EIGHTH MEETING OF THE YEAR 2004 -
TOWN OF
Canada Room,
MINUTES
ATTENDANCE:
Members
David
Banfield, Chair
Evelyn
Bailey
Alex
Chiu
Neil
Fernandez
Brian
Harvey
Maxine
Houghton
Jim
Jones
Pat
Kincaid
Genny
Landis
Michael
Landry
George
McKelvey
Mario
Miranda
Cindy
Ranieri
Joyce
Scobie
Regrets
Helen
Bowkett
Gayle
Brocklebank-Vincent
Laurie
Burns
Elaine
Rubin
Jim
Sales
Gary
Unitas
Staff
Barb
Roth, Director, Recreation & Culture Services
David
Scott, Theatre Manager
Debbie
Watson, Theatre Secretary
The
meeting convened at the hour of
Eighth
Markham Theatre Board Meeting - 2004,
Page 2.
1.0 REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR
David Banfield advised that a couple
of comments had been received with respect to the letter that was sent out
regarding meeting quorums. It was sent
to everyone, including Councillors, because board members at the September
meeting expressed concern. Nick Sidoti
has resigned to be on another town committee, and Laurie Burns has also
resigned. He requested that Council make
attendance a high priority when recruiting new board members. He apolo- gized if anyone had been
upset by the letter.
Alex Chiu agreed that it was the right
thing to do, and he was not offended.
Attendance is also a problem on other town committees. Applicants are always told that if they miss
three meetings in a row, they are off the committee.
Brian Harvey added that he was very
supportive of the letter. He did not
feel it was offensive. Active
participation is important. A lot of
people are not even informing others that they will be absent.
Maxine Houghton thought it would be
helpful to have a phone number to call after hours if board members find they
would be late or absent.
Michael Landry suggested that sending
the letter was justified. It may be that
there are too many people sitting on the board to be effective.
George McKelvey agreed that the more
people there are, the more difficult it is to get a quorum because they expect
everyone else to be there.
Jim Jones added that sometimes it is
difficult for him to attend because other meetings are too long. Perhaps a Saturday planning session would be
a good idea to get things back on track.
1.1 APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MARKHAM
THEATRE FOR PER- FORMING ARTS BOARD MEETING HELD ON
RECOMMENDED: THAT THE MINUTES OF THE MARKHAM THEATRE FOR
PERFORMING ARTS BOARD MEETING HELD ON
1.2 November
Events
David
Scott reported that we are again back into a very busy month, with only four unused
dates left. There is a good mixture of
types of events, with more professional shows during the month.
Eighth
Markham Theatre Board Meeting - 2004,
Page 3.
2.0 FINANCIAL REPORT
2.1 Finance - Brian Harvey, Chair, Mario
Miranda, Vice-Chair, Michael Landry, Pat Kincaid, Joyce Scobie
(a) October Month End
Brian
Harvey reported that the current financial position remains strong, with a
$9,200 favourable variance. Expenses are about $28,000 over budget to date, but
this is not a concern based on a budget of $1.2M to date. Tickets sales and rentals remain strong.
(b) Comparative Statistics
David
Scott advised that business in September was much slower than last year,
however, as David Banfield pointed out, the year-to-date results are still ahead of
last year.
3.0 MANAGER’S REPORT
3.1 P.E.S.
Sales Update
David
Scott reported that both Typo and Tempting Providence lost money. The preliminary revenue figures from the
Mayor’s Dinner, after being split between the three cultural venues, gives each
cultural venue a net of $10,300. The
fall shows currently have a 64% capacity of tickets sold, with a season average
of 61%, for a net profit of $11,180. Ticket
sales are $15,000 ahead of budget for 2004, and this is expected to increase
substantially.
David
Banfield pointed out that if the other two cultural venues receive $20,600 from
the Mayor’s Dinner, then the overall net will be less than $11,180.
