General Membership Meeting - January 2024

ART LEAGUE OF FORT BEND COUNTY

2012 Avenue G, Rosenberg, Texas, 77471 GENERAL MEETING Minutes

Hybrid Meeting: In Person / Zoom January 22, 2024

1.     Call to Order – Linda Pietz, 10:01 am

2.     Opening Prayer- Linda Pietz read ‘The Artist’s Prayer’

3.     New Members Present- one new, Gayle

4.     Approval of previous meeting Minutes- 10:04

5.     Financial Report- Sent by Karen Gehse via email, and yearly budget.

6.     New Business- Volunteers. Looking to extend training opportunities to more general members of the art League and the new members of the Gallery. Need to be sure to fully staff both locations.

a.     Bobbie Davis will hold a new Member Orientation January 27 at 1:00 pm, before the Open House.

b.     In March we will have an art supply Swap Meet after our General Meeting in lieu of a Demo.

7.     Unfinished Business

a.     Disaster Planning and Membership- Anne Hallman-Perez

i.         Committee will be discussing disaster planning more this month.

8.     Committee Reports

a.     Membership:

i.         Memberships have been transferred to the new software. Members are on their honor to have paid their dues on time if they were due already this year

ii.         New membership signups made online will be immediately recorded and activated in the system.

iii.         Paper signups may take up to two weeks to process.

iv.         A function of the new system is that members will be able to log in and view their own membership and payment history.

v.         The new system now offers members a choice of whether to automatically renew.

b.     Education- Bobbie Davis

i.         Smart Board is ordered and en route.

ii.         Would like to add some White Boards to the classrooms

iii.         Considering adding a pegboard to use to display examples or reference materials for classes

c.     Art Shows: Debbie Rodriguez

i.         Spring Show Registration starts March 30, ends April 14, Show is April 20

ii.         Pieces must be registered on LSAG Website as well as the ALFBC website.

iii.         We will host a Preview night event April 19

d.     Classes and Education- Bobbie Davis and Linda Pietz

i.         Working to make all class sign-ups streamlined and online

ii.         We now have 3 classrooms available: Escher, Monet, and Conference Room

iii.         The next window during which to propose classes will be from September 3- November 22.

iv.         Spring catalog will be live March 31

v.         Sue Zelko’s classes and process grandfathered in.

vi.         Will host a meeting for teachers about proposal and sign up process, date TBD

vii.         A vertical file will be installed in the 3rd street location to hold class fliers and the catalog, etc.

viii.         Summer Camps- 2, 3rd week in June and 3rd week in July

·      Monday-Friday, 9-12

·      Call for teachers- $150 for 3 hours teaching.

·      If parents are late to pick up their child, they may be charged $1/minute.

·      If teachers provide materials, they will be reimbursed.

·      Fee $225 early bird or $250 after June 1.

e.     Community Displays: Brenda Bowman

i.         Community display opportunities are open to all members, not limited to Gallery members or Studio holders. It is encouraged for all to participate and take advantage of the opportunity to get your work seen! There are opportunities to display 2-D and some 3-D pieces in some locations.

ii.         We now have a QR code process for direct sales at our community display locations

·      Kudos to Mary Lynch, Brenda Bowman, Diane Whitmarsh, Debbie Rodriguez who have worked so hard to set up these display opportunities for our League!

·      Mary Lynch states that participants in community displays are responsible for creating their own labels for their work, and also they should write the information from the label on the back of the piece.

f.      Events- Ellie Damiano

i.         Open House from 2-5 pm this Saturday the 27th.

ii.         New event: Preview night before Spring Art Show

·      Public event, entry fee of $10 (Members free)

·      Please, Studio holders be present and wear Got Art? Shirt.

·      We will hold another 12”x12” for $125 art piece sale as a fundraiser.

·      Please all members invite at least 10

iii.         Unsold Art Sale in July- bring unsold artwork and we will have a rummage-style art sale.

