Board Meeting Apr 2023

Board Meeting  April 11, 2023, 9:30 am CST   Zoom/Gallery
Our Mission is to develop, promote, and encourage an interest in the arts.
Board members present included Kristi Kuder, Judi Celaschi, Shanna Cramer, Sue Kalseim, Ann Smith, Kathrine McDowell and Mary Jo Wentz.  An additional attendee was Debbie Ness.

The agenda was reviewed and approved.  Mary Jo moved to approve the Minutes from the March 14 Board Meeting.  The motion was seconded by Sue; the motion carried.

The Financial Report was presented by Debbie and Ann.  Since fundraising is a key focus, it was recommended that a separate report and graph be provided for just the income from fundraising, excluding grant income.  Sue moved to approve the financial report.  Seconded by Judi; the motion carried.   
     
Committee Updates 

• Art & Craft Affair:  Currently there are 23 registered.  A mailing will be going out shortly.
• Building/Roof:  The repair of the roof has been completed.
• Grants:  The grant-writing committee consists of Mary Jo, Kristi, Sue, Ann and Debbie. 

• The grant from Minnesota Arts for $21,500 was approved.  This grant will cover the expenses for Leadership Retreat, two paid positions for communications, and a volunteer coordinator.
• The Blandin Grant will support the hiring of a program manager.
• The LRAC Legacy grant submitted for workshops and the kite festival is pending.
• Education Grant for $35,000 will be submitted by May 19.   This will enable 48 fourth-grade students to come to the CAC for 4 weeks of art classes.    Mary Jo and Kristi will be meeting with the fourth-grade administration to coordinate.
• Walmart Grant was investigated by Sue.  She advised that AOTL needs to be registered on the Front Door Cyber website.  This site provides viewership to multiple corporations.  Debbie will register the Art of the Lakes.
• The Department of Transformation grant for the Unity project was not approved.

• Gallery:  Art that has been there for 2 years will be taken down April 12-14.  Artists will be notified to pick up their artwork.  New artwork is due April 27.  The hanging committee is scheduled for May 3, with the Gallery re-opening on May 5.   
•  Marketing: A postcard of summer events has been created by Kristi for bulk mailing.   
• Membership: Memberships are down from last year.  From the volunteer list, Debbie will identify those who will make calls encouraging membership renewal and for galley shifts.  
• Plein Air:  Paint Out calendar is complete and on the website.  An additional mailing will be sent encouraging additional artists to register.
• Studio Tour:  Registration is 38, 15 less than last year. Kristi is creating the flyer for marketing.

• Workshops:   The summer schedule is complete and posted on the website.  Shanna and Kathrine are marketing through social media, newspapers and local event calendars and bulk mailing postcards.  Kathrine needs volunteers for the workshops.  
• CAC:  The team assignments are due before the April 19 meeting.  Kristi requested that the work follow the layout established by the Performance Space team.   The document is stored in Google Workspace/Creative Art Center/Visioning folder.

Old Business 

• Tech Update: An invoice for $595 was received from Entente Marketing for setting up Google Workspace.  Kathleen moved to approve the payment.  Shanna seconded; motion carried. 
  • Ann volunteered to contact Tom Kuder for clarification on his Entente proposal for ongoing technical support. Kathrine will also reach out to another technical resource.  
  • Debbie requested that documents In Asana that need to be saved be moved to Google Workspace before the end of April.
• Endowment/Legal Counsel:  No update currently.   Ann recommended contacting Blandin to request a referral of someone to provide legal counsel for non-profit organizations.
• Railroad Park:  Debbie met with the city and determined the best course of action is to release the property back to the city. The property will be available for the Arts and Crafts Fair, and other AOTL events.  Judi moved to release the park property back to the city; Kathrine seconded.  Motion passed.  

New Business  

• For displaying artists who cannot work in the Gallery due to personal hardship, the Board determined that requests will be reviewed, and exceptions made on an individual basis.
• Lynn Hansen has donated his artwork currently in the Gallery, to the AOTL. Debbie will send a thank you note and receipt.  Artwork donations will be kept in a specific area in the basement and potentially could be used for fundraising.
• New Board Members:  A survey email has been sent to those interested in being on the Board.  Responses are pending.
• Art in Business:  Catrina Ball, Battle Lake Motel has picked out 12 prints that will be on display in their motel rooms, with credits to the artists and AOTL.  The 10% discount will come from the AOTL commission. 
  • It was suggested that we explore a ‘Subscription to Art’ program for local businesses.  
• Corporate sponsors:  This topic will be added to the fund-raising committee agenda.
• Fundraising:  Fundraising will be a topic on the Leadership Retreat agenda.  We received seven responses for the ‘request of art’ to be used for donor gifts.
• Annual member meeting on May 16, 6:00 pm at LACC.  Kathrine, Shanna, Sue and Kristi are on the committee to organize. A presentation on the new CAC will be on the agenda.

Leadership Retreat:  Scheduled for May 17 at Glendalough, the event will be led by Catherine Stein.  Mary Jo and Kristi are completing arrangements.
Internship:   Debbie and Kristi will attend the Battle Lake high school career fair in pursuit of art-minded students to assist with AOTL summer activities.
The Animal Humana Society in Fergus Falls has reached out to see if we have an artist that would be willing to donate the sale of their art to their organization as part of their fundraising initiative.  It was suggested that we put the request out to the membership.

Next Board Meeting is scheduled for May 9, 2023, at 9:30 am CST.
Ann moved to adjourn; seconded by Kathleen.