NACUSAsf meeting Friday, February 6, 2004, 7:30 at the home of Nancy
Bloomer Deussen
Attending: Owen Lee (President), Herb Gellis
(Vice-President), Anne Baldwin (treasurer), Joanne Carey (Secretary)
John Beeman, Dale Victorine, Nancy Bloomer Deussen, Nurit Barlev and
Ken Takara.
Reports:
National: Owen passed out a report prepared by
I’lana Cotton, of the January 2004 NACUSA Board Meeting. Nancy,
delegate-at-large, also attended. We reviewed I’lana’s motion at the
meeting that individual members not are allowed to receive funding
under the umbrella of NACUSA. Our chapter had already agreed on this,
and a majority of the board members also agreed, according to I’lana’s
report.
Anne mentioned that she has trouble getting accurate records from the
NACUSA National Treasurer, who collects the dues from all the
chapters. She would like to know who has paid their dues, and this
information has not been forthcoming.
Silicon Valley Arts Coalition (SVAC): Herb
reported that we should make a greater effort next year to participate
in the annual fundraising event of SVAC. He said that he tried to get
the San Jose Symphonic Choir to perform a work of Sondra’s that they
had done before, but they declined. Herb also mentioned our
participation in the SVAC Showcase, which takes place monthly at the
Triton Museum in Santa Clara. Last month, Brian Holmes, Nancy Bloomer
Deussen and Joanne Carey, representing NACUSA, presented their music
to an appreciative crowd at the museum. These monthly events could be
viewed as an opportunity for us to keep NACUSA in the public eye by
participating frequently. SVAC prints up tri-folds each month listing
SVAC Events. Herb announced that he would be President of SVAC
starting in June. Congratulations Herb!
Treasurer: Anne reported that we are in good
shape financially right now, with a positive balance of $3,754, adding
that we will use this money in the Fall. She mentioned that our
annual anonymous gift of $1,000 came in November. We are very grateful
for this, but shouldn’t count on it.
Nancy brought up the issue of developing an audience outside of our
friends and Anne responded that we have done that to some extent and
that our last few concerts have attracted 50-80 people.
Nancy suggested clarifying the issue of composers paying admission to
concerts of their own music and also whether or not those volunteering
to work at our concerts should pay admission. After some discussion,
Joanne motioned that composers whose pieces are being performed do not
owe admission and all others do, including those who are working at
the concert (such as the stage manager, those taking money at the door
or donating refreshments). The motion passed by a strong majority.
Fundraising:
♣ Herb
reported that last year’s silent auction earned about $200. He
suggested a little more active recruiting of donations. Popular
items, gathered from his experience with SVAC Fundraisers, include
tickets to events (Sharks games, music performances) and meals in good
restaurants. Herb would like to see a bigger auction event, but out
audience size and venue don’t justify the effort at this time. Never
the less, those present were in favor of organizing a silent auction
for our Spring Concert, similar to last year’s. John suggested
setting some goals this time, for example to have15 items to offer and
ask each person to make two phone calls requesting donations. Everyone
thought this was a good idea. Owen asked Herb if he would organize it
again this year and he said he would but he would like some help from
other members.
♣
We also discussed having a garage sale again this summer at Nancy’s.
Herb offered to hold onto stuff if people wanted to get rid of things
and didn't want to wait until the summer.
♣ Herb
mentioned grants that are available if we can find a way to fulfill
certain requirements, first of which is to have an annual budget.
(Barbara Day Turner was rather surprised to hear that we had no annual
budget). Herb told us that the Arts Council Silicon Valley was getting
$250,000 per year from the Knight Foundation for three years; the ACSV
would then distribute that money as much smaller grants to local arts
groups and we should find a way to tap into that. Some ideas that
might interest grant givers include having “Theme” Concerts (Nancy),
young composers competitions (Dale and John) or using “diversity” or
the “environment” (Nancy) as hooks to get grants.
Publicity: Owen said he would check with Lori
to see if she has the notices ready to send out yet. Herb told us
about a website
(www.artsopolis.com)
that lists everything that is happening in the arts. He suggested that
we should make sure we are on it and should use it for publicity,
adding that a good photo would help. To this end, a few of us (myself
included) offered to bring cameras to our next concert. Photos from
the dress rehearsal might also be helpful.