·      $10 entry fee

·      Red, White, and Blue Patriotic theme

iv.         Rosenberg event- Art on Tap in October

·      Ellie suggests we have a trail of pumpkins leading between our two locations, and maybe potted flowers for our Art Show events in April.

g.     Gallery- Gladys Jones

i.         Looking for assistants to help manage the gallery

ii.         Looking for a manager for the 3rd Street building

·      Eugenia Garcia has volunteered to be Director of 3rd Street

h.     Programs/Workshops- Debbie Rodriguez

i.         Leslie Humphreys workshop a success, 17 students, 16 were able to attend (bad weather caused issues). Great reviews given on the evaluation forms that students filled out.

·      60% of attendees stayed in a hotel, great for HOT tax purposes.

ii.      For the upcoming Sandra Duran Wilson workshop, hoping to have same number of attendees as Leslie’s workshop. Dates are April 22,23,24.

i.      Publicity/Advertising/Marketing: Rosenberg City events

i.         Rosenberg Event Sugar Rush coming up soon, February 10 (renamed from Chocolate Walk).

·      We will need to give away sweets

·      Rosenberg giving out 1,000 bags so we should have at least that much candy per location.

·      Need Volunteers to staff both locations

ii.         March 16 Wine and Beer Walk

·      Rosenberg will give out 600 bags that we may add promotional materials to

·      There will be a live band 1-5 pm (right by Avenue G building)

iii.         Thursday April 18 will be an event at Rosenberg Civic Center- our art display will be seen by many.

iv.         Fiber Friends will meet before Sugar Rush.

j.      Gift Shop- Fereshteh Solati.

i.         Please place items that you would like to sell in the Gift Shop on the cabinet or desk in the back office area. Do not just bring items straight in and place wherever you like in the Gift Shop.

ii.         Create and attach detailed labels for your work, complete with your name and price. (not just your initials or nickname)

iii.         Do not add/remove work except at the quarterly rotations.

iv.         Please give consideration to cleaning, tidying, emptying trash etc., when working at the gift shop.

k.     Gallery Report- Gladys Jones

i.         At rotation, please patch walls when removing your work. Use spackle and finger to

patch as discreetly as possible (don’t use putty knife).

ii.         Gallery members with work in glass cases will no longer need to rotate their locations.

9.     Announcements/ Financial business: Jen Gawrys

a.     Jen Gawrys read aloud the names and positions of all executives currently serving the Art League of Fort Bend County.

i.         President- Linda Pietz

Vice President- Cynthia Wallace Secretary- Jen Gawrys Treasurer- Karen Gehse

Development Director- Brenda Bowman Education/ Programs Director- Bobbie Davis Gallery director- Gladys Jones

Marketing/Publicity director- Nina Struthers Macejewski Membership Director- Anne Hallman-Perez

b.     The Board of Directors would like to open some CDs with Wells Fargo Bank, who currently holds our Art League accounts, to invest and grow Art League funds. In order to do so, Karen Gehse has found that we need to update those officially named Key Executives with Control of Entity on our checking and savings accounts. Currently, Gayle Sue Zelko and Nellie Cress are listed as well as Karen Gehse. Gayle Sue Zelko and Nellie Cress are no longer executives with controlling interest in the Art League. We need Karen Gehse, (Treasurer), to remain as a Key Executive on the accounts, and add our Vice President, Cynthia Wallace as well.

i.         Motion Made by Don Golden to remove Gayle Sue Zelko and Nellie Cress from our bank accounts as key executives of our entity, and to add Cynthia Wallace.

·      All present in favor, motion accepted.

10.  Adjournment / Next General Meeting

a.     Today’s Demo: Linda Pietz, Lace making techniques

i.         Next Month- Don Simmons photography

b.     Upcoming Meetings:

i.         General Meeting: Next will be February 26, 2024, 10:00-11:00 a.m.

c.     Adjournment 11:29 am