Business Board Meeting Sunday April 2, 2023

1. Call to Order

Chair, Aslynne Howes, called the meeting to order at 6:39  pm Eastern



2. Roll

Present: Sofia Noethe, Niels Duinker, Ross Berenson, Afton Benson, Martin Frost, Aslynne Howes

Absent: Amy Wieliczka, Benjamin Domask-Ruh, Noel Yee

Recorder: Ross

 

3. Approval of Agenda

Motion: Niels

Second by: Ross

Discussion: 

Vote: Approved


4. Approval of Minutes: 

Business Board Meeting (LINK)

Motion: Sofia

Second: Niels

Discussion: 

Vote: Approved

 

5. Reports 

Please keep verbal reports to 5 min or less except for festival discussion.

 

2023 Festival Report (Exuro Piechocki)

Discussion: Afton has reached out for volunteer and registrar volunteers. Fia – I’ll help with the registrar. 

Afton: Hotel link needs to be fixed. Hilton says it’s sold out but reports we have nights available.

Noel has joined @ 6:42 pm ET

Martin: The hilton link has been fixed. People can now reserve at the hilton.

Was not an issue for the Marriott. 

Martin: Overall, about half the rooms have been booked for the main part of the week.

We need to hit 80% of the room nights. Room block was split between the hilton and marriott.

 

 

Financial Report (Afton Benson)

Discussion: **Added Sunday at 12:45 Central** 

Overall, 2022 ended up being a pretty alright year, we ended the year with a $2k loss which considering it was the first festival back after the height of the pandemic. Additionally, most things didn’t change on our balance sheet as we didn’t have any contributions to the restricted fund from iiWii. 

2022 P&L

2022 Balance Sheet

 

Afton: Should follow up with iiWii to see what’s going on? Haven’t heard much from them since pre-pandemic. Unnamed has been donating. 

Dennis is in progress working on 1090s.

Martin: Meant to mention this earlier. 127 adult registrations, 13 youth. Includes about 15 comped. 

 

Future Festival Site Report (Craig Lewis)

Discussion: 


Afton: Jugglers are asking for safer locations for the festival to be held in. LGBTQ+ jugglers feel uncomfortable going to some cities / states where they are not welcomed. Some state laws do not support them. Let’s look at more inclusive states / cities.

 

eJuggle Report (Scott Seltzer)

Discussion: 

Afton: We should get a report from Scott. Some people have and have not been paid. Are we still giving Holzman store credits?

Niels: Can you use store credit to register for a festival?

Afton: Yes, but it’s not easy to do.

Martin: It was easier in the past but we don’t have the capability to do this easily online.

 

Membership (Marilyn Sullivan)
Membership Data

Discussion: 

 

Marketing Report (Matan Presberg)

Discussion: 

Ross: Would like Matan to join a call if possible. Would be great to brainstorm campaigns / strategies for marketing various parts of the IJA Org and its programs.

 

IRC Report (Erin Stephens)

Discussion: 

 

YJA Report (Benjamin Domask-Ruh)

Discussion:  

 

OpsO Report (Scott Steiskal)

Discussion:  Been receiving a high amount of solicitation as of late for fundraising services and platforms.  Most of these I have been responding no thank you. 

My understanding is most of these folks have been reaching out because we have an amazon smile account. 

I checked the teespring store as I get ready to move to the new service.  Last I checked there vis 406 dollars to be paid out.

Afton: Amazon is getting rid of Amazon Smile. Lots of alternative services are reaching out to the IJA. 

 

6. Motions for Consideration

  1. Motion to approve 2023 IJA Honorary Awards
    1. Author: David Cain 
    2. Motion: Aslynne
    3. Second: Sofia
    4. Discussion:
    5. Vote:
    6. Objections: None
    7. Abstentions: Niels
    8. Vote passes
  2. Motion to approve the 2023 IJA Flamingo Club Award (Jennifer Miller)
    1. Author: Afton Benson
    2. Motion: Noel
    3. Second: Ross
    4. Discussion: 

Afton: Jennifer Miller from Circus Amok, She has done a lot for women and families and non-binaries in circus.

  1. Vote:Passed unanimously

 

7. Varia:

Ross: Are we continuing the Sami Vance award? Should we contact Bill Barr to be on the next business meeting to discuss?

Afton: Sami Vance award still happening?

Aslynne: Need to plan the new call time. Please fill out the survey so we can figure out a time that works best for everyone.

 

Noel: Timeline for picking next festival director? 

Martin: No timeline published at the moment. Should be May or June.

Aslynne: Maybe May 15? Will announce in the next newsletter.

 

Benjamin joined the call at @ 7:11 pm ET.

 

8. Confirm Next Meeting

Next meetings will take place on…

for the next vision meeting

Sunday, April 16 @ 4pm ET.

for the next business meeting

Sunday, April 23 @ 4pm ET.

 

9. Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 7:13pm Eastern. 

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