In
reply to a question by Brian Harvey, David Scott said that there is still time
to do advertising for Educating Rita in order to make up some of the current
deficit.
Mario
Miranda wondered if the expenses for both the Mayor’s Dinner and 20th
Anniversary have been covered.
David
Scott replied that expenses are paid before the split of proceeds happens.
Alex
Chiu expressed his disappointment with what he thought was poor sound for the
Bob Newhart show, even when using a hearing aid.
Cindy
Ranieri agreed, saying that even though she was sitting in the sixth row on
Friday evening, she couldn’t hear the performance properly.
Michael
Landry complained that the opening act was too loud.
Eighth
Markham Theatre Board Meeting - 2004,
Page 4.
Pat
Kincaid felt that he spoke very quickly and not necessarily clearly. The background music for the slide
presentation was overpowering.
George
McKelvey thought that Bob Newhart would have been better using a hand-held microphone.
David
Scott pointed out that certain things could have been done if it had been known
that there was going to be a problem.
His speaking voice goes from very quiet to very loud. His road manager wanted the sound level
fairly low.
David
Scott advised that he was looking for board members to introduce the
professional entertainment shows, as well as thank sponsors and do post-show
chats with the artists.
Cindy
Ranieri said that the band leader of The Not Affiliated Big Band was good and
could perhaps be utilized for such things.
4.0 ACTION
ITEMS
4.1 Theatre
Expansion Follow-up
David Banfield noted that the matter
was discussed at the last board meeting.
The board had deliberated and put forth a positive report but by the
time it got to Council, the staff report said no.
Barbara Roth explained that the
decision was made due to the magnitude of the project, which has an estimated construction
cost of $7,000,000. This cost would have
to be fundraised and would be too aggressive a campaign, because development
charges earned by the town cannot be used to build cultural venues. The expansion idea is to be reviewed on an
annual basis.
5.0 UPCOMING TOPICS
6.0 COMMITTEE
REPORTS
6.1 20th Anniversary/Mayor’s Dinner
– Evelyn Bailey-Semeniuk, Co-Chair, Elaine Rubin
David
Banfield felt the Mayor’s Dinner had been a
first-class event that was very professionally produced. He heard a number of people say what an out-
standing evening it was.
David
Scott added that a post-mortem meeting had not yet been held, so final financial
figures would not be available until the next board meeting.
Eighth
Markham Theatre Board Meeting - 2004,
Page 5.
In
response to a question by Brian Harvey, David Scott confirmed that there will
be a Mayor’s Dinner next year, but they are already looking at a number of
changes, including doing everything at another facility so that there would be
no need to change locations.
6.2 Sponsorship – Genny Landis, Chair, Maxine
Houghton, Vice-Chair, Laurie Burns, Neil Fernandez
Genny Landis reported that another
mailing had been done. The objective is
to increase awareness of the facility for corporate events. Everyone has been assigned companies to
contact using a prearranged script intended to convince companies to attend an
event. Based on that, she had one
positive result, as did Ardy Reid.
Neil Fernandez added that he had some
interest from a couple of companies, but follow-up phone calls are important.
Maxine Houghton said that she got
quite a lot of voice mails and hang-ups.
One of her companies may be interested for next year.
Evelyn Bailey felt that they should
keep in touch with those who attended the Mayor’s Dinner.
David Scott pointed out that, even
though that information is available, the other partners of the event have to
give their approval to release the list.
Some may be town-wide potential sponsors.
6.3 Future – David Banfield, Chair
7.0 OTHER BUSINESS
David
Banfield advised that the 20th Anniversary Committee is no longer
required. The other committees will be
restructured in January, so please let Brian Harvey know of your interests.
Michael
Landry questioned the current status of the volunteers.
David
Scott replied that the current program is going well, with another training session
taking place on October 26th.
8.0 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Canada
Room,
9.0 ADJOURNMENT
There
being no further business, the meeting adjourned at