Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
Minutes of Past Meetings
Minutes for April 14, 2000
Present: Helen Bechdel, Jim Dunne, Dave Eggler (Treasurer), Bob Fenichel, Lisa Horlein, Susan Jackson (Vice-president), Colina Jordan, Romayne Naylor (President), Colleen Pike-Blair (Secretary), Sam Totor (Arts Administrator)
Call to order: Meeting called to order at 8:05 pm., Colleen and Sam introduced to Susan J.
Minutes: Minutes for 3-17-00 were distributed, reviewed and approved.
Treasurer's report: Dave distributed a copy of the latest financial report, noting that little income is projected for the remainder of the fiscal year, and that the funds won from the Garver Fund for last year's Summer Sounds were half what we got the previous year. The financial report was approved as submitted.
Arts Administrator's report:
a) Correspondence: Sam received and will review the Guide to Pennsylvania's Major Funders and Community Foundations.
b) Sam filed an application for $1000 from the Garver Fund for Summer Sounds.
c) Centre County Arts League will hold its annual meeting on 4-26 at 7:00 pm to discuss recent initiatives and to consider new additions to the board. Romayne will try to attend this meeting. CCAL is looking into acquiring office space in the Garman Opera House. This engendered a discussion of the possible fate of the Garman. No action will be taken by the BHCA beyond a letter of support, requested by the CCAL, indicating to local representatives that we don't want another Laundromat.
d) PA Heritage Tourism Summit: a selection of roundtable workshops to be held in Monroeville on 5-03-00.
e) Local government grants: ads have gone out, flyers are in progress for those grants which BHCA administers.
Committee Reports:
a) Gamble Mill: new show coming up; cards announcing opening have gone out.
b) Old House Fair: no report
c) Summer Sounds: this season's concerts almost completely scheduled. Two bands are still being considered as possible replacements for Simple Gifts.
d) Film Forum: no report
e) Library Concerts: There was some discussion concerning location, because the last concert was overcrowded. Jim suggested that since overcrowding is rarely a problem, we should only need to provide a larger venue for specific performers.
f) Victorian Christmas: no report
g) Local government grants: see above
Old Business:
a) No new info on the CCAL art expo scheduled for September 2000.
b) Corporate sponsors meeting: Sam, True and Romayne met to comb through the membership list for the Chamber of Commerce in order to find potential corporate sponsors for specific funding objectives. Romayne and Sam explained that our attempt to gain sponsorship from local institutions is required by the PA Council on the Arts. Romayne gave some examples of matching local corporations with specific needs or projects of the BHCA, and added that this effort would be enhanced by a general fundraising appeal to other local businesses or individuals who are members of the Chamber of Commerce. A package to be presented to corporate targets (in a personal interview and not simply through the mail) would include the following: a BHCA brochure (still to be written); sample advertisements listing sponsors of previous BHCA events; a sampling of the mailed announcement cards for programs put on by the BHCA. There is no timetable in place yet regarding achievement of these goals. Romayne read a list of potential sponsors to see if there were any obvious connections between BHCA members and the local businesses being targeted.
New Business: Bob wants to do an excessive culinary event to happen at Victorian Christmas, with corporate sponsorship. Since he said he would take care of it, Bob received a great deal of support for his idea.
Jim promised to teach Sam all he knows about his computer program for advertising so that we don't have to purchase our own program to assist with this.
Meeting adjourned at 9:45 pm
Next meeting: Friday, May 19 at the home of Colina Jordan