1. Call to Order
Chair, Mike Moore, called the meeting to order at: 7:50 pm Eastern
2. Roll:
Present: Scott Steiskal, Afton Benson, Aslynne Howes, Chris Garcia, Martin Frost, Matan Presberg, Eric Shibuya, Amy Wieliczka, Mike Moore, Ross Berenson
Absent: None
Recorder: Eric
3. Approval of Agenda
Motion: Aslynne
Second by: Matan
Discussion: None
Vote: Motion passes unanimously
4. Approval of Minutes:
Business Board Meeting (LINK)
Motion: Matan
Second: Aslynne
Discussion: None
Vote: Motion passes unanimously
5. Reports
Please keep verbal reports to 5 min or less except for festival discussion.
2021 Festival Report (Ross Berenson)
Discussion:
Ross: Not much to report yet. Team has been organized. from Pushing for a virtual festival.
Afton: See Fest report for details on financial liabilities for the festival. Theater might not give deposit back. We would currently owe Hyatt 70% of the booked room block, but Afton is in negotiation to work out other options. (See report). It is possible the Orpheum Theatre will be closed completely. We will lose the Orpheum deposit ($3750) if we cancel, and likely if they close. Afton will ask Justin (Hyatt) to write out the waiver so we can review it. We should cancel the Drury Hotel in any case.
Mike: Possibility of turning this into a small regional festival? Very dependent on state of affairs Re: COVID.
Ross: For an e-fest, could do…
Profit-shares with designer (t-shirt designs going through Teespring)
Master class-style thing: $100 with $50 to instructor leader, IJA gets remainder ($75 for IJA members)
Team: Afton, Noel, Ross, Shivella, Paris
Two shows with smaller budgets
Ross has concerns over hiring performers for live shows/live festival, IJA would not be able to match what they would get for an actual gig (if we are back to that). Ross would be interested in streaming aspects of the festival out.
Afton: Should we cancel at the Drury hotel?
Unanimous board approval of cancellation of Drury hotel
Scheduled Dec 9th at 7:00 pm EST with potential cancellation as a big part of meeting
Financial Report (Afton Benson)
Discussion: Afton: teespring revenue still coming in, new products to be released in time for holidays.
Q3 and 4 numbers coming soon, likely deficit
eJuggle Report (Scott Seltzer)
Discussion: Eric: I have taken up Scott’s offer to help copy edit articles for Ejuggle (mostly Esteban’s). We have negotiated 1 year’s IJA membership for every four (4) articles I edit.
Membership (Marilyn Sullivan)
Membership Data
Discussion:
Marketing Report (Erin Stephens/Matan Presberg)
Discussion:
Matan: struggling to have meeting due to Erin being 8 hours ahead. But will soon!
IRC Report (Erin Stephens)
Discussion:
YJA Report (Galen Harp)
Discussion:
6. Motions for Consideration
A:
Author :
Motion :
Second :
Discussion :
Vote :
In favour:
Oppose :
Abstain :
Result :
7. Varia:
Received email (added Tuesday):
It occurs to me that it would be great for the IJA to use its tax exempt status to run some sort of fund to help out struggling jugglers these days. I’m thinking small and extremely simple to operate, like giving micro loans (a few hundred dollars) to any juggler with a story who requests it, and not worry about when/if the loans are paid back.
I’d be happy to donate seed money for such a fund, and encourage others to donate.
Afton: would have to look into legality. Concerned about metrics of how we would decide who would get it.
Eric: Ripe for corruption and other potential problems
Aslynne: Rings alarm bells, especially about loan forgiveness
Afton: If they do pay it back, does it become a general donation?
Ross: Messy area to get into. Could get people into the habit of expecting loans/grants
Martin: Seems like a can of worms
Scott: potential for using funds to hire people for work for IJA? (Clarification: they would be contractors, not employees).
Afton: Earmarking the donation to IJA operating funds (for translating articles or other stuff) is definitely possible.
Martin: It could be useful to better spread the word that we can advertise for jugglers’ events (shows, workshops, etc,) via IJA networks.
Mike: will write back to them saying:
- Concerned about the metrics of decision-making for who receives the $$
- Suggest alternative places to put money
- Using funds for new projects
Virtual Juggling Hangout (needs newsletter and facebook event posts)
- Files for advertising: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1EryB0Mn5V6k6a70jr3KaYL4GPaAn8XiF
- Newsletter template
8. Confirm Next Meeting
Next meetings will take place on…
7:00 pm on Dec 9th for the next business meeting
Other meeting potentially pending