Present: Mari Emori, Julie Taber, Cheryl Costantini, Lee Middleman, Susie Rubenstein, April Zilber, Jan Schachter, Vicki Gunter, Barbara Prodaniuk, Ren Lee, Tamara Danoyan, Sonja Hinrichsen, Iver Hennig, Chris Johnson, Emil Yanos, Sally Jackson (recorder), Scott Jennings, Trudy Chiddix  Absent: none

Guests: Piper Christine, Sean Alcala, Haley Tessler, Diana Adams

Welcome New Guests and Bid Farewells (Mari)

Mari welcomed members who rejoined our meeting as guests and introduced a new member guest, Haley Tessler.  She also offered the Board’s gratitude to Trudy Chiddix and Sonja Hinrichsen, both of whom will step down from the Board at the end of the year.  Trudy will move to Santa Barbara and resume her work with clay and glass, while Sonja will return to Europe to look for studio and living space.

 

Review the Board Timeline 2025 (Mari)

Mari has prepared a draft of the Board Timeline to guide the Board’s activities through the next calendar year.  She will work with Ren, Vicki, April, Chris, and Emil to finalize the Timeline in the next weeks.

Festival Planning Updates (April)

April and Piper (who will serve as ACGA’s new Festival Treasurer) met recently with Messenger Events to discuss the 2025 Clay & Glass Festival.  April reported that volunteer job descriptions will be reviewed by Susie and Julie. She is open to suggestions for how to assign more volunteer hours before and after the festival, since artists often find it difficult to serve during the festival.  The Board concurred with April that volunteering is a good way to build and strengthen the ACGA community.  Nevertheless, some artists ask to pay not to volunteer, which could provide hourly pay for hired help at the CERF+ table, for example.  April will consider how these options might appear on the festival application.  Ren suggested that ACGA find other ways to build community, especially online.  Mari proposed ordering more water bottles and Cheryl offered to explore options.

Financial Report (Julie)

As of the end of November, our assets totalled $125,000.  Income for the month was $1500 and expenses were $1200.  Our net profit for the year thus far is $8500.  We expect much of our membership income to come in during the month of December.  Emil and Julie are working on issues with renewal on our website.

 

2025 Budget (Julie)

Julie presented a budget for 2025.  She used information from last year’s finances as well as input from various committees.  April is still working out festival plans and finances but  recommended raising the ad design expense from $600 to $1000.  The Board voted unanimously to accept the current 2025 Budget with that change, and with the understanding that other adjustments will be made as needed (18 yes, 0 no).

 

ACGA/NY2CA Gallery Show: Arts of Fire (Vicki)

Vicki Gunter is organizing the exhibition “Arts of Fire” with Vickie Marchand at NY2CA Gallery in Benicia.  A call for entries will go out on February 21, 2025.  She proposed opening the call to non-members for a slightly higher fee that could include a discount on first-time ACGA membership dues.  This would boost income from the call, and more importantly it would bring in some new members. The Board agreed with Vicki that ACGA should have more exhibitions in addition to planning the festival each year.  Vicki proposed paying those who organize exhibitions because of the amount of work. The Board discussed the role of exhibitions for our diverse mix of members.

 

All-Member Meeting Jan. 25, 2025 (Mari) 

The All-Member Meeting will take place in two ways: in-person at the Palo Alto Art Center, and online via Zoom on January 25, 2025, 10 –11:30 a.m.  Those meeting at the Art Center will then have a potluck lunch. The agenda will include introducing the new Board members, gathering feedback from members as to what they would like from ACGA, watching some virtual studio tours, and summarizing our accomplishments in 2024.  Mari suggested conducting a member survey prior to the All-Member Meeting, and using the collected data as a foundation for discussion. The officers will work on developing the meeting agenda and will seek input from the Board in the coming weeks. Jan proposed making multiple announcements to members leading up to the meeting to increase awareness and attendance.

Festival Jury Summary (Chris)

The recent festival jury had 16 applicants, 5 of whom were accepted.  Some of those who were rejected requested and received notes explaining the jurors’ decisions.  Chris would like to set up a pool of mentors for those who apply in the future.  He would also like to improve our description of what jurors need to see in the images submitted, and he would like more applications from glass artists.  He will be organizing his list of potential jurors in order to smooth recruitment for the next round. Mari suggested having two spring and fall jury coordinators, forming a team, or doing one jury per year, but most seemed to agree that two juries, in March and October, served our purposes better. Tamara expressed interest in assisting Chris with the jury process.

The meeting adjourned at 7:00pm.

Next Meeting: January 20, 2025, 5:15pm via Zoom