Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees
54th Season, 2024-2025
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Providence Singers
Held via ZOOM
February 24, 2025
Present:
Mell Roca, Chair. Members: Neil Brafman, Josh Krugman, Bradford Louison, Terry Karaniuk, Allison Picard, Kyleen Carpenter, Matt Anderson, Mark Boyd, Alexa MacMullen, Lori Andrews, Jim Burress and Andrew Broten. Elaine Cunningham and Christine Noel, ex officio.
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. A motion to allow the minutes of the November 18, 2024 meeting was made, seconded and unanimously approved.
Artistic Director’s Report:
Dr. Noel discussed the current concert cycle as being relevant to social impact issues as was last spring’s concert and she discussed how there isn’t a large body of music for such topics. The Fund for New Music is available to finance a full-length work and Dr. Noel is looking for some ideas from the board. The chorus is halfway through the rehearsal cycle for Annelise and is simultaneously rehearsing the Brahms Requiem. For the November 2025 concert, Dr. Noel would like to consider a program with the Premiere Choir of the Boston Children’s Chorus. Three works are being considered, and she discussed the
works. The Boston Children’s Chorus is diverse, and it is hoped that a performance with them will bring in audiences from various communities that may partner with the Providence Singers in the future.
Mr. Karaniuk asked whether the performances would be in Boston or in Rhode Island. Dr. Noel said that transportation costs have to be considered for a Boston performance but that she would prefer to have the performances in Rhode Island in order to tap into different and diverse communities here. She wants to diversify the audience by changing the Singer’s repertoire. Members of the board further discussed diversity issues and proposed works.
Dr. Noel discussed that the March 2026 concert would be the Carmina Burana at the Water Fire Arts Center with the Rhode Island Children's Chorus. The proposed May 2026 program is one based on love and peace, for chorus, piano and string quartet. The Singers will not be performing with the Rhode Island Philharmonic next spring but will performing Messiah with the Philharmonic. Mr. Krugman discussed that the Fund for New Music has sufficient funds
to perform large pieces. A discussion ensued about programming ideas and commissioning new works.
Executive Director’s Report:
Ms. Cunningham reported that she has received the edited videos of the previous concerts. Ticket sales for Annelise are going well. She had budgeted for the sale of 500 tickets but hopes for 600. Already ticket sales are above 100. She discussed the Barnaby Evans images for the Annalise program. It is anticipated that licensing and screen installation cost will be approximately $3000.00.
Budget and Finance Committee Report:
Ms. Cunningham discussed the cash flow projections and the budget highlights. Foundation grants have been applied for but not yet received. She anticipates that the production costs for Annelise will be high but that the Organization should be in the black for this year. The Singer’s financial position is strong. There was a discussion about the remaining unused funds from the Papitto grant. Dr. Noel and others suggested that the Singers should use the remaining funds from the Papitto grant as the organization see fit as long as it's for education and scholarship purposes.
Resource Development Committee Report:
Mr. Krugman discussed that fundraising revenue was on track to meet this year's goals. 401Gives is in April and the committee will push this with the membership. He also discussed a competition amongst the sections by personally hosting a party for the chorus section with the highest participation.
Governance Committee Report:
Allison Picard discussed that the committee was working toward finding potential candidates for trustee positions and asked to use a few minutes at rehearsals to talk to the members about the Board’s activities and to recruit for board membership. She recommends trying a program for high school or college age people to become members of the board. Discussion ensued on thi subject (how minors would be non-voting members, terms of their service, etc.) Those trustees whose terms were concluding was discussed.
Personnel Committee Report:
Lori Andrews discussed the progressive discipline protocol that she would like to see implemented, new performance review documents, and a member's code of conduct. She also wanted a road map to be ready for any future staff turnover. A discussion ensued. Mr. Louison indicated that he was opposed to a progressive discipline plan for a number of reasons including that it potentially conflicts with current disciplinary and removal provisions already in place.
As there were no further questions or business, a motion was made to enter into Executive Session which was seconded and approved at 8:23 p.m. Executive Session was conducted and thereafter adjourned, and the regular meeting was concluded by motion and unanimous vote at 8:35 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
/s/ Brad Louison
Bradford N. Louison, Secretary
March 2, 2025
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Providence Singers
Held via ZOOM
November 18, 2024
Present:
Mell Roca, Chair. Members: Neil Brafman, Josh Krugman, Bradford Louison, Terry Karaniuk, Allison Picard, Kyleen Carpenter, Matt Anderson, Matt Balsamo, Mark Boyd, Alexa MacMullen, Lori Andrews and Andrew Broten. Elaine Cunningham and Christine Noel, ex officio.
The meeting was called to order at 7: 03 p.m. A motion to allow the minutes of the September 16, 2024 meeting was unanimously allowed.
