MINUTES OF THE OPEN STUDIOS PLANNING MEETING
March 26, 2015
The group of eleven met in the 4th floor kitchen of the lower mill. As usual, the meeting was held to one hour in duration. The meeting began with an update of progress for ongoing items as follows:
1. 25 people (14 resident and 11 guest artists) to date have signed up and paid to participate. It was noted that typically, people wait until the last minute to sign up. It was also noted that waiting to sign up runs the risk of not being included in the directory which has to be designed and printed in advance of the event.
2. Brian reported a surplus in the budget which will be applied to spring open studios. Anticipated costs are expected to be in line with previous events. This will leave extra funds to expand advertising or possibly pay adults to supervise high school guides if we cannot find free adult volunteers.
3. We reviewed the role of the Rollinsford Library under the direction of the new librarian. The library will again host a chocolate tasting event as well as a special art exhibit. We are checking to see if the library will be open during all hours of the open studios event.
4. The new Website (www.MillArtists.com) is coming along under the direction of George Emmons and a call went out to mill artists and businesses to submit artwork to be included.
5. Lore Burbank reported by e-mail that the search for high school volunteer guides continues. She will keep us updated on that as well as finding adult volunteers to supervise them. The group noted that high school volunteers need to be available not only during the event, but before and after to help load and unload guest artists.
6. George Emmons will e-mail guest artists who are juried into the show of their acceptance. David Random will forward to George “rules and regulations” to be sent to accepted guest artists.
7. Posters and postcards have been printed. Posters were handed out to those who volunteered to distribute them to certain towns. Special thanks to Mell Boesch who volunteered to distribute to a great many towns. There still remain towns in need of volunteers to distribute to pre-determined locations. Postcards have been placed inside the main door of the upper mill. Please take what you need and pass them out freely to friends, family, and neighbors.
8. Roger Myers agreed to contact NH and ME public radio for sponsorship costs.
9. Deputy Dog is once again planning to provide food at the event. Ivan of North Country Cider in the lower mill will contact a company with a portable pizza oven to determine their interest in providing food as well. It was determined that this would not conflict with the food offered by Deputy Dog.
10. David Random will try to determine who is the administrator for our Facebook account and report back to George Emmons on this.
11. George Emmons has been provided with a blurb for community Websites to promote the event.
12. The team toured the huge, brand new space in the lower mill where all guest artists will be located. The space is still being finished, and is beautiful.
13. The next planning meeting will be on Thursday, April 9th.
