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

 

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Meeting of May 13, 2005

Home of Gay & Jim Dunne,

222 N. Allegheny St., Bellefonte PA

 

Present:  Romayne Naylor, president; Gay Dunne; Jim Dunne; Ziggy Coyle; David Bauchspies; True Fisher; Rob Fisher; Kitty Wunderly, Arts Administrator.

 

1.   The meeting was called to order by Romayne at 8:06 p.m.

 

2.   The minutes of the meeting of April 1, 2005, were reviewed. True moved to accept the minutes as presented; seconded by Jim; unanimously passed.

 

3.   Arts Administrator’s report: Kitty said that a grant request for $2,000 for Summer Sounds 2005 has been submitted to the Garver Fund.  The BHCA printer has been repaired, the problem was a software glitch that was resolved by phone with Brother.  She reminded everyone of the dedication of the airmail pilots’ memorial at the American Philatelic Center this Sunday, during the Big Spring Festival.

 

4.   Committee reports: 

  1. Gallery at the Gamble Mill: Jim reported that the “Art of the Bellefonte Schools” exhibition had a very successful opening reception, with live music by students.  (Kitty added that she had just received a phone call from someone wanting to buy 5-6 of the pieces, though none were listed for sale. The caller was referred to Karen Baker.)  Sharon is working on the Pastel Society exhibition, to be hung on June 4, opening reception on the 7th.

    The committee’s application for a 2005 Local Government Grant was approved, and includes $300 designated for full-color publicity postcards.  Jim said the online printer’s prices for cards are running as little as $125 per 1,000 cards.  Specifically, size 4¼ x6” cards are $135/1,000, and size 5½ x8½” (size of the current cards from Grove Printing) are $250/1,000. 

     Kitty asked that efforts be made to consolidate the card design process in future, it can be time-consuming and inefficient when several people are collaborating on different parts of the procedure, as happened with the Pastel Society card. The design was very nice but the artist was not a BHCA member and had no idea of the specifics of the format and there was much back and forth to get the appropriate size, wording, etc. of the front of the card.

     Jim said that the committee expects eventually to use two venues, the Mill and the match factory. Rob suggested that the APS site could be used for shows and the Mill as a continuous revolving juried sale place for local artists – one item sells, another replaces it.

  1. Old House Fair: no report.
  2. Summer Sounds:  Kitty said that there will be 9 concerts this season, planning is well underway.
  3. Film Forum: Kitty pointed out that $1,000 was received last year from the Garver Fund, designated for the Film Forum but not yet used.  Ziggy asked about the guidelines for the Forum, and Gay replied that often the selected films are documentaries, but this is not always the case, entries are not limited to documentaries; also, some preference is given to Pennsylvania filmmakers, but no restrictions apply. 

     Gay is the only member of the Film Forum Committee right now; Ziggy agreed to join the committee, as did Rob.

It was agreed that the Garman works well for Forum showings, it’s necessary to book well in advance, however.  The APS might be another possibility as a venue when the exhibition hall space is renovated.

It may be possible to get on a circuit of some of the other existing film festivals and receive material that would be formatted for movie theater showing.  The “Forum” part of the event isn’t vital but it has been rewarding in the past to have the filmmaker present and opportunity for audience comments.

  1. Sunday Afternoons at the Library:  Jim said that 2004/05 was a very successful season.  There were 58 people at the final concert, Jessie Barth & Friends, which featured show tunes with family appeal and some child participation.  Diane Gold Toulson has agreed to be the organizer again next season.
  2. Victorian Christmas Arts & Crafts Show:  True said that 3 venues will be used: the YMCA, the Bush House, and the Am. Philatelic Center.  Victorian Xmas will provide a shuttle to include the match factory.  True will attend the Victorian Xmas meeting this coming Monday evening.
  3. Local Government Grants: This year’s award checks were mailed yesterday from the Borough.  Gay said that a number of new applicants were funded this year, including Rick Hirsch of the Valley Jazz Orchestra, who will be composing a piece inspired by Bellefonte, to debut at the Garman.
  4. Talleyrand Park Committee:  rue said that the supply of walking tour maps is almost gone and she is soliciting advertisers to support the costs of printing more.  Little money is made on this project, but any profits will go to the cast-iron picnic table project.  The committee currently includes True, Carolyn DuBois, Kevin Musick, with Sue Hannegan and Harry Billett from the Borough.  Bonnie Leathers also will be joining the committee soon.

