1. Call to Order
Chair, Mike Moore, called the meeting to order at: 8:03 pm EST
2. Roll:
Present: Sofia Noethe, Craig Lewis, Bill Barr, Exuro Piechocki, Mike Sullivan, Morgan Anderson, Matan Presberg, Galen Harp, Scott Steiskal, Mike Moore, Martin Frost, Erin Stephens
Absent: Amy Wieliczka, Eric Shibuya
Recorder: Matan Presberg
3. Approval of Agenda
Motion: Sofia Noethe
Second by: Scott Steiskal
Discussion:
Vote: passes unanimously
4. Approval of Minutes:
Business Board Meeting (LINK)
Motion: Exuro Piechocki
Second: Sofia Noethe
Discussion:
Vote: passes unanimously
5. Reports
Please keep verbal reports to 5 min or less except for festival discussion.
2020 Festival Report (Noel Yee)
Discussion: None
Civic Achievement Award (Bill Barr)
Discussion:
Bill Barr:
-the award has been a wonderful success, it has had a large, positive influence on the Vance family as a whole, including turning several family members into jugglers
-IJA got a lot of positive publicity as a side benefit of giving the award to Sammie Vance
-buddy bench was just installed in the middle of Fort Wayne with 2 IJA logos on it!
-3 people selected for award in El Paso, Ruben Martinez of El Paso, Kayla Malmgren and Beth Stockbridge (last 2 long time members of IJA)
-want to enact a committee for the award
-Martin requests a blurb + pictures for the upcoming eNewsletter (Bill says yes)
-Mike recommends a full length eJuggle article, Bill would be happy to write it with help from Sammie and Heidi Vance
-Exuro: Is there precedent for multiple award winners, and are there reasons to do it this year?
-Bill: There have been multiple award winners in the past, but it is somewhat uncommon. The costs are fairly low for the plaques ($30 each)
Financial Report (Afton Benson)
Discussion:
1/1/19 to 9/30/19 Balance Sheet
Future Festival Site Report (Mike Sullivan)
All contracts for South Bend 2023 have been fully executed and filed in the new South Bend 2023 folder.
We have a final proposal in hand from Green Bay, Wisconsin for 2024 that is very attractive, with site visit complete. We are going to talk to Fort Smith, AR a bit more before deciding how to move ahead, perhaps including a site visit.
We are also in discussions with Evansville, IN, and if we receive the kind of favorable proposal we expect, we will be doing a site visit there in early January.
We expect to have a report and recommendation for our 2024 festival in early 2020.
Discussion:
– 4 good prospects for future years (2024,5,6)
– Great offer from Green Bay, Wisconsin for 2024, not recommended moving forward because there are other good offers that might pan out very soon (Evansville, Indiana and Fort Smith, Arkansas)
-lots of gratitude expressed towards Mike Sullivan for being so prepared, so far ahead of time, thank you Mike!
eJuggle Report (Scott Seltzer)
Report: We’re finishing the year on a strong note with lots of great new content. We’re really excited to announce the upcoming releases of a bunch of quality videos coming soon to an eJuggle near you:
- Wes Peden’s Gumball is one of the most incredible and innovative juggling videos available for sale. It will become available for free to IJA members on eJuggle this coming weekend.
- Lewis Kennedy will be putting out his latest JuggleVision on eJuggle in early December.
- The 2019 IJA Fest videos are nearly ready from Nathan Wakefield. We will release them for free to members in 4 parts, every couple weeks starting at the end of December.
I’m always looking for content from IJA activists on how their projects are going. You have a major opportunity to communicate and let everyone know of the exciting things happening within the organization. It’s free advertising and public relations about the IJA so let’s take advantage of it. I’m also looking for content on other topics such as fest reviews, interviews/profiles of jugglers, theory/opinion, tutorials, etc.
Please let me know what you’re able to contribute. Also, if you know other people who might be interested in writing (or podcasts, videos, etc.), let me know.
