MINUTES NJ ACDA Board Meeting – Approved
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Meeting called to order about 10:00 am by Jack Hill
I. Roll Call– Hill
Present: Dave Adams (present to talk about web design), Carol Beadle, Jason Bishop, Fred Ford, Patrick Hachey, Jack Hill, Trish Joyce, Deborah King, Laurie Lausi, Lorraine Lynch, Melissa Malvar-Keylock, Anne Matlack, Ginny Moravek, Barbara Retzko, Michael Schmidt, Tom Shelton, Helen Stanley, Amy Troxel, Noel Werner, John Wilson
Absent: Al Holcomb, Judith Nicosia
II. Correction of minutes from the November 23, 2013 meeting
Due to the time limits of the event, Jack surveyed the executive committee and received approval. Please make the following corrections to the minutes from last time: “Jenn” is spelled “Jen” with only 1 “n”
Motion to accept the corrected minutes: Moravek Second: Lausi Motion carried unanimously.
III. Treasurer’s Report – Hachey
Our balance is $22,115.21 as of January 2, before any payments out from today’s meeting. It does include our 3rd quarter allotment of $1,281. Outside of normal expenditures, nothing else is going on.
IV. Membership Report – Stanley
Chapter membership is exactly 500 members, broken down as follows:
Active – 253
Associate Membership – 6
Industry Membership – 1
Institution Membership – 3
Life Membership – 20
Paying Life Membership – 2
Retired – 23
Student – 192
Student membership is up about 40%. Students are actually 40% of our membership. ACDA has a high retention rate.
V. Old Business
A. Website Report and Proposal – Ford
Our current website is completed and up to date. Over the last two months, Fred has found the new website software very intensive. Currently, Amy Troxel’s handbook is on the NJACDA website. Summer Conference page is up on the site. Four new “What’s in your folder” this week and four new R&S pages. Please continue to update those. Fred passed around information: “Ideas for your R&S pages.” Fred is hoping to make the website easier for him to use and accessible by everyone. Fred asked John Wilson to co-chair the website with him. Fred would like John to take over the role of webmaster.
Dave Adams, music teacher and web designer from Roxbury School District, has put together a website quickly and he will be introducing new website idea proposals. Dave wanted to make it user friendly.
Information from the current website has been transferred to the new website. We can also have members sign up and have individual accounts on the website and post their job opportunities themselves. Members have the opportunity to have a log-in for the website. Once ACDA members sign up for email, we will have a working email for each person. Each member of the board now can edit everything on the entire website and can provide their own information on the website. Jack asked if you have to create the format but Dave assured us that all of the coding has been done. The idea is to not update any of the formatting so that it follows the format of the entire website. Individual board members could have individual access to specific sections or the entire site – endless options for access to update the website. John Wilson asked if members could edit the website if they just logged in. The answer is no; they can only post in the “Members Services” section. The webmaster has to approve your registration first.
Jen likes the organization of the site. Fred said there should be guidelines to post jobs. Jen suggested that when members post jobs, they get sent to the webmaster first for approval. The website can be set to have ACDA members only see sections. Privacy parameters can be customized to meet a variety of needs. Noel wants to make sure everyone removes outdated content if that is the case. Noel suggested training the board to use the new website. Dave suggested a timeline system to update the site in relationship to events that are running. Deborah asked if this was WordPress based. Dave answered “yes.” Melissa wants to keep the color scheme and branding looking the same.
Jack recognizes Fred as the guiding force in redesigning the website. Fred has done the lion’s share of the work. Jack directs students to the NJ ACDA website for Lori Lynch’s article on recruiting and retention. Jack is getting positive feedback for the articles on the website.
Jen suggested emailing her to let her know when new stuff is up on the site so she can include it in the e-blasts. She would like to highlight new information. Jack wants the e-blast to generate a link to the website. He would like less content in the e-blast and more direct links to the website. The new website is automatically re-formatted when people use their phones to access it.
Jack reminds the board that we approved the cost for developing the new website. Dave would like $500 for designing the website and $100 for a 2-hour teaching demonstration to the board.
Dave Adams was asked to leave the room so the board can discuss. Deborah talked about this website being a content-management system where everyone gets to contribute to the website. Jack reminded the board that the board voted to approve and investigate new options for the website. Fred would like to have everyone on the board understand and approve the new website. Noel supports Dave’s design because it is a low price and very functional.
Fred showed the board another proposal for the website by his son-in-law. The second proposal requires the webmaster to post all of the information.
Motion to accept the proposal for the web design by Dave Adams, including a $500 design fee and a $100 2-hour training session totaling $600: Ford Second: Hill
Approval – 19
Opposed – 0
Abstention – 1
Motion passed.
