WMC Board Mtg, April 21, 2017

Dear Woodbridge Music Club Members:

We held a WMC Board Meeting on Friday, April 21and had a fairly good turn out for the meeting with 12 members present. All of the officers were in attendance, and 13 committees were represented by the members present. I have attached the agenda we followed for the meeting, however we did discuss quite a few other items that were not reflected on the agenda. Our discussions on various topics were lengthy in some cases, but I believe we got a lot of issues out on the table and either made decisions or determined a way ahead to address many of the issues I mentioned in the email announcing the meeting.

I made some opening remarks concerning the future of the WMC. This quickly led to an open discussion that included most of the other topics on the agenda, but not necessarily in the order listed. From this discussion it became apparent that our membership wants the WMC to continue despite falling interest and participation, but that we need to focus on those areas that have been the most successful for the club. A suggestion was made to establish a committee to review this more closely and come back to the board with recommendations for the future of club activities. I asked for volunteers and the following individuals will serve on this review board: Betty McCary, Zuill Bailey, June Shuffett, Debora Madsen, and Elaine Brady, who will chair this committee. The committee will report back to the club in the June meeting and their proposals will be put to a vote. The committee will look at:

* Advantages/disadvantages of a Festival Only Club
* Advantages/disadvantages of combining with the Piedmont Club
* What club events can be pared down or eliminated to meet the level of participation of members (some discussion on this subject at the meeting today)
* How many guest artist concerts should we sponsor each year; what kind of soloists or groups should we bring in; how much are we willing to pay the guest artists; and how can we increase attendance at these concerts.
* Should we continue the Christmas in Occoquan as we have done in the past.

The board came to consensus that the members concert will be eliminated, and that the Holiday House Concert will take its place. In the discussion of the house concerts, we agreed to eliminate the Spring House Concert next year as well as the House Concert Chair position. The Holiday House Concert and Potluck will be the only venue for members to perform in next year.

The 2016-2017 Scholarship Program was discussed in some detail. The piano competition once again did well this year, however the number of applicants was down across all categories, and the Vocal and Instrumental scholarship competitions were cancelled due to a lack of student participation. After discussion, the board decided to keep all competitions for next year on the books, but with the option to cancel again if participation does not justify the cost of paying the judges. We also discussed the possibility of using the piano judges for the vocal and Instrumental competitions in lieu of hiring separate judges if we only have a few applicants. The board did not come to consensus on this, so this issue will remain open for now. Scholarship amounts will remain the same for next year.

The board voted to keep the same number of student recitals for next year (a total of 3, with the last recital highlighting Gold Cup students and Senior Scholarship Winners along with other students who wish to play in the last recital). Although there was less participation in the November and February student recitals this year, the board members agreed that Saturday afternoon at 2:00 PM time worked out much better than late afternoon on Sunday as had been done in previous years.

During the meeting, members present volunteered for the following positions:

Treasurer: Emily Baird
Senior Scholarship Chair: Betty McCary
Kiki Thomaidis Scholarship Chair: Rudene Jones
Student Recital Chair: Grace Reid

A key position which remains open is the Communications Chair/Webmaster - I am looking for someone with the right computer skills to fill this position. We need to fill this very soon so the new person can link up with Bill Riski and effect a smooth transition for this position before he departs for South Carolina in June.

Zuill Bailey delivered the Treasurers Report, highlighting that financially the club is healthy with a $20, 604.54 balance. He noted that there will be some remaining expenditures this year for the guest artist performance by the Tekalli Duo on April 29, and for the Senior Scholarship Competition.

We closed the meeting with a report from Elaine Brady on the upcoming Virginia Federation of Music Clubs Convention to be held May 18-20 in Woodbridge at the Hilton Garden Inn. Elaine has encouraged all members to attend the convention, particularly the Workshops, Master Classes, and concerts on Thursday and Friday nights. This concluded the Spring Board meeting and we adjourned.

Musically Yours,

Paul Brady
President, Woodbridge Music Club