Discussion:
Morgan:
-really interested in building text based media for IJA (video has been growing and very strong, text could use more work)
-looking to learn more about how eJuggle has work, does work, could work
-Feels that text updates aren’t fulfilling their potential at the moment
-people have a diverse range of relationships to the publications (people thinking they have nothing to contribute, people who think it’s only a history publication, etc.)
-Wants to build a more edited, peer reviewed section of eJuggle, maybe behind paywall of membership? Hopes this could drive academic engagement with juggling as a whole.
-Erin expresses a lot of excitement about Morgan’s ideas and the possibility of updating, growing and modernizing eJuggle
-Mike lauds Morgan, including her accomplishments building ‘Props to That’, which is an exciting and unique podcast
Mike: what would a peer reviewed section look like? What content might be on there?
Morgan: Comes out twice a year, quarterly or similar. Could have different sections (book reviews, theory, etc.), and be more similar to Juggle Magazine. Higher quality, academic writing, with a potential of an editor team. Example.. Special issue on juggling education where all the articles are focused on the topic (e.g. juggling in education). Or special issue on IJA Festival.
Bill: more excitement!
Exuro (giving context Morgan requested): eJuggle almost entirely run solo by Scott, and might be looking to pass the torch in the next few years. Scott recognizes the potential of what eJuggle could be, but does not have the bandwidth to realize it.
Morgan: change has to start with the membership, can’t and won’t do it by executive decision. Wants to know more about who’s reading and why.
Erin: our reach is more than just membership, we should be reaching out to our social media audience.
Martin: we did a survey 12-18 months ago, only got ~18 responses (out of 1000-1500 people email went out to). Survey was general to all IJA communication (newsletter, website, etc.)
Morgan: other barriers exist to reading eJuggle (anecdote: someone doesn’t remember their password, and that’s enough of a barrier). Who should I be reaching out to within IJA with ideas?
Exuro: Scott Seltzer for eJuggle.
Erin: Erin for Marketing / Social Media team.
Martin: what about an IJA specific app?
Erin: great idea! We’ve talked about it before.. There are difficulties with it.
More discussion
Mike: seems like there’s ongoing discussion.. Let’s move to IJA board plus listserv (will send to Morgan)
Membership (Marilyn Sullivan)
Membership Data
Discussion:
-small dip in numbers (~100), probably because of people who bought membership last July which would get them access to 2 festivals
Marketing Report (Erin Stephens/Matan Presberg)
Discussion:
Partial marketing report:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Q8ifR2kwJtB1Mkn7O7LByi-pOa0WOGZ0qd2XfJrPrR0
-small dip in numbers, some difficulty with Erin traveling, will get easier now that she’s back
-will discuss with Noel about festival Marketing, like last year Erin doesn’t want to be in charge of festival marketing because it’s a separate job
-Facebook still very strong compared to the entire history of IJA Facebook, has led to some of Taylor’s IRC videos doing very well (>1 million views!)
(various other conversations, difficult to put into notes, no action items or anything specific)
IRC Report (Erin Stephens)
Discussion:
-regardless of preparation, IRCs are stressful day of, and anything can happen (ex. IRC in Benin got rained out in the middle, resumed 2 days later)
-planning for Giving Tuesday next week
-some changes planned for rules (more details in report), potentially will vote on via straw poll before the next board meeting
YJA Report (Galen Harp)
Discussion:
-button program still going well
-working on proposal to expand program to reach more international audience (have button machine at each location for IRCs?)
-Erin suggests translated buttons
-Had first meeting to discuss initiative for getting juggling in schools, looking to have curriculum and more plans to present to board in ~2 months
-Looking to have Dakota Hall start posting consistently for YJA Social Media in the next few weeks
-Erin points on the potential of YJA Social Media to unite the different youth juggling programs around the world, like school teaching kids living on the street in Benin and educate people on the programs that exist
-Might be worth rebranding to be more inclusive than just youth (e.g. seniors’ centers, corporate, etc.)
-Cohesive online education program could be hugely beneficial to beginner, intermediate jugglers
-lots of excitement about the direction and potential of YJA!
