Theatre Artists Studio Board

Previous Board Meeting Minutes Approved

President`s Report
 Carol’s family trust will be donating $25,000 once financial details are arranged.

 Many of the overhead, fluorescent lights have been replaced with, much brighter, LED lights. Repairs to ACs and other issues around the property are being addressed (slowly) by the landlord.

- Marketing Committee Chair, Benjamin Rojek was elected to the Board

- Other new Board members introduced themselves and learned about the other board members:

-- Kirt Shineman ka_shine@msn.com

-- Richard Hardt rghardt@hotmail.com

- Discussed the proposed plans for revamping the Paradise Valley Mall into a commerce/culture center, to include artists and arts venues

- Met with Sharon Harper a developer with Plaza Industries which is currently redoing Park Central Mall which will include an outdoor theater space for dance and theatre. They have invited Artlink to participate in the plans and have free space there when it is revised.

- Sharon is working with the proposed developers of PV Mall, who she mentored, and she believes that they have similar ideas for PV Mall’s restructuring.

- Rick Herman is doing more videos and believes that he will be able to get them shown on local TV (i.e., PBS)

- The Studio needs to get more visibility and press coverage

- It looks promising that The Studio will be getting (or very inexpensive) space in the revised PV Mall, but it is still vital to raise money for the contingency fund to carry The Studio through the next 2 or 3 years and to have a healthy fund built up for beyond that.

- Ticket sales for the first weekend of “Rathmines Road” were not good – like many first weekends, but the reviews were very good!

- Still trying to put together a good panel for a “talk back” after future performance. It must include a psychologist and speakers who respect the playwright’s premise that “truth can be revealed through art”

Financial Committee Report
there was no time to generate a full report, but there is currently $2,000 in The Studio’s account

Member Committee Report

Business Committee Report
Discussed new NEON CRM software and how most of the ticketing issues have been resolved. It has been used for purchasing tickets at the door. Several volunteers have been trained on how to use it at the box office and Amy and Mary have written up very detailed instructions.

Volunteer area of NEON still being developed and enthusiastically being worked on by Lidia.

NEON administrators will continue to work on the new system to get all of the areas functioning well. Thursday evening at The Studio, Clark, Mary and Amy will go over how to create emails and send them out to the various lists in NEON (or to everyone) so that more consistent email marketing for shows can be done.

A viable plan for Fund Raising must be created and implemented, especially to get “corporate” sponsors on board.

Marketing Committee Report
- Facebook and Instagram accounts are now active, posting every day, thanks to new committee member Alexis

- A small budget has been created to do for Facebook paid advertising, under Ben’s direction, and is active daily

- Many Board members noticed this new activity on these platforms

- The Studio will have a dependable presence at “Visit Phoenix” to ensure that all available promotional opportunities are fully used. At the same time as this Board meeting, Rick and Marney were at Visit Phoenix to network and positively represent The Studio

- Marney ordered 500 business cards for the Marketing Committee which will be distributed

- There have already been 2 committee meetings and the next one is scheduled for Oct 12 at 4pm

- Rick Herman is meeting with area resorts to invite their concierge staffs to performances and encourage them to recommend The Studio as an option for guest looking for quality local entertainment

- Ben is analyzing the website in view of improving its search engine optimization (SE0). He believes that the site will need a complete redesign and that The Studio will need the services of a good website designer.

- Ben agrees that The Studio needs consistent public relations (PR) help

Other Business
Richard suggested that The Studio should look into joining and participating in a couple of national organizations that might be able to provide insights on how to work with local businesses and market The Studio better. The groups focus on developing and producing new plays:

- National New Play Network (NNPN.org), to qualify, theaters must produce at least one new play every 5 years. Since The Studio will be doing three such plays this season, it should be a good fit.

- New Play Exchange (https://newplayexchange.org/)

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