Present: Mari Emori, Sally Jackson (recorder), Susie Rubenstein, Julie Taber, Piper Christine, April Zilber, Cheryl Costantini, Tamara Danoyan, Emil Yanos, Sean Free Alcala, Barbara Prodaniuk, Iver Hennig, Jan Schachter, Vicki Gunter, Chris Johnson

Absent: Lee Middleman, Ren Lee, Scott Jennings    Guests: Pierre Bounaud, Deb Sullivan

The meeting began at 5:15 p.m.

Welcome (Mari)

Financial Report (Julie)

As of November 30, ACGA has $156,000 in the bank.  Net income in November was $3000. ACGA will receive more income from membership renewals during the month of December.

Julie presented a draft of the budget for 2026. Some administrative expenses will increase and others need adjustment.  The Board discussed these adjustments, which will be reflected in the next draft.  The Board voted unanimously (15 yes) to accept this Budget Proposal, with allowances for the adjustments we discussed.

 

Festival Budget Update (Piper)

Piper presented a 2026 budget for the Clay & Glass Festival, proposing a net revenue of about $23,000.

Exhibitions: Sausalito Show (Deb Sullivan and Jan Schachter)

Accepted artists for the show “Fiber and Fire” at the Sausalito Center for the Arts have now been notified. Photos and information have been sent to the Center, and ACGA has paid the American Craft Council for the juror’s services. Deb and Jan are still working out the placement of some artists’ work in the Center’s gift shop, and they are still looking for a volunteer in the South Bay/Peninsula who could deliver work from that region to the venue in February.

Exhibitions: Santa Cruz Show (Iver)

Iver and his team will meet with the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History later this week to finalize plans for a show there next year. It’s time to decide where to publicize the call for entries, and which entry platform to use.  The Board discussed the length of the submission window. The show will take place August 2026-January 2027.

Membership Report & ACC Partnership (Emil)

We have over 400 members at this time, about 260 of whom are festival-eligible.  Emil will know exactly how many festival-eligible members we have after the renewal period ends on December 31.

Emil has spoken to people at the American Craft Council about reciprocal membership possibilities.  ACC has proposed that we offer each other’s members a 15% discount to join our respective organizations. This discount would apply to one year of membership and would be purchased with a discount code on ACC’s and ACGA’s websites. The Board voted unanimously (15 yes) to pursue this reciprocal membership arrangement with ACC.  Emil will look into details, such as how we add this discount opportunity to our membership payment page, and how long this arrangement might last.  The ACC would like to start as soon as possible; Emil will report back to the Board in January.

ACC Handwork 2026 (Barbara)

Barbara has been in contact with Craft in America’s Handwork initiative, and would like to submit ACGA events to their 2026 calendar.  She needs photos, show descriptions, blurbs, etc. for each event that we want to post on the Handwork website.  There is competition for space, so the sooner we can get our information submitted, the better.

Festival Update (April)

April outlined several new projects proposed for the 2026 Clay and Glass Festival.

1) The Artists’ Party will take place in the shaded inner courtyard of the Art Center.

2) Messenger Events will get a Google phone number so that artists can receive notifications via text. The first step is to get festival-eligible artists to opt in to receiving these texts.

3) A limited number of artists may be allowed to pay a fee to opt out of working for two hours at the festival. This will be an experiment for 2026.

4) The facility rental fee has increased by $1000 to cover additional dumpster pick-up and other services.

5) Messenger Events will mount “You are Here” signs throughout the show with maps.

6) Reconciliation will no longer pursue correcting errors of less than $10.

7) April is still looking into renting compact water bottle refilling stations

Board of Directors Election 2025 & Guest Candidates Introduction (Mari)

The ballot for the ACGA Board of Directors election for the 2026-2027 term has gone out to our members. Three candidates are running for election: Pierre Bounaud, Haley Tessler, and Britt Jensen. Mari welcomed Pierre, a ceramic artist from San Diego.  He hopes to increase ACGA’s presence in Southern California. Ballots will be counted at the end of December.

Approval of a New Protocol for Approving Meeting Minutes (Mari)

Mari’s proposed changes to our protocol for approving Board Meeting Minutes each month was approved unanimously (15 yes). From now on, we will discontinue formal votes to approve the minutes. The Board will reserve formal votes for critical decisions, and we will approve the minutes by unanimous consent. This process will proceed as follows:

The Secretary will send out a draft of the minutes for comment. After receiving comments, the Secretary will update the minutes and redistribute them as “Revised Minutes—For Approval”. The Secretary will then request any additional corrections by 10 p.m. PT on the 6th of the following month. If no additional corrections are received by the 6th, the revised minutes will be considered “Approved by Unanimous Consent” and submitted for the next ACGA Newsletter.  Note that comments should always be submitted as “Reply All”, and minor spelling or grammar corrections can be handled editorially.

Upcoming All-Member Meeting: Agenda, Presentations, and Hospitality (Mari)

The ACGA All-Member Meeting will take place on January 24. It will be a hybrid meeting, with a gathering at the Palo Alto Art Center and an option to attend online. There will be a potluck lunch at the Art Center afterwards.  Sally, Jan, Tamara, and Cheryl will work on hospitality (coffee, etc.).  The meeting will be organized much like last year’s, including pre-recorded 3-minute studio tours by three of our members.

January Board Meeting Date (before All-Member Meeting)

Mari will send out a poll to determine the best date for the Board to meet the week before the All-Member Meeting.

                       

The meeting ended at 6:52 p.m.