Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
Minutes of Past Meetings
Minutes for March 4, 1986 Meeting
Members in attendance: Jacqueline Rose (Arts Coordinator), Rob Fisher, Peter Schneeman, Anne Jacobs (President), Gay Dunne (Secretary) & Jim Dunne, Jeanne Murphy
The meeting was called to order at 8:30 P.M. by Anne Jacobs at the home of the Dunnes. Peter Schneeman moved that the minutes of the February meeting he approved as read; Jim Dunne seconded the motion.
No Treasurer's report was given as no financial transactions had occurred since the last meeting.
Old Business
Arts Coordinator: Jacqueline Rose, the new Coordinator, was introduced to the group. Payment of the first installment of her stipend as outlined in the job description was approved.
The policy recently developed by the Arts Coordinator Committee to extend the Coordinator's services to member organizations not identified in the current job description was presented by Gay Dunne for the membership's approval:
The requested services should by delineated by a project contract written and signed jointly by the member organization and the Arts Coordinator, describing the project and estimating the maximum number of hours required to complete the project. A copy of this contract shall he sent to the Arts Coordinator Committee before the project begins. The fee will be paid to BHCA on completion of the project, based on an hourly rate of $7.50 for the actual number of hours spent on the project.
It is hoped that the same organization will then pledge a lump sum in support of the Arts Coordinator's position for the following fiscal year in return for specific services commensurate with the pledge amount. The details of this arrangement would he established at a joint meeting of the Arts Coordinator, the Arts Coordinator Committee, and a representative of the member organization. Payment of the lump sum to BHCA would be prorated to conform to BHCA’s payment schedule to the Arts Coordinator.
Organizations or individuals who are not BHCA members may also contract for the Arts Coordinator's services at $15.00/hour. The above policy was unanimously approved.
Peter Schneeman then alerted us that the grant deadline for the support of the Arts Coordinator position for 1986-87 was imminent (probably 4/1/86). It was decided that Ms. Rose and Peter Schneeman would collaborate soon on the application to meet the deadline and perpetuate the position. Because of the time element, it will be prepared without firm pledges from PPA and BLOC. It was noted that our matching funds ay he partly derived from Gallery events and consignments from art sales (see Gallery report below).
"Summer Sounds” Concerts: The membership then deliberated on the disposition of the $400 collected at the concerts. The concert of a separate hank account for honoraria and/or a new sound system per the committee’s request was discussed, but discarded in favor of leaving the money in the Treasury to maximize our matching funds. Rob Fisher urged awarding autonomy to the “Summer Sounds” committee because of their excellent management of the series and complying with their requests for expending the concerts proceeds insofar as our budget allows.
New Business
Gamble Mill Gallery Committee: The attached committee report prepared by Pat Casher was reviewed and the following points discussed:
#4. Gallery promotion: Jeanne Murphy, speaking as the Mill owner, stated that she would include the current Gallery event in the bar's advertisements in the spirit of cooperation. She did footnote her objection to sharing any promotional costs for CDT advertising because of the paper’s exorbitant commercial rates.
The idea of a poster to publicize a Gallery season was very appealing, especially designed gratis by Lanny Sommese. Jacqueline Rose suggested asking Lanny to design a shopping bag in lieu of the poster. The bag could be subsidized by displaying tasteful advertising of area merchants and would be a more marketable item and therefore an income generator. The group approved of this suggestion, so the Gallery committee will explore this further.
#5b. Hand bills/mailers: Anne Jacobs recommended using a basic postcard format similar to Sunday Afternoons mailers with text change for the individual event. Distribution could be primarily via the BHCA mailino list with additional cards supplied to the exhibiting artist for his/her private following. Postcards are an effective publicity form but are feasible only for long-term projects as the initial expense of thp plates is high. A portion of the $700 unexpended from last year’s Gallery grant could be used.
#6. Agreement: Rob Fisher stressed its importance in reducing the owner’s liability for arts works on display. It was suggested that we ask Joe Green’s assistance in developing a basic agreement.
Although only one artist, Vincent Carducci, applied to exhibit at the spring show, Rob Fisher attested to his fine reputation as an artist.
The Gallery committee report was basically approved. It was sagely observed that the onlv fund-raising aspect of Gallery operations would appear to be sales of art works by consignment, artists’ entry fees, or events with admission charges (so far unplanned). We do need to examine the long-term plans of Gallery with the eye of fiscal reason.
Craftsmen’s Grant: Peter Schneeman informed us of a PCA qrant to support an apprentice program for craftsmen sponsored by a local arts agency. It has special appeal as the funds are non-matching. But, alas, the application deadline is 4/1/86!@
The meeting adjourned soon thereafter, at about 10 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Gay D. Dunne, Secretary
T0: BHCA members
FROM: Pat Casher
SUBJECT: Gamble Mill Gallery
DATE: March 4, 1986
I met briefly with Ted Conklin on Feb. 25. The Gallery is available for our use beginning April 1; although the opening of the bar and restaurant will probably follow by a couple of weeks. Issues needing addressed include:
l. Consignment sales. Ted says the LCB will not permit sales by the owner. He's open to any workable plan that places the responsibility for sales on BHCA or entity other than the owner. We need to explore ways of accommodating Ted's concerns, the law, and our desires.
2. Gallery calendar. Obviously, needed to avoid scheduling conflicts. While we'll be trying to use the gallery as much as possible, we will be sharing the space with the owner; who may want to schedule exclusive use for his/her events; and with other local groups such as PPA.
It seems most appropriate that BHCA act as the coordinator of the calendar to take pressure off the owner. Duplicate calendars could be kept by Arts Coordinator and on-site at Gallery.
3. Frequency of shows. Goal of 8 per year.
4. Gallery promotion. By Arts Coordinator with input from Gallery committee. Historic Bellefonte Inc. {HBI} promotion committee (including Melady Klausmeier and myself) will join in promotion effort. We should approach owner about possibility of shared cost arrangement for promotion.
I approached Lanny Sommese about producing a poster promoting: A. Bellefonte B. the arts in Bellefonte C. historic Bellefonte D. any or all of the above. Lanny offered to design free of charge; HBI will pay for printing (depending on cost) if HBI can use as a fundraiser. I need some feedback from BHCA on this.
5. Openings. We need to develop a standard package to offer artists. Openings will be appropriate for some shows; and not for others. Suqgestions are:
A. News release
B. Hand bills/mailer
C. Food/beverage package on opening night (anywhere from Vienna sausaqes and Ripple to?) Possibility of contracting with owner to provide package is a real plus. A wide range of possibilities available when kitchen and bar is operating. Need feedback here also.
6. Agreement. Some brief form agreement between artist and BHCA seems necessary to remove potential conflicts over consignment sales, duplication of images for promotion, etc. and to reduce responsibility/liabillty of owner and BHCA regarding damage, theft, etc.
The Gallery committee discussed these and other concerns at a meeting on Feb. 9. At that time we also viewed slides of work by Mary Todenhoft, an MFA candidate at the University.
The committee decided to place an ad in the CDT, copy reproduced here, inviting artists to submit slides by March 10. Ad appeared twice and was billed to BHCA. President approved expenditure.
Only one artist (Vincent Carducci of Tusseyville) has submitted to date. We need help here. Carducci and Sue Gephart, as I understand, are co-chairinq a show at the Art Alliance building. Maybe they could make some referrals to us. Perhaps arts coordinator could address letter to them.
I'll schedule meeting of Gallery committee as soon after March 10 as possible. I'll need some active help pulling this first show together as I will be in Boston March 18-29.