SEVENTH MEETING OF THE YEAR 2008 -
MARKHAM THEATRE ADVISORY BOARD
TOWN OF
MARKHAM
Canada Room, Markham Civic Centre
Monday, September
22nd, 2008
MINUTES
ATTENDANCE:
Present Staff
Mario
Miranda, Chair Bonnie
Armstrong
David
Banfield Brenda
Librecz
Nancy
Cogger John
Ryerson
Simon
Gulden Debbie
Watson
Brian
Harvey Wendy
Woof-Severn
Jennifer
Kah
Isabel
Schnapp
Tony
Wong, Regional Councillor
Regrets
Dennis
Cline
Neil
Fernandez
Pat
Kincaid
Genny
Landis
Michael
Landry
Elizabeth
Richardson
The
meeting convened at the hour of 5:30 p.m. with Mario Miranda in the Chair.
1.0 CALL TO ORDER AND CHAIR’S OPENING
REMARKS
·
welcome
back after summer recess, and welcome to Brenda Librecz, new Commissioner of
Community and Fire Services
2.0 ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES OF THE MARKHAM
THEATRE FOR PERFORMING ARTS ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HELD ON MAY 26TH
AND JUNE 23RD, 2008.
RECOMMENDED: THAT THE MINUTES OF THE MARKHAM THEATRE FOR
PERFORMING ARTS ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HELD ON MAY 26TH AND JUNE 23RD,
2008, BE ADOPTED AS CIRCULATED.
3.0 ADDITIONS/CHANGES
TO AGENDA
4.0 BUSINESS
ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
4.1 Use
of Endowment Fund
·
at
June meeting, discussed Endowment Fund items
·
Rising
Stars Program – 6 performances scheduled
·
new
program to support young and upcoming artists
·
expand
classical music
·
partnered
with Kerry Stratton
·
Unionville
High School partnering for first show
·
Royal
Conservatory of Music committed $2,500 to support Michael Ciufo show; flyers
and poster sent to them to distribute
·
tough
sell – new market
·
further
discussion off the table; now part of operating budget
·
business
case – purchase and operate projector
·
still
under consideration
·
may
not be presented in near future
5.0 MANAGER’S
REPORT
5.1 October
Events
·
busy
month but eight dark days; consistent with 2007
·
Ovation
Performing Arts new; Shantero Productions (Derek Edwards) every other year;
Brian Roman back after a couple of years
·
Richmond
Hill Centre for the Performing Arts opening postponed until February; picking
up a couple of rentals from them
·
lost
some clients to them – York Symphony Orchestra, Opera York, Bayview Secondary
School
5.2 PES
Sales Update
·
not
a positive trend; fall at only 24% sold; spring at 29%
·
same
downtrend across the province
·
challenge
as to what allowed to put on web site
·
trend
towards e-mail newsletters in order to increase ticket sales
·
display
in lobby to promote and gather e-mail addresses
·
Boston
Pizza inserting posters in their weigh bills
·
Oakville
Centre for the Arts has strong presence with Royal LePage Real Estate; every new
home buyer gets their brochure
·
ads
on the Town page free; paid advertising on baseboard ads less cost effective
·
put
ads on corporate intranets; doesn’t cost but gives exposure and lets staff know
about shows
·
IBM
and CIBC have expressed interest
·
put
list of shows in paper monthly?
·
been
done in the past but budget tight; using free ads; local hotels talking up
shows; posted on Rogers TV and Economist & Sun web sites
·
Kerry
Stratton giving free plugs on radio whenever possible
·
more
days rented in July than last year yet fewer people and less revenue?
·
drama
camps; commercial rentals by invitation only so no box office revenue
·
investigate
ways to improve sales or fill seats; don’t want empty theatre
·
is
there a way to distribute tickets at an event, e.g., Thornhill Village Festival
·
increase
good will and improve relationship
·
have
had similar discussions before
·
create
ad-hoc sub-committee for winter shows?
·
$5
for high school students not unreasonable but have had limited success
·
economy
a challenge
·
have
papered the house in the past in order that people can enjoy a cultural event
·
set
up a booth at Markville and sell tickets remotely
·
do
have a Christmas ticket package each year
·
was
agreed that the matter of ticket sales is an extension of the Finance Committee
6.0 SUB-COMMITTEE
REPORTS
6.1 Financial Performance and Business Plan
Tracking - Brian
Harvey, Chair, Mario Miranda, Pat Kincaid, David Banfield, Michael Landry
·
seems
unlikely that projected revenue will be reached by year end
·
majority of
pressure from PES
·
fall rentals
strong
·
at last
Finance Sub-Committee meeting, talked about cancelling some shows
·
discussed
with other managers doing block bookings; since their single ticket sales just
started, will revisit
·
William
Joseph in town on 23rd (tomorrow) doing full day of media interviews
·
Menaka
Thakkar promoting within company
·
if show
cancelled, artist fee still has to be paid
·
if can’t sell
tickets, economic reason; people tend to got movies; cheap form of
entertainment
·
question is
how to convince people to spend money at Markham Theatre
·
August was
dark due to renovations
·
got it done
in a month; Scott Hill gets a lot of credit for that
·
thanks also
to the Purchasing Department and the contractors
6.2 Fundraising and Sponsorship
Development
- Neil
Fernandez, Chair, Jennifer Kah, Genny Landis, Dennis Cline, Nancy Cogger, David
Tsubouchi, Wendy Woof-Severn, Simon Gulden
·
gala
sponsorship $15,000
·
spring
sponsorship $28.5K
·
fall
sponsorship $24K
·
brochure
– Allstate Insurance - $5K
·
expect
another $10K
·
subscribers
who donate and direct funds towards PES, goes to revenue not sponsorship
·
Orchestra
D’Italia being sponsored by Deloitte; reception – Boston Pizza
·
biggest
challenge is funding cutbacks
·
downside
– sponsoring spring shows rather than fall
·
proposals
have been sent out to theatre suppliers
6.3 25th Anniversary Committee
– Bonnie
Armstrong, Dennis Cline, Simon Gulden
·
get some
archival history – Ross Sutherland
·
lobby display
re school, community and PES programming
·
move ahead
with artist programming
·
approach past
sponsors
·
identify top
35 favourite performers to bring back
·
discussing an
open house
·
varying
thoughts – year long vs. specific dates
·
sponsors
could sponsor year rather than specific date
·
how do you
present to the community?
7.0 NEW BUSINESS
7.1 Bussing to
Unionville High School
·
court order
to reinstate busses for one year
·
arts program not threatened at this time
8.0 DATE OF
NEXT MEETING
Monday,
November 24th, 2008, 5:30 p.m.
57
Goldring Crescent, Markham
9.0 ADJOURNMENT
·
6:50 p.m.