In attendance: Hanan Bell, Charlotte Hotchkiss, Jackie Kirn, Teresa Metzger-Howe, Koko Morgan, Doug Potter, Bruce Sherman, Anne Warner, and Gennie Winkler
Minutes
The June 8, 2022 minutes for the Rain City Symphony Board Meeting were approved.
Potluck at Carkeek Park
The potluck gathering at Carkeek Park is on August 24th. Doug will send out a reminder to the chimpmail list. No chamber groups have said they would like to play. Currently, 37 people have said they will attend and four are tentative.
Finances
There were some small changes since June. The accounts are balanced. The Rain City Symphony's net worth is nearly the same as last year. We have not received the last 4-Culture grant. Jackie will follow up on where the grant is.
Covid Policy and Vaccines
The Music Center is still deciding if their Covid policy is going to require masks. Currently, masks are required for all players. The wind players will still need to wear masks, if they are not playing. Winds need to do a quick Covid test to before each rehearsal. The split masks and bell covers are not favored by the wind players, however we will need to follow the Music Center's policy. We will continue to require a vaccine policy. Anne will check for the new member vaccines.
Membership Procedures and Preparation for the First Rehearsal, September 7th
The policy for membership is if you donate or let Anne know you are not able to donate, then your name will be on the website and in the program. Verification of who is playing with us can be done by asking the section leader. The procedure will be for Anne to ask the members to donate and let them know of the policy. Both she and Bruce will accept the donations. Bruce will ask for donations in Anne's absence. The last donation plea will be during the 5th rehearsal.
To prepare for the first rehearsal, Hanan will send music to all the people on the current membership list. Doug will make sure Anne and Teresa get cc-ed on the list of new wind players.
Door Monitors
The door monitors for the Music Center's north door will rotate through the Symphony's sections like last year.
Music
Hanan has sent the music link to all members for Fall Quarter. Renting the music for Spring Quarter needs to be organized soon.
The 2022-2023 Concert Season
There will be no pre-concerts for Fall or Winter Quarters. Locations are very difficult to find for the size of our Symphony.
The pre-concert for Spring Concert is temporally set for the Josephinum in Seattle. We will need to evaluate this site later. It must be safe. We will also need a piano.
The Fall Concert will be a benefit concert for the United Churches Emergency Fund, UCEF. The concert will be held at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 111 NE 80th St., Seattle, on Wednesday, November 30, 7:30 p.m. St. Andrew's will donate the performance space in support of the benefit concert. St Andrew's is going to be a tight fit, but the rental price is reasonable and Wednesday nights are open. We have to set-up and put away the chairs. The Winter Concert will be at the St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. The Spring Concert is set for the National Nordic Museum.
A question about live streaming our concerts came up. It was noted that a recorded live concert without an audience gives a different energy to the playing. There is a possibility that we could hire someone to record the concert, then we could promote it to the retirement homes and others. Another issue with streaming is the music rights. Some music providers do not allow for streaming of their music.
Publicity
To increase our publicity we need an audience or friend's email list. We could ask the members to give us their list of people they normally invite. We could offer a CD in a drawing to encourage the audience to fill out the cards that would include their e-mail addresses.
Sectionals for Fall
The Music Center has few rooms available on Wednesday so we have to find other places to use. Gennie has been given the authority to find sectional sites that we might need to pay for.
Grant Issues
The Seattle Centering Art & Racial Equity (C.A.R.E.) Grant was sent in. It is a 3-year grant. The grant asks how are we trying to be more diverse. Ways we could become more diverse or show that we are trying to serve a diverse population are to recruit more diverse audiences or to send a link to a variety of audiences, such as our family and friends or to senior residences. We could play a concert where there's a more diverse population. Seattle's South end was mentioned. Another possibility is to outreach through an instrument petting zoo at a concert. Perhaps we could partner with others in the Seattle music scene and reach out. We might be able to survey the coaches to see if they fit the diversity needs.
Our by-laws need an amendment added to them to address anti-racism or diversity.
Music Director
Teresa thought the first concert looks a little thin. She wanted to play some Christmas music. The Board looked over two pieces of music and chose Christmas Medley arranged by Arthur Harris.
Board Member Succession for Next Year
The following Board Member terms are up: Koko Morgan, Doug Potter, and Anne Warner. Each of them said they would continue to serve. One open position remains.
Long Term Strategic Plans for 2022-2023
1. Increase concert attendance
2. Strengthen online presence
3. Widen orchestra presence in orchestra operations
4. Increase funding network
5. Increase diversity
One Year Action Plans for 2022-2023
1. Revise bylaws to have anti-racism purpose
2. Administer questionnaires at concerts and to orchestra
3. Consistent Web presence. For concerts store posters, programs, concert video/audio.
4. Find stage, house managers; find cash box watchers
5. Consistently solicit help from the orchestra
6. Record concerts and link to them from the website