Resource Development Committee Report:
Josh Krugman discussed the following;
In reviewing the proposed Gala and its provisional budget, the committee determined that there is a high risk of either only breaking even or losing money due to the high cost of the venue, catering, cost for the hired talent and other expenses. In order for the Gala to be successful. a concert level of tickets would need to be sold. As a result, the committee decided against having a Gala this coming spring. The committee also recommended that a future Gala use
the Singers membership for the entertainment rather than use a paid performer. Chelsea Basler had been asked about her availability buy had not been engaged by the Singers. Other wise the Committee is focused on 401Gives and other fundraising efforts
Artistic Director’s Report:
Christine Noel discussed the excellence of the Born of Light concerts performed by the Singers on November 9th and 10 th and its good audiences. She discussed how the organization is building an audience following by returning to the venues of Saint Mary’s of the Bay Church and Grace Church. BIPOC interest in both membership and audience is slow but increasing. Kenneth Griffith will be leading the Community Sing in June 2025. Dr. Noel is looking to increase the Jewish community’s interest in attending concerts and she hopes that the Annelies program will be popular. Dr. Noel proposes having a Cantor sing at the beginning of the program and a song to be performed with the audience at the conclusion of the concert. Dr. Noel likes using the Waterfire Center for concerts with a social justice theme.
Executive Director’s Report
Elaine Cunningham discussed the following;
(From Elaine’s Executive Director’s Report of 11/18/24)
Finance:
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Jason Smith, CPA, has completed the FY24 financial review and filed the 990 in advance of the IRS November 15 deadline.
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Revenue for the November concert, BORN OF LIGHT, fell short by $3,943, primarily due to low ticket sales: 410 total attendees rather than projected ticket sales of 500.
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October is typically a low-revenue month. The Statement of Activity showed a revenue of ($13,499.)
Fundraising
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Donations: Total FY24 individual contribution as of 11/15 are $16,029
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The online Summer Yard Sale raised $222, of which $175 was applied to financial assistance for membership dues.
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Gross sales for the annual fruit fundraiser were $3,233, and the Singers’ profit was $955.
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Giving Tuesday is December 3. This has not been a large fundraiser for us, so campaign will start November 19 and run for two weeks.
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Donor cultivation without solicitation will include holiday cards to our direct mail and email lists, and emails and/or phone calls to key donors about the Messiah performance.
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401Gives: Last year we raised $4,621 in donations, which were matched by a donation of $5,000. An additional $745 donated after 4/1 brought the total to $10,566. Last year's match donor has agreed to match $5,000 again this year.
Grants:
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We were awarded $5,000/year for the next three years by RISCA and will receive the year one check in early December.
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The award of a $20,000 grant from [anonymous foundation] for this fiscal year was confirmed by a foundation trustee.
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Applications have been sent to the following grantors:
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Carter Family Foundation
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Providence Arts Culture Tourism
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Audience Development:
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Ticket purchasers for the November concert who are not on our e-mailing list were offered a complementary companion ticket for Annelies for subscribing\
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Messiah postcards will be printed by the Philharmonic, at their expense, for us to send to our mailing list. We will pay for bulk mail postage.
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Messiah marketing to include social media, email newsletter, an email outreach to recent concert attendees, and emails and/or phone calls to key members of our extended community.
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Messiah thanks-for-coming emails to concert attendees. The Phil shares the attendance ist with us as part of our contract agreement. The list contains only those who have not opted out of marketing emails and direct mail, but it’s still several hundred contacts.
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Capturing concert attendee data is an area that needs improvement. Currently, we do not capture POS ticket purchases, either credit or cash. Multiple ticket purchases give us only the name and contact info of the person who purchased the tickets, not the name of their guests.
Additional discussions were held regarding capturing data on concert attendees with various methods considered by the Board members such as raffles, discounts for early purchase of tickets, reserved seating, the increase in the number of ushers and the use of Singers to work as ushers prior to the concert.
Budget and Finance Committee Report:
As Mr. Burress was not in attendance, Ms. Cunningham presented financial matters in her report and also discussed the following; A consideration of retaining a new CPA for the organization as the fees for the current accountant were higher than desired and will potentially rise due to an upcoming change in the accountant’s firm affiliation. She will work to find a new CPA (s) for the Boards consideration.
Governance Committee Report:
Allison Picard discussed the findings from the survey sent to members in September and she summarized the findings and skills learned from the survey. Ms. Andrews discussed the Board members whose terms will expire in the next year and the search for new Board members. Mr. Boyd discussed the Leadership RI job fair for Board members.
Personnel Committee Report:
Lori Andrews discussed the work her committee is doing to update the job descriptions for Executive Director and Artistic Director. The proposed descriptions were previously circulated to the Board members. Also discussed was the work being done to create an Executive search protocol, a discipline policy and a Code of Conduct.
Seeing as there were no further questions or business, a motion was made to enter into Executive Session which was seconded and approved at 7:53 p.m. Executive Session was thereafter adjourned, and the Regular meeting was concluded by motion and unanimous vote at 7:55 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
/s/ Brad Louison
Bradford N. Louison, Secretary
February 14, 2025
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Providence Singers
Held via ZOOM
September 16, 2024
Present.