ACDA Board Member website training session will be Saturday, March 15, 2014, from10 am-12 pm (Location TBD)
B. Summer Conference 2014 – Werner
Summer Conference information is now live. The outline of the content is included on the website. The schedule includes a Plenary Session with Steven Sametz. All of the information is available on the website. Noel asked Steven Sametz to include a variety of difficulty levels in the reading packet. Noel wants to have 5-6 workshops offered each day. There will be an open rehearsal with the Princeton Singers with a first read of the two compositions from the composition competition.
This conference is unique because it includes a demonstration with the Princeton Singers, the Composition Competition, and a Student Conducting Practicum. Noel wants R&S chairs to provide an annotated list of repertoire. There will only be 3 larger reading packets instead of more smaller reading packets. Noel needs several presenters for various session titles for 50-minute presentations. Jason Bishop volunteered to present a session on “Takadimi.” Jack announced there will be a $10 discount for registering early for the conference. Mike Schmidt will talk to R&S chairs about submitting suggested reading session lists with annotations by April 1.
C. Composer’s Competition– Schmidt
The Composition Contest information is on the website. Anne asked to boost advertising on Facebook to reach more students. The contest is not limited to undergraduate students.
Motion to approve up to $50 to boost targeted groups on Facebook: Schmidt Second: Ford
Motion passed unanimously.
Anne Matlack asked Martin Sedek, teacher at Montclair, to be one of the commissioned composers for the Summer Conference. Dale Trumbore is the second commissioned composer for the Summer Conference. (See attachment.)
D. Multi-cultural Festival update – Sengin
Everything is on track for this event. Registration is open. No one is registered yet.
E. High School Festival – King
Deborah has had a challenge in scheduling this year. 29 groups are registered representing 22 different schools. 7 new choirs are coming to the festival. Deborah credits this to the website presence and e-blast.
F. NJMEA Choral Academy– Lausi
Amy and Laurie will attend the Choral Academy day to be the ACDA presence.
G. NJ All-State Junior High and Elementary Honor Choir Festival – Beadle
Auditions were last Saturday. There were:
1. 20 judges
2. 326 singers auditioned for the elementary choir
3. 131 accepted for the elementary choir
4. 211 singers auditioned for the junior high choir
Money – no budget. $4414 was earned from audition fees.
Elementary Choir Manager – there was no manager present for auditions. An email has been sent to the directors and Carol is keeping her fingers crossed someone answers the call. Carol wants to change how auditions are done for the honor choir festival. She will explore options to make it more user friendly and update technology. She is considering the OPUS program used for ACDA Eastern Division Honor choirs.
H. Middle School Festival – Troxel
Amy provided Jessica Harrison’s update. There are currently 5 schools registered but there is room for 7 schools in total. If two more schools do not register, they will divide the time up. Amy said it was a challenge to track down whether or not memberships are active and up-to-date.
VI. NEW BUSINESS
A. Collegiate Summit Report – Hill
13 choir directors from NJ colleges and universities attended the Summit. We are going to have a collegiate festival on March 28, 2015, at Rutgers University. The concept is simple and there is commitment from 8 directors they are going. The directors spoke about the summer conference and the directors wanted to have the Conducting Practicum specifically designed for students.
Jason Bishop is coordinating information to create a database of all of the teachers in the state. Amy suggested asking the region folks about obtaining contact information. Jack mentioned that college directors wanted the meeting minutes on the public and on the website.
B. Registration Timeline– Hill
Jack wants to have a consistency for registration events and when they go live. Jack said that every situation is different so perhaps it will need to be inconsistent.
C. Summer Conference 2015 – Schmidt
Mike is chairing the 2015 Summer Conference. Ysaye Barnwell is available and interested. The cost is approximately $2100 plus travel expenses
D. Boychoir Festival proposal– Malvar- Keylock
Melissa is proposing the NJ Boychoir Festival on November 5, 2014. She references a successful boychoir event in Pennsylvania for older singers. She is looking to target boys in grades 3-5, totaling 125 students. (See attached proposal handout.
Motion to approve NJ Boychoir Festival co-sponsored by NJ ACDA: Lausi Second: Lynch
Motion approved unanimously.
E. Mission Statement – This item was not covered
F. Additional Items/Concerns
Melissa recognized the NJ choirs performing at the ACDA Eastern Division Conference and the NJ Youth Chorus performance at the Superbowl. Helen Stanley recognized Chris Thomas for his efforts with the Region III Chorus.
Adjournment – time not noted.
Next meeting: May, 10, 2014 10 am, place TBA
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Sengin, with gratitude and slight assistance from Judith Nicosia