Providence Singers

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees

​

Held via ZOOM

December 18, 2023

 

Present.

 

Mell Roca, Chair. Members: Josh Krugman, Jenica Reed Conley, Bradford Louison, Neil Brafman, Terry Karaniuk, Allison Picard, Lori Andrews, Jim Burress, Kyleen Carpenter, Andrew Broten, and Elizabeth Zarlengo.  Elaine Cunningham, Christine Noel, ex officio.

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. The Minutes of the meeting of September 18, 2023, were unanimously approved. 

 

Artistic Director’s Report.

 

Christine Noel discussed the following;

 

            The tenor numbers are improving with two additional tenors auditioning soon. As a result, there will not be a need for tenor scholars.

 

            Currently there are 85 members. 90 members are desired.

 

Executive Director’s Report.

 

Elaine Cunningham discussed the following;

 

Resource development:

 

At the midpoint of the Fiscal Year, we have achieved 25% of our fundraising goals. Year-end

fundraising include:

• GivingTuesday outreach via email and social media

• Holiday cards (contact, no solicitation)

• Tax acknowledgement letters to FY23 and FY24 donors with calendar 2023 donation

• summary (contact, no solicitation)

• End of year solicitation on email, social media

• Personal solicitation letters to LYBUNT and selected SYBUNT donors

Focus on the new year shifts to the following:

• 401 Gives campaign, encouraging 100% Singer participation, either in donating or

• creating/sharing a peer-to-peer fundraising page

• Aggressive grant application schedule

• Seeking concert ads and sponsors, as well as sponsors for Considering Matthew

• Shepard tickets for high school and college students.

• Audience Cultivation. This is where the giving pipeline starts.

 

Marketing:

Marketing efforts for the spring concerts will focus primarily on “hand-selling” techniques, including:

• Community building.

• Partner organizations promoting to their members and patrons.

• Write and submit articles to print and online media.

• Contact local music teachers with info and materials.

• Promotion by the venues.

• Online calendars.

• Early access to promotional materials.

• “Matchmaking” between sponsoring organizations/individuals who agree to fund

• small groups of student tickets.

• ProJo and other online calendars now require paid listings.

• Sharing information with local government officials and others in leadership

• positions; i.e., David Cicilline.

 

Finance:

• Expenses for Rachmaninoff promotions were higher than budgeted due to stage crew demands for additional compensation. 

• Will continue to keep expenses as low as possible, but further cuts are not feasible. Efforts need to focus on increasing revenue through audience cultivation and fundraising.

 

Event Planning:  

    Considering Matthew Shepard:

    Where we are as of 12/18/2023

 

Funding:

    $2,500 – Providence Tourism Council (Sponsorship).

    $1,500 – RISCA Project Grant.

    $1,500 – Choral Arts New England, Alfred Nash Patterson Award.

Participating Organizations:

    Rhode Island Gay Men’s Choir.

    RI Commission on Prejudice and Bias.

    Newport Pride.

    Youth Pride.

    PFLAG.

    Wanderground, a lesbian library.

Groups contacted:

    Pride in Aging (ec, Jodi Glass, who is currently on the board of trustees)

    RI Pride (ec).

    Frontrunners (ec).

    Family Services RI (ec).

    Options (ec).

    RI LBGTQ Archives at the Providence Public Library (Jodi).

    Village Common Circle of Pride (Jodi).

    Aldersbridge Communities Pride (Jodi).

    HarbourVest Pride (Suzanne).

    Citizens Bank LGBTQ+ initiatives (Mell).

Listserv and mailing lists:

    Youth Pride will send to their list of youth groups in middle and high school.

    Brown University: rilgbt-news@listserv.brown.edu..

    Participating organizations, above

Community Building Committee:

    Jodi Glass and Beth Zarlengo.

 

Resource Development Committee Report.

 

Josh Krugman discussed the following;

 

The payment rate for pledged donations is slower than anticipated. His target is for donations to match at least the same amount that was donated by individuals in the prior year.

 

Additional grants were discussed with Ms. Cunningham. Ticket sales for the Vespers concerts were in excess of 600 which exceeded the budgeted number. At St. Mary’s of the Bay approximately 75% of the tickets sold were senior tickets at $25.00 vs. the full price ticket of $30.00.

 

1500 tickets were sold for the Messiah concert with RIPHIL and 1295 were scanned at the door.

 

Mr. Krugman reminded the Board to consider legacy giving in estate planning.

 

Personnel Committee Report.

 

Beth Zarlingo discussed the following;

 

Whether the Singers should develop a DEI mission statement. Discussion ensued about the Singer’s Strategic Plan which contains a DEI statement and whether a separate DEI statement is necessary. Also discussed was whether the statement and the Singer’s Strategic Plan should be conveyed to the audience. The RIPHIL has their DEI statement printed in their programs and that might be a good idea for the Singer’s to consider. 

 

Dr. Noel mentioned that any statement should state that the Singer’s welcome diversity and want to diversify our membership. Mr. Krugman stated that the Strategic Plan should be included on the Singer’s website. (Note:  The Strategic Plan is on the website and has been since shortly after it was approved.). Mr. Karaniuk discussed the desire to diversify our audience and Ms. Rocca questioned if there were more groups that we can contact. 

 

The In Harmony program was discussed as being stalled by finances and the difficulty in maintaining participants. Funding was being sought for next year from the Papitto Foundation. There was difficulty in maintaining high school students in the program due to their other after-school commitments. Other options have been discussed, including redesigning the program for younger students. At present, we have neither a director nor a location for the program. If grant funding is provided ,then the Singers will proceed with continuing the program, obtaining a director and location, etc. 

 

Governance Committee Report. 

 

Allison Picard discussed the following;

 

Looking for at least 16 Board Members. She mentioned an individual who may be interested in Board membership. She is looking to diversify Board membership. Ms. Carpenter mentioned that the United Way has a board matching program.

 

Geographic diversity was discussed, but that a person’s fit was more important than simply the location of the individual. 

 

Budget and Finance Committee Report.

 

Jim Burress discussed the following;

 

The committee approved a deficit budget and then met to consider whether to leave the budget as is and not spend the funds that were budgeted or to revise the budget to remove or reduce the deficit.  He recommended a cut of approximately $6,550. Dr. Noel stated that she no longer needs additional tenor scholars and as a result, the amount budgeted for the additional scholars would not be spent.  Mr. Burress then made a motion to vote to cut the budget items for recording, VIP reception and photographers.  Dr. Noel stated that they budgeted for three soloists for the spring concert but are now only going to use one, and therefore there will be more savings.  Beth Zarlingo said that the proposed cuts go directly to marketing, which hurts our ability to get our message out.  Dr. Noel stated that photos and recordings of the Considering Matthew Shepard performance are important. A discussion ensued as to hiring a photographer or trying to obtain a photographer who would donate his or her services.  Mr. Karaniuk then offered to donate an amount to offset the deficit which was accepted with gratitude.

 

Mr. Burress then asked to withdraw his motion to vote on the deficit budget which was entered as a motion and unanimously approved. 

 

Mr. Karaniuk offered the Providence Art Club for an informal luncheon with board members the board. The suggestion was a favorable one and further details will be forthcoming.

 

At 8:06 p.m. a motion was made, seconded, and unanimously approved to enter into executive session.  A motion to conclude executive session and to adjourn the general meeting was made and unanimously approved,  and the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m. 

 

 

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

/s/ Brad Louison

Bradford N. Louison, Secretary

December 21, 2023