Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
Minutes of Past Meetings

 

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MINUTES

November 16, 1988

 

[DHE, 2008: This was a special BHCA meeting, facilitated by Ed Garcia with a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.  Today we might call this “visioning.”]

 

Present: Helen Bechdel (Vice-President), Joan Blasko (Treasurer), Kevin and Carol Burke, Jim and Gay Dunne, Rob Fisher and True Fisher (President), Rob Gannon, Joyce Hagen (Arts Coordinator), Anne Jacobs, Melady Kehm, Judith Schardt, Peter Schneeman (Secretary), and Joe Vasey.

 

1. True Fisher, President, introduced Ed Garcia, the "facilitator" for the evening, who conducted a "mini-retreat" during which we "took the pulse" of the organization--a look at where we have been, where we are now, and where we want to go from here. As everyone who was there will well remember, it was an intense session, so that what follows here can only be a very schematic reconstruction of the evening.

 

2. Ed Garcia outlined the evening's "program":

7:00  - 7:30 Prouds and sorries

7:30  - 8:00 Similarities and differences

8:00  - 8:30 Issues (problems)

8:30  - 8:45; 8:45 - 9:00 Key problems

9:30  - 10:00 Causes/Solutions

10:00 - 10:30 Action plan

10:30 – 10:45 Commitments

 

3. A long list of things we were proud about, and things we regretted was generated, as follows:

 

PRIDE	REGRETS
­Social outlet	Lack of community reception
Promotion of arts	“Native” vs “new”
Not overextending	Artsy newcomers/elitist image
Positive energy	Lack of recognition by Council
Still here	Not more experimental ventures
Accomplishments	Not enough money or members
Participation	Programs not grown
Gives town class	Lack of energy, burn out
Pride in the group	Historic restoration [? i.e. insufficient effect on?]
Programs maintained	Mailing list [i.e. not as complete as desired?]
Hiring of staff	Not enough new members
Public awareness	Image problem
No formal rules	We are elistist
Recognition more general	Need new projects and new people
Concert series	Missing “historical” aspect
In being  a member	Didn’t know about BHCA for 2 years
In having done things well	Publicity [not adequate?]
That we’re ready to add spark	Event awareness not sufficient
In doing something for community	More State College people not involved
The Gallery	Involvement with other groups weak
Grant awards	Lack of definition and purpose
Victorian Christmas
BHCA made town proud
“Doing a great job”
Quality events for the size of the organization
Having this retreat

 

4. A lively discussion of this obviously random and spontaneous and fairly redundant list followed, in order to zero in on its implications and to winnow out the two problems that seemed most important to most members, which proved to be: (1) Burnout, and (2) Lack of respect and cooperation from the local "power structure."

 

5. These two "key problems" were then discussed.

 

A. BURNOUT.

Another spontaneous list of the causes of burnout was generated:

Too much to do                        Other organizations

Low membership                        Professional obligations

Length of service                     Lack of interest

Deja vu                               Angst

Spread too thin                       Lack of impact

Nature of obligations                 Minimal feedback

Lack of apparent change               Taking on more than can do

Limited $ resources                   Unreasonable ideas

Lack of clear goals                   Doing some jobs alone

No new leaders                        Minimal reinforcement

Overwhelmed by what

  should/could be done

 

This list too was then boiled down to five primary causes of burnout:

1. Low membership

2. Lack of money

3. Other commitments

4. Too much to do

5. No new leaders

Solutions were then suggested:

Increase the visibility of the organization (re 1 & 2)

Expand the membership (re 1, 2, 4 & 5)

Mount a fundraising drive (patrons) (re 2)

Raise dues (re 2)

Quit other organizations (re 3 & 4)

Work harder (requires commitment from everyone) (re 4 & 5)

Do fewer events (re 2 & 4)

Hire full-time staff (re 4)

Co-sponsor events (re 1, 2 & 4)

Limit goals; change the nature of the organization (re 1- 5)

Retire (re 3 & 4)

Rotate officers (re 5)

Write more grants (re 2)

 

B. DEALING WITH THE "POWER STRUCTURE"

Problems here were attributed to (in estimated order of importance):

1. Different values, dissimilar interests, cliquishness, nastiness, punishment, resentment;

2. Lack of communication, basic misunderstanding;

3. Turf struggle, perception of BHCA as a threat, fear of loss of power, resentment of BHCA's accomplishments;

4. "History" and fear of change.

 

Solutions to these problems were then suggested:

 

Generate a positive image for BHCA

"Infiltrate" other organizations

Run for office

Designate a PR person

Bring in members from "their" organizations

Accept and respect differences

Do our own thing well

 

In the course of this discussion it was pointed out that the issue may be less significant than it might seem, since a considerable amount of the friction in the past has been over various aspects of development of Talleyrand Park, and that the major items of contention in that regard seem to have been resolved.

 

Nevertheless, Rob Fisher, Rob Gannon and Anne Jacobs will meet to discuss ways to improve communications with other groups in town.

 

6.  An ACTION PLAN and COMMITMENTS were developed

     It was agreed that we need 5 to 15 new working members, and in order to achieve this, the following methods were suggested:

Personal recruitment/nominations

“Raid” other groups

Clarify BHCA’s image

Mount a PR campaign

Attract new people to town

True Fisher agreed to find out, as far as possible, why different people have dropped out of BHCA after showing some initial interest.

Joe Vasey agreed to “coordinate short bios” [?]

The Arts Coordinator will be responsible for keeping lists of persons who attend BHCA events, with an eye toward “recruitment.”

Anne Jacobs will be going through voter registration lists to look for potential candidates for school board or Council positions, and will also look for potential BHCA members [somehow].

­

It was also suggested that "key contacts" should be designated, i.e. persons who will be responsible for inviting particular individuals to come to a meeting, explaining to them ahead of time what will be going on, and in general making them feel comfortable in the context of the meetings, where a lot of "shorthand" conversation can go on -- clear enough to those of us who have been around a while, but not so to newcomers.

 

Peter Schneeman and Melady Kehm will be responsible for keeping tabs on these various aspects of recruitment, to see if they are going forward. Melady will also provide a regular (every meeting or every other meeting) short review of how we've been doing in regard to our needs assessment list, picking each time a special point or two for discussion.

 

Regarding LACK OF ADEQUATE FINANCIAL RESOURCES, the following reasons were cited:

Competition

Lack of imagination in fund-raising campaign

Lack of visibility

Too few paying members

Our current sources of income are:

Ad hoc fundraisers (it seemed generally agreed that we stick to this type -- i.e, imaginative, interesting ones that are satisfying to be involved with).

Art gallery (commissions and grant)

Brass plaques (Rob Gannon)

Memberships

Concert donations

Grants

 

Regarding memberships, it was agreed that a solicitation letter should go out, to be drafted and edited by the Dunnes and Peter Schneeman, Jim Dunne and Melady Kehm are responsible for concert donations, and the Arts Coordinator is responsible for writing grant proposals (overseen by the Arts Coordinator Committee).

 

7. Ed Garcia was thanked and generously applauded for the energy and efficiency he brought to this brain-storming session, and the meeting was adjourned at 11:00 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Peter Schneeman

Secretary