Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs

MAC Board Meeting January 8th 2008

Agenda

NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER MINUTES:
TREASURER'S REPORT: JAN
MEMBERSHIP REPORT: JAN AND RUTH
MAC AWARDS:RICKY AND ROY
EVENTS SEMINARS AND SHOWCASE:HECTOR
2008 CALAENDAR:PETER LEAVY
WEBSITE UPDATES AND MAC MAIL:
BOB OST "MAC AWARD WINNERS CD"
MAC Q AND A FEATURE IN MAC MAIL AND WEB SITE:

The meeting was brought to order at 6:30 p.m.

In attendance were Scott Barbarino, Ricky Ritzel, Ruth Kurtzman, Peter Rapanaro, Joseph Macchia, Hector Cortis, Eric Pickering, Peter Leavy, Sidney Myer, Kevin Kennison, Jan Grossberg and advisor Roy Sander

The November and December minutes were discussed and approved

Treasurer's Report: Jan handed out the treasurer's report for the four months ending December 2007. There has not been much financial activity since the last meeting. All the bills are currently paid up to date with no expenses owed out to any creditors.

Membership Report: Ruth MAC recently picked up a new member club in California. MAC will be sending out a reminder email to anyone who has not renewed their membership, If you are not a MAC member you can not vote for the upcoming MAC Awards show. The board then discussed the possibility of offering a discount to MAC members on the higher priced awards show tickets. It was then reported that the current MAC membership is at four hundred and sixty one members and that the number usually increases as the deadline to be nominated gets closer. Also one of the board members then questioned about club status it was confirmed that once a Club joins MAC they then have a lifetime membership to the organization.

Events Seminars and Showcases: Hector The next MAC seminar will take place on February 26th from 6:30 p.m. til 8:30 p.m. The topic of this seminar will be piano bars and the evening will be hosted by MAC president Ricky Ritzel. The panel and location for the evening will be announced in the coming week and will be posted on the MAC web site. The date for the upcoming next New Faces Showcase will have to be rescheduled due to the fact that is was originally scheduled for March 24th the beginning of the holiday weekend. The board felt it better to reschedule the showcase due to the fact that many people leave town for the holiday. The new date and location will be announced through a MAC web blast and will be posted on the web site as well.

Also discussed was new ways to market the New Faces showcase to groups outside the cabaret community. It was reported that after the last MAC Showcase performers had Showcase attendees come see their shows.

MAC Awards: Roy Sander

The timeline of the MAC Awards ballot was announced. The deadline to submit a performer for nomination is January 19th. A discussion was held about the possibility of extending the deadline for a week due to the mail. February 18 the preliminary ballot is printed and ready for copy. On February 23rd the annual ballot mailing party is held and the preliminary ballots are mailed. March 19th is the deadline of the preliminary ballot and receipt accepted. On March 24th the final ballot is printed and ready for copy. The final Ballots are then mailed out on March 29th.

The month of April is known as Cabaret month. During that time many clubs will leave dates available for the final nominees to bring back their shows for night so that the membership can view them for consideration. May 2nd is the date of the receipt for the final ballots before the awards show.

The Board discussed the possibility of shortening the time period of sending out the preliminary ballot and the time of receipt.

Rob Lester will be heading the MAC awards eligibility committee. Names of potential committee members were discussed further by the board. The board would be contacting the potential committee members to invite them to be part of the eligibility committee. The Board was then asked who they would like to see head the committees in the special categories such as Comedy,Jazz,Song,Recording and Special Material. The importance of finding the right people to sit on these committees was emphasized once again. The board was asked to think about who they would like to see sit on these committees and submit the via email. The potential committee members would then be contacted by a board member.

Each committee will be posted on the MAC web site.

A discussion arose about the how MAC members will be able to listen to the nominees for Song and Special material. The Board then decided that members online will be able to listen to the nominated material on the MAC site. Also the possibility oh making the MAC/ASCAP showcase in April an event to showcase the nominees in those categories. This will be discussed further at the next meeting.

