people up there. Practice for show will be held at Park Ave. Methodist Church at 7:00 pm Monday night and committee meeting at 8:00 pm. Barb reported that Ron said no to us using his old car, but he is checking with someone else on their car.

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Board Meeting Minutes – 11/14/03

OLD BUSINESS (cont.)

New Site Presentation Report: Jody said that Bill Singletary is presently in Michigan and expected back on Monday. The owner of BIR was elected Mayor of Flint, MI, so no decision has yet been made. If the proposal is accepted, our former relocation committees will be activated.

CFM Report: Naomi reported that she attended the Certified Festival and Event Manager Training for six days in October. It was excellent and will be of great value to Rhythm of the Rails in our new project. She thanked the Board for approving the money for the course and additional stipend. Hopefully there will be a full day retreat when some of this material can be covered with the Board.

NEW BUSINESS

Grant Possibility: Darlene said she has a connection with the Initiative Foundation for a workshop grant. Jody asked her to get forms for the application or do whatever she could to obtain grant funding.

Brainerd 2004 Visitors Guide: Rhythm of the Rails has purchased 1/6^th of a page ad, but was contacted by the Chamber for additional color/action pictures to be used throughout the magazine. Naomi said she had some that could be used and will get them to Jody.

Coupon Card for Advertising: Suzette Bush proposed opportunity to Jody regarding a coupon card that would be distributed to nine hotels for their kiosks. This would be a great advertising opportunity. The coupon cards would cost $200.00 for participation. Naomi moved to approve the $200, seconded by Mary, motion carried.

Business Cards: Naomi said that if other Board Members wanted their own business cards to give out to people, she would design them.

Summer Show Schedule: The 2004 show will be the last three weekends in July as always. The dates will be July 15-17, 22-24 and 29-31. Discussion was held because of way the dates fell in the month.

It was felt that the extra practice time would be valuable. Dave moved to approve the dates suggested, seconded by Darlene, motion carried.

Site Report: Jody reported that additional property north of the Ice Arena was a new possible location. Also an area by the Chamber Tourism Welcome Center was possible. Jody will continue working with the city on options.

Next Radio Show: Jody felt it was best to get this show behind us before another show date was set.

Website Report: Mary reported that Naomi made initial contact with the Media Department at the Staples CLC Campus when she attended CFM Training. Mary has obtained the use of Christy Brown as a technical intern at the college to put our website together. Barb will ask Anthony to contact Mary about the website status. Mary will enlist committee members to determine how we want the website to look. Naomi suggested that it include pictures and bios of our board members and committee chairpersons, and depict the wide participant range of ages, jobs and backgrounds of troupe members which would attract additional participants to our summer show. She also stated the need for an excellent quality website as it is an important promotion and advertising tool.

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Board Meeting Minutes – 11/14/03

NEW BUSINESS (cont.)

Radio Sponsors: Jody reported that KLKS already had two out of four sponsors for the Radio Show.

Next Meeting: Jody offered his home for a Christmas potluck for the December Board Meeting. Attendees should bring finger foods, hors d’oeuvres and desserts.

Adjournment: Dave moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Mary, motion carried at 7:18pm.

Respectfully Submitted, Naomi Anderson, Secretary AND Blenda Hagberg VERY capable stand-in note taker (Thanks, Blenda!)