[Galen Harp leaves the call]
6. Motions for Consideration
A: Motion to appoint Josie Marks-McQuade as World Juggling Day Program Director for 2020
Author : Mike Moore
Motion : Sofia Noethe
Second : Exuro Piechocki
Discussion :
Josie’s proposal in a tiny nutshell:
- No t-shirts
- Different swag
- Stronger link between IJA and WJD
- More social media (ft. Instagram takeovers)
Exuro: Josie’s done this for the past few years, done a great job, and built experience.
Vote :
In favour:
Oppose : none
Abstain : none
Result : passes unanimously
- Motion to approve the 2020 IJA Awards Committee: David Cain (Chair), Judy Finelli, Alan Howard, Sky King, and Bob Neuman.
Author : Eric Shibuya
Motion : Scott Steiskal
Second : Exuro Piechocki
Discussion :
-smaller awards committee proposed previously, Sky King and Judy Finelli included in this re: previous discussions of wanting to have more diversity, but not compromise juggling knowledge
-someone on this list was nominated for an award
-even if they abstained, they’d still know they were nominated
-Alan Howard has been on the committee for a long time and might have insight
Vote :
In favour:
Oppose : none
Abstain : none
Result : passes unanimously
C: Motion to approve the Juggling World Cup logo design concept for the JWC 2021. Logo 1 Logo 2 Logo 3
Author : Erin Stephens
Motion : Matan Presberg
Second : Sofia Noethe
Discussion : See the FIFA World Cup logo examples here
[Martin Frost leaves the call 9:28]
-Clarification that this is about the concept and general design, not the specific logo.
Vote :
In favour:
Oppose : none
Abstain : none
Result : passes unanimously
[Erin leaves the call at 9:30]
D: Motion to award Ruben Martinez, Kayla Malmgren, and Elizabeth Stockbridge the IJA Sammie Vance Youth Civic Achievement Award for 2020
Author : Bill Barr
Motion : Exuro Piechocki
Second : Sofia Noethe
Motion amended to correct spelling of Stockbridge (was typed Stockbride): passes unanimously
Discussion :
-Exuro was on the fence about multiple winners of this award but was convinced by Bill Barr in discussion in previous conversation in the meeting. Notes that it’s not a significant expense, but doesn’t want this to be the standard going forward.
-Kayla and Elizabeth are basically a package, do a lot together, and it’d be difficult to award it to just one of them.
-Scott pointed out that award last year led to some more expenses, doesn’t want that to happen this year
Vote :
In favour:
Oppose : none
Abstain : none
Result : passes unanimously
E: Motion to appoint Bill Barr as Chair of the committee for the selection of the IJA Sammie Vance Youth Civic Achievement Award, with the ability to choose members of the committee subject to Board Approval.
Author : Bill Barr
Motion : Matan Presberg
Second : Exuro Piechocki
Discussion :
Vote :
In favour:
Oppose : none
Abstain : none
Result : passes unanimously
F: Motion to appoint Bill Barr, Chair, Sammie Vance, Heidi Vance, Mike Moore, Sofia Noethe, Marla Edgecomb, David Pavlove Cunsolo as the selection committee for the IJA Sammie Vance Youth Civic Achievement Award.
Author : Bill Barr
Motion : Scott Steiskal
Second : Exuro Piechocki
Discussion :
Vote :
In favour:
Oppose : none
Abstain : Sofia Noethe, Mike Moore
Result : passes with all other votes
7. Varia:
-Exuro wants to point out that the previous motion passes with the minimum number of possible votes, need 3 votes to pass.
-Sofia got a message from an IJA member asking if there’s a specific format for nominating someone for an IJA award.
-Mike: name + sales pitch
-Exuro: typically a window where eNewsletter asks for nominations
8. Confirm Next Meeting
Next meetings will take place on…
for the next vision meeting – December 3rd
for the next business meeting – December 17th
9. Adjournment
Motion to adjourn : Exuro Piechocki
Discussion :
Mike: strong and productive meeting!
Voting :
Meeting adjourned at 9:41 pm EST.