Young Composers Contest: Sondra is charge of
this. Since she is not here, Owen will contact her about the contest.
Composer’s and Friends Concert, Sat. March 13, 2004
Job assignments:
♣ Door:
Anne volunteered to cover the door, with Lori or Mark (or other helper
as needed).
♣ Refreshments:
Nancy will bring punch, everyone else bring cookies.
♣ MC:
We voted for Mark to be the MC.
♣ Stage
Manager: Owen
♣ Displays
(of score and CD’s): ask Sondra if her husband will do this for us
again.
Opportunity for repeat of concert:
Owen told us that we could do this concert again on a Sunday in April
or May at Foothill Presbyterian Church (at McKee and Toyon). The
terms are that the church would get 40% (and NACUSA would thus get
60%) of the suggested donations, which are tax deductible, at the door
and there would be no facility fee. In addition, a reception will be
provided and there will be no fee for rehearsals. Open dates are:
April 25th, May 9th and May 23. Owen added that we could do this
every year; they like to host musical events such as ours.
C.P.E. Concert – June, 2004
Reading Party: Some CPE players have expressed
willingness to meet for a ‘reading party’ soon after the selection of
pieces for the June concert. The reading party will allow the players
and the composers to become familiar with the pieces together and to
discuss their performance expectations in advance of the regular
rehearsals. John offered to coordinate this and contact all CPE
players; Nancy has donated her ‘new garage space’. Since the due date
for pieces is March 1st, Nancy has proposed March 21st or 28th as
possibilities.
2004-2005 Season
SFCO Concert
♣ Rehearsal
space:
Rehearsal space is needed that is large enough to hold the orchestra
and its ‘sound’. Herb mentioned that churches will sometimes offer
their space or those who teach could try to get the band room at their
school. John said that the schools would probably charge a fee for
use of the room. We will need two rehearsals (Sundays?) before the
dress rehearsal on the September 24th. John said he would look into
this.
♣ Percussion
and/or Piano:
Owen told those present that we would have to choose between having a
percussionist or a pianist for the orchestra concert. Most of those
present preferred percussion, but not Ken Crawford. John said that
there are plenty of good percussionists around. Mark will let us know
which percussion instruments will be available. Owen suggests that if
you have a piano part you will have to get your own pianist who can
come to the dress rehearsals, or play it yourself.
New Submission Schedule Proposed
Owen’s agenda included a proposed change in our submission timetable.
This change included moving up submission deadlines for our next
season by two weeks as a transition to the following season, which
would attempt to have the whole season’s programs selected a year in
advance so we could have a season brochure. The proposed schedule was
intended as one possible template, open to discussion, for selecting
our programs further in advance
This change is the result of previous discussions about our concerts
being sometimes under-rehearsed. One way to correct this is to choose
and rehearse the pieces further in advance of the performance date.
Another advantage of knowing the programs earlier is that more
effective publicity can be developed, including a season brochure.
Owen asked us if we wanted to adopt this timetable or not? The ensuing
discussion revealed that those present were not altogether in favor of
this approach and did not agree on the importance of having a season
brochure. Nancy felt that it was impossible to get things written so
far in advance. Anne pointed out that those who had a bigger backlog
of pieces would get most of the performances. Herb was entirely in
favor of this new approach and expressed his opinion that it would
improve the quality of what we present. Many of those present
disagreed with him.
Owen suggested that we think about what we want NACUSA to be - a
composers' workshop or a more professional presentation that would
give NACUSA more respect and make NACUSA a more visible community
entity. Could we find some middle ground between these two extremes?
Joanne suggested offering a combination of ‘workshop’ concerts and
professional concerts that are more thoroughly rehearsed and represent
more substantial music. We have had this discussion before and
haven’t resolved it yet.
For our 2005-2006 Season, Owens proposed adding one more concert that
would engage fewer CPE players (such as violin and Piano, or Piano
trio) and thus save a little money, but still give us more presence.
Nominations: On the agenda, but not discussed,
was a reminder that Nominations to chapter offices and election of
those offices would be made at the next meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:30.
Respectfully Submitted,
Joanne D. Carey
Secretary of NACUSAsf