It was then brought to the boards attention that a cd was released called Keyes To Heaven MAC Award Winners Remember Lyricist Eben Keyes. The board discussed that in the future it would appreciate being notified about such material being released,so that we might be able to help cross promote it. Also discussed is that the use of the MAC Awards logo cannot be used on anything without permission from the board.

Meeting was adjourned at 9 p.m.

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MAC BOARD MEETING February 2008

Meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m.

Board members in attendance Ruth Kurtzman, Ricky Ritzel, Eric Pickering, Peter Leavy, Joseph Macchia, Jan Grossberg, and advisors Jan Wallman and Roy Sanders

January minutes were approved

Treasurers Report

The January Income Statement was handed out. Not much had changed since December. Treasurers report was accepted by the board.

The MAC web site was discussed about changes that need to be made. Several board members have had difficulty navigating the site. The board agreed and will look into ways to make the web site user friendly.

MAC Awards

On the 23rd of February the MAC Award preliminary ballot will be mailed out, Volunteers are needed to help with the mailing. The mailing will be held at Don't Tell Mama's.

The board also discussed the need for an email blast and postcard to be mailed out to members who have not renewed yet. Members can only vote if they are renewed.

There will be three ticket prices for the award show this year,they will be posted on the MAC web site.

This is the twenty fifth anniversary of the MAC organization. The Board was presented with three new looks for the logo that will just be used for this year. A motion was made to vote and the board picked the new look.

There is a need for a volunteer committee,board members will be working on organizing the MAC members who said they would volunteer for events. There is a great need for volunteers for mailings,events,etc.

The Broadway Baby is a new MAC Club member.

Seminars and Showcases

The next MAC seminar will be held on February 26th at 6 p.m. the topic of the evening is Piano Bars and will be hosted by Ricky Ritzel and will take place at Don't Tell Mama's.

John Wallowitch CD

The profits from John's CD sales are to be given to MAC to be used to set up a grant to be presented at a future MAC/ASCAP showcase.

John Wallowitch and Dottie Burman will be remembered in the MAC awards program for their contributions to MAC.

The board then went on to discuss the Board of Directors and Lifetime Achievement awards for the MAC Awards. Board members were asked to submit names of people they would like to see receive the award. Several names were presented on the board voted on two people to receive the Board Of Directors Awards.

Names have been submitted for Lifetime Achievement as well.

The next board meeting will be on March 11th.

A motion was made to adjourn thes meeting at 9 p.m.

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MAC Board Meeting March 2008

[to be approved]

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MAC Board Meeting April 2008

AGENDA
March Minutes
Treasurer's Report
MAC Awards
Showcase and Seminars

The meeting came to order at 6:30pm

Members present: Ricky Ritzel, Jan Grossberg, Peter Leavy, Sidney Myer, Hector Coris, Peter Rapanaro, and Eric Pickering. Also present Jan Wallman

A motion to accept the Minutes for March, Minutes were passed.

Treasurer’s Report:All bills are paid up to current. Five Thousand Dollars was paid to B Kings. Ticket sales for the Awards are a little ahead of last year at this point. Around 150 were sold at this point. A motion to pass the Treasurer’s report. The report was passed.

Mailing: The Mac Mailing for the final Ballot went very well. 14 people showed up.

MAC AWARDS

Award Committee: The opening and closing musical numbers will be special material written by Steven Ray Watkins.

Help was needed getting some bios and copy the pages on John Wallowitch and Dottie Burman. On of the board offered to look into getting the information needed for the page.

A discussion was held about purchasing the DVD’s of the past MAC Awards Shows from Bradshaw, for use on future Award Shows. It was decided by the board to hold off on buying the DVD's for about a month or so and will be discussed again at the next board meeting.

A board member also brought up that in working on most of the committees this year, he found that there was to much time spent on clarifying and back checking information that was on the initial Award form, do to sloppy handwriting. The question was brought up that we should see if we could have the form on the web site, so people could fill it out on the web site and sent to us, so that it would be clear for the committees working on the awards.

Membership Report: We discovered to sign up on line to become a member has been available for months.

It was decided that an additional person would be added as an additional person to fix any problems for the MAC Google Group.