 

5.   Old Business

  1. Victorian Christmas cacheted cover fund-raising project: This idea was discussed approvingly at the last meeting (April 1, 2005) but no decision was made. Kitty asked for an official vote because the project involves expenses. The price quoted by Colorano, the silk cachet maker, was about $1.25 per cover, minimum order 500, plus 37 cents in postage for each cover for sale. 

Jim moved that a silk-cacheted cover with a special 2005 Victorian Christmas postal marking be prepared for sale at the Arts & Crafts Show; seconded by Rob; unanimously passed.  Kitty said she had talked to Michelle Montes about designing the pictorial cancel, which has to be submitted to and approved by the U.S. Postal Service well in advance of the date requested.

 

6.   New Business

  1. Bellefonte Visioning Project: Romayne reported on the session (the public Visioning meeting in April) that she and Kitty had attended, after which Bill Fontana, executive director of the state Downtown Project, was supposed to discuss the matter of Bellefonte nonprofit groups in relation to a Main Street Program. Romayne had received confusing information about this issue from some Visioning Committee people, and BHCA members at the April 1 meeting were concerned about the details.

     Further confusing the situation, Mr. Fontana hadn’t been informed about this post-meeting session, but courteously stayed anyway and talked to the small group of nonprofit representatives, primarily from BHCA and Historic Bellefonte Inc.

     Bill Fontana said that towns with Main Street Programs usually set up new nonprofit entities to oversee the project.  This actually was the origin of HBI, when Bellefonte was in the Main Street Program in the early 1980s.  HBI seemed unwilling to act as overseer should the town want to get into Main Street again.  There are many economic, personnel, and other obligations for a Main Street oversight group.

     Romayne said that Bill Fontana would be available to discuss the matter further at the Borough Building on May 17 at 5 p.m., before the last Visioning meeting.

          Note:  BHCA will be marking its 30th anniversary in September 2006.

 

7.   Next meeting: June 10, 2005, place to be announced.

 

8.   Adjournment: Jim moved to adjourn at 9:42 p.m.; seconded by Kitty; unanimously passed.

 

 

BHCA Financial Report

May 13, 2005

 

 

7/1/01-6/30/02

7/1/02-6/30/03

7/1/03-6/30/04

7/1/04-

5/13/05

2004-2005

FY Budget

INCOME

 

 

 

 

 

  Interest

192

584

323

215

500

  Other Administration

2,341

3,094

2,992

3,148

2,685

  Film Forum

175

37

77

1,000

70

  General fundraising

2,765

2,085

4,163

2,625

2,400

  Gallery at Gamble Mill

2,436

1,713

2,040

430

2,000

  LGG Administration

0

0

0

0

0

  Gannon Jazz

0

0

2,022

3,756

5,000

  Summer Sounds

2,778

1,198

1,953

2,951

2,000

  Victorian Christmas

4,445

3,670

4,670

4,025

3,670

  Other projects

_65_

_40_

_30_

_289_

50

  TOTAL

15,197

12,421

18,269

18,439

18,375

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXPENSES

 

 

 

 

 

  Administration

6,215

8,546

7,525

5,097

7,085

  Film Forum

849

963

1,121

0

1,000

  General fundraising

128

237

420

185

255

  Gallery at Gamble Mill

3,193

2,139

1,720

1,652

2,275

  25th Anniversary

775

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

  LGG Administration

602

680

581

1,447

715

  Library Concerts

0

0

400

250

0

  Gannon Jazz

0

0

3,183

2,109

5,000

  Summer Sounds

2,315

1,978

2,146

751

1,955

  Victorian Christmas

2,649

2,280

2,768

2,436

2,320

  Other projects

_0_

_0_

_0_

_250_

120

  TOTAL

16,725

16,822

19,863

14,176

20,725

                                                           

ASSETS 5/13/2005                                        

   Checking                                 3,892           General BHCA             17,443

   Savings                                      630           Gannon Fund                  1,731

   MM Fund                               8,270            Talleyrand Park              1,618   

   CD’s                                      8,000             TOTAL                       20,792

   TOTAL                                 20,792

                                                         

Submitted: David H. Eggler, Treas.