Nuances September 2010

May 25, 2010, 8:30 am, Ward-Brodt Music

Present: Anita Schulz, Debbie Yee, Joanna Grace, June Zeeh, Jeanne Felix, Denise Taylor, Shad Wenzlaff, Grant Billings, Janet Smith, Patty Ladpli, Cynthia Stephan, Gloria Chuang (late)

1. Minutes from March Board meeting were not available.

2. Treasurer's Report from June Zeeh: $495 income from Honors and May brunch. Expenses $606.05, includes May brunch, scholarship, phone line. Funds are being transferred to Summit Credit Union beginning 6/1. Total assets are $9,581.84.   Motion to accept Treasurer's report, approved.

Committee Reports and Budget Approval for 2010-11:

3. Fall Workshop - in Gloria Chuang's absence Debbie Yee proposed $1200 income, $1200 expenses. However, Marvin Blickenstaff, our proposed speaker has not been confirmed yet and the board hopes to find an equally well known speaker if our first choice is not available. Motion to approve budget of $1200, approved.

4.  Programs -- $700 expenses for programs, May brunch: $500 expenses. Income: $400 for May brunch. Move to accept, approved.

5. PSP - no budget, no report. Grant suggested we add $25 to cover the cost of printing programs. Move to accept, approved.

6. EMR - no budget, no report

7. Nuances: Last year's income numbers does not include those who paid to get mailed copies of Nuances. Were this reflected, Nuances would have made money this year. Grant Billings expects to increase income next year through advertising. Grant proposes a paypal account, which costs 2.5% of the charges that run through per year. Charges might include Nuances ads, fees to MAPTA events (brunch, workshop). Shad Wenzlaff raised concerns about the extra work for the Treasurer. Motion approved to test Paypal for Fall Workshop. Then the Nuances budget was also approved for Nuances budget of $200. After discussion of website (see #8, below), the board proposed adding "constant contact" (for website flexibility) to Nuances budget for $600, Motion to accept new budget, approved.

8. Website: $500/year maintenance on the website ("hosting"), $500 to re-design the site and make it more appealing. The new improvements would make changes easier on the website by switching out of HTML code to a user-friendly update option. We could probably stop paying the webmaster (Michael) the maintenance fees if the re-design gives us more independence. Cynthia Stephan raised issue of making sure MAPTA website appears on search engines when parents do a search for a piano teacher. There would be a cost of $400/year to be able to do surveys on the website ("constant contact") and various other applications including Nuances, the fee for which was provided by Grant for 2009-10 year. The cost of constant contact was added to the Nuances budget (see #7, above). Motion for $1000 website budget, approved.

9. Publicity: Joanna Grace plans to explore free advertising first, community based advertising, word of mouth, phone calls. Proposes $700 to get publicity going. Jeanne Felix inquired about where the emphasis will be for publicity - students/referral, or teachers/increase membership. Joanna sees publicity as helping every aspect, including trying to publicize MAPTA events. Grant is opposed to spending money on stationery, as he feels it is an outdated way to communicate and people can easily print with logos now. There was general agreement. Grant was concerned that the $700 allowance for publicity was high given no specific plan of action. Joanna agreed to seek Board approval before spending publicity budget. Motion to accept $700 budget, approved.

10. Referral:Yellow pages ad has been canceled. Question to abandon TDS phone line in favor of a Trac Fone, which would cost approx. $150 startup, $100 each year afterwards. Motion for $150 for referral to be used for Trac Phone, approved. TDS phone line will be canceled.

11. Honors: Income $1700, expenses $1500, based on past performances. Motion approved for the budget.

12. Young Artists' Recitals: $300 income, $50 expenses. Motion approved.

13. Piano Play Together: Fee to Robert Vandall for commissioned piece already paid ($500). Income based on 200 students/ $14 fee. Higher fee is due to increase in conductor fee to $1000. Board feels the fee of $15 per person is fair and reasonable, Shad expressed concerns that some students would find that high. Motion approved. Total PPT budget of income $3000, expenses $2975. Board approved.

14.  Piano Composition Festival: $700 budget expenses, $500 income. Fee is $16. Propose at Covenant Presbyterian, Segoe Rd, on Sunday September 19, marginally cheaper at Covenant Presbyterian. Budget approved by Board.

15. Professional Goals: Anita Schulz distributed revised Bylaws and Responsibilities of each Chair for members to review and ask questions. Budget includes $200 for printing and ink cartridge. Motion approved.

16. Membership. Cynthia requested help for board to make phone calls to people who haven't signed up for Membership yet. Budget approved as stated on the form.

17. Misc: Debbie proposes to start a "Presidential Library" $75, start with 5 Federation booklets, in general Board was not enthusiastic to spend money in that way and found logistical problems where to house such a library. Cynthia proposes an online library that members list books they're willing to share to members upon request. Joanna can be point person for that. Board therefore approved $50 budget for President's Budget, same as last year's.

18. Continuing Education: Board proposes keeping budget at $500, approved. Board approved $250 for MAFOP. Insurance expenses: $1,042 approved by Board.

19. Next meeting in September. Board prefers 8:30 am meeting time over 9 am.