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Business Meeting Minutes

9/11/06

September 11, 2006 Tribes Hill Monthly Meeting Minutes

Members present:

Carl Knobloch
Steffani Brandenburg
Bill Wisnowski
Mike Morris
Dennis da Costa
Anthony da Costa
Steve Kirkman
Lipbone Redding
Elza Mueller-Roemer
John Geller
Rick Rock, Director
Janice Rost
Ruth Post
Madhumita Chakrabartti, Treasurer
Matt Turk
Fred Gillen Jr.
Jim Keyes
James Durst, President
Mary Beth Kean, Secretary

7:55
•James opened the meeting asking all to adhere to Roberts' Rules of Order.
•James requested a motion to accept minutes from August meeting.
•Carl moved to accept. Elza Seconded. Minutes were accepted unanimously.
•Rick advised Minutes will now be posted directly on the Tribes Hill site at Bulletin Board or Archives and anyone will be able to add comments.
•James asked if anyone had business to add to the agenda. Mary Beth requested we discuss creating a hard copy contact list and Bill requested we discuss our absence at the Huntington Folk Festival.

8:00
Old Business
Grant progress
Rick and James attended a meeting at The Westchester Arts Council July 27, 2006 to learn about funds available through The New York State Music Fund (NYSMF). These funds were paid in retribution as a result of the Payola scandal. Tribes Hill was not eligible to apply for the grant because we lack the necessary minimum operating budget ($100,000). However September 1, 2006 Rick received commitment from Folk Alliance ($800,000 operating budget) to partner with us for the grant. Prior to receiving commitment from FA Rick formed a selection committee who chose 30 artists. The grant proposes to purchase 287 CDs from these 30 artists and distribute them to 287 regional libraries and to produce 20 shows over 2 years showcasing these 30 artists. The grant request is for $150,415. The grant proposal will be made available on our web site bulletin board. James invited the members to acknowledge the work of Rick, Lara (Herscovitch) and Mary Beth for their work on the grant proposal.

Corporate Status
We are incorporated effective 9/6/06. We remain under the umbrella of Folk Alliance as long as our operating budget stays under $25,000.

Member Cards
•Steve will forward to James the work he has done preparing a Member application and Member Cards. We hope to have Member Cards ready by next meeting.
•James asked for a show of hands of dues paying members. He invited those who haven't paid their $15.00 yearly dues to do so at the end of the meeting.
•(Madhumita received dues from three members.)
•Pete Seeger accepted his Honorary Membership to Tribes Hill in a post card to James. James shared the post card with the group.

Huntington Folk Festival
•We were expected to set up a table at the festival but did not. It was discussed that in the future before any member of Tribes Hill accepts an invitation for TH to appear at an event the invitation is brought to the group and a group decision is made. It was agreed in the future we might choose to send different groups of people representing TH to events occurring on the same day.
•We unanimously agreed to extend our apologies to the coordinator of the Huntington Folk Festival. Bill agreed to communicate this apology personally.

•Janice mentioned the Warwick Valley Winery Harvest Festival. that took place the weekend of Sept. 8 and 9. It is a nice setting with a nice stage where you can eat and enjoy wine tasting while listening to the likes' of Red Molly and others.

8:35
New Business
Calendar
•Mary Beth will compile a list of possible events to include in our calendar for the coming year.

Hard Copy Contact List
•Madhumita passed a hard copy of her member list and asked us to fill in any missing information. She will make this list available to those members who want a hard copy contact list.
•Rick also said that we could enter our contact information on the web site and it would be available from the site to administrators as needed.


NERFA
•Volunteers are needed for NERFA (Nov.10, 11, 12, 2006 at Kutsher's Resort & Conference Center, Monticello, NY nerfa.org).
•We passed around a sign-up sheet.
•The following people indicated they would be available to set-up, and/or breakdown:
Elza
Lipbone
Dennis
Steve
Anthony
Bill

•Fred will be available to set-up/break-down the exhibit hall table.
•Fred and Dennis indicated they would be willing to schedule the showcase performances.
•Fred would also like to host the "Tribes Hill Salutes the Great Troubadours" event Saturday afternoon.

•The following people are interested in showcasing:
My Dad's Truck (Saturday only)
Anthony da Costa
Steve Kirkman
Fred Gillen Jr.
Little Toby Walker (Saturday only)
Open Book
Red Molly
Elza (Saturday only)
Meg Braun (not 1:45-2:00 Saturday)
Sharon Goldman (not 11:45-midnight Saturday)
Lipbone Redding
James Durst

We still need volunteers to take care of food and beverages for the room and to schedule showcase performers at the exhibit hall table.

Solstice Show
•The show is scheduled for Sunday December 10 but we still need a venue. The Chappaqua library was suggested. Rick and Dennis will follow up on this possibility. We need to be able to charge admission.
•Matt suggested a church in Dobb's Ferry but expressed that parking is limited.
•Ruth's place in Katonah was also mentioned as a possibility.
•Lisa Wenzel's Coffee House was suggested but is not an option because she doesn't know yet if she will have a contract for December.



9:00
Announcements
•James will be traveling this month but asked us to stay in touch via e-mail.

•Janice shared details with us about The Golden Apple Coffee House. This is Lisa Wenzel's new coffee house at St Mark's church in Mount Kisco. The first show is September 30; Hope Machine, Monty Delaney, and Marc Von Em. She asked everyone to forward their e-mail contacts to coffeehouse@AOL.com  to help Lisa get the word out.
•She also mentioned Lisa is looking for a sound system to borrow. We briefly discussed lending our equipment out to artists who need it for a small donation.

•James and Madhumita will be spending Christmas building homes for musicians in New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity. James encouraged others to check out the program. Rick suggested visiting the Habitat link via our web site.

•Lipbone suggested anyone with a war protest song or a pro peace song check out Neil Young's website where you can up load your songs for rotation and broadcast. neilyoung.com or livingwithwar.com

•Anthony will be hosting an under 21 open mic type event at the Golden Apple. He asked if anyone knows anyone who might be interested to let him know.

•Rick mentioned the Folk Alliance conference in Memphis February 21-25, 2007.

•Matt moved to adjourn. Carl seconded. No objections. Meeting was adjourned at 9:15