Mell Roca, Chair. Members: Josh Krugman, Bradford Louison, Terry Karaniuk, Allison Picard, Kyleen Carpenter, James Burress, Matt Anderson, Matt Balsamo, Alexa MacMullen and Andrew Broten. Elaine Cunningham, Christine Noel, ex officio.
The meeting was called to order at 7: 05 p.m. A motion to allow the minutes of the June 3, 2024, meeting was unanimously allowed.
All of the members introduced themselves to the new members of the Board.
Artistic Director’s Report.
Christine Noel discussed the following;
The Lindemann Performing Arts Center at Brown University will not be available this year for outside groups and thus any plans for the Singers to use it for a performance will have to wait until it is next available, hopefully next year.
Dr. Noel conducted a successful round of auditions. Among the new Singers were seven new tenors and basses. There is a rise in BIPOC interest in the Singers, strengthening and cultivating membership reflective of our community.
Dr. Noel discussed the RI Philharmonic’s new dress guidelines and recommended that the Singers adopt similar dress for performances with the Philharmonic and those performances which are self-produced. Highlights of the new dress guidelines are that sopranos and altos may wear jackets and tenors and basses will wear a black suit or tux, with a white shirt open at the collar, with no bow tie.
Executive Director’s Report.
Elaine Cunningham discussed the following;
(From Elaine’s written FY24 Overview)
Finance
The Providence Singers ended the fiscal year in a solid financial position, outperforming our FY24 budget and ending the year with cash reserves of $93,698. Our investments with Fidelity and the Rhode Island Foundation totaled $320,436.
The FY24 Financial Statement (not yet reviewed) shows a Net Revenue of $48,586, which reflects the strong performance of our investments. Without the investment revenue, the FY24 operating deficit was $6,565—not quite break-even, but a considerable improvement upon the budgeted deficit of $23,127.
Fundraising
Donations: Total individual contributions exceeded budget projections by over $15,000, for a total of $90,766.
Program ad sales were stronger than in recent years, with three full-page ads and several smaller paid ads (total of $1,950.) All paid ads resulted from Trustee and Singer connections.
Grants: We received general operating grants from HMF Foundation, Carter Family Foundation, the June Rockwell Levy Foundation, Blackbaud Giving Fund, and an anonymous grant from the Rhode Island Foundation. Project grants in support of the Considering Matthew Shepard concert included RISCA, Choral Arts New England, and the Providence Tourism Council.
Fundraising events: 401Gives raised $10,455, thanks to a $5,000 matching donation. The annual fruit fundraiser organized by Beth Zarlengo netted over $1,000. The Online Summer Yard earned $196, which has been applied to financial assistance for FY25 Singers.
Audience Development
Concert attendance: Considering Matthew Shepard had the strongest draw, with 685 tickets sold or comped. The combined audience for the two performances of Rachmaninoff’s All Night Vigil was approximately five hundred. Approximately three hundred people attended A Night at the Opera. The Mozart Requiem community sing drew approximately 140 singers. Audience development efforts for all events focused heavily upon community-building.
Administration Update
Website and CRM: During the early stages of implementing Choir Genius this summer, it became apparent that some of the functions were insufficiently robust, which, combined with the implementation demands and the significant fee reduction offered by current website platform, suggested that keeping the website on the Wix platform for the coming season was a reasonable approach.
To handle CRM functions, Elaine will continue to use QuickBooks Online to track donations, and she is working with a volunteer programmer to design a custom solution using a free, table-based app. This will integrate concert attendance, donor history and communications, new donor cultivation efforts, and membership records. This solution will address our needs with significantly reduced resources.
FY25 Plans and Information, Available by request
Ad and sponsor solicitation package (print and digital)
Concert promotion materials (print and digital)
Volunteer opportunities
FY25 Marketing Plan
FY25 Resource Development Plan
Social media tracking: Monthly outreach and audience development/engagement
YouTube tracking: Video posting schedule and audience development/engagement.
Online Grant schedule
Online Media Checklist
The FY 2025 Budget was shown and discussed, and Mr. Burress moved to accept the 2025 Budget which was seconded and unanimously approved.
Budget and Finance Committee Report.
Jim Burress incorporated the previous discussion of the Budget as his report.
Dr. Noel added to Elaine’s discussion of the trial of the Choir Genius platform and stated that there were functions which did not work well, and she would prefer if Elaine used the other platforms.
Resource Development Committee Report:
Josh Krugman discussed the following;
Goals for individual donations both of Board members and members of the chorus. He discussed the proposed spring gala benefit concert for the Singers which is being planned as a recital by a hired artist. Chelsea Balser indicated that she was available, and Josh and Christine discussed the venue options.
Governance Committee Report.
Allison Picard stated that the Committee will be sending out a survey to the Board members in order to assess individual skills and strengths. She reminded the members to complete the Pledge Form and Conflict of Interest statement.
Seeing as there were no further questions or business, a motion was made to enter into Executive Session which was seconded and approved at 7:52 p.m. Executive Session was thereafter adjourned and the Regular meeting was concluded by motion and unanimous vote at 7:56 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
/s/ Brad Louison
Bradford N. Louison, Secretary
September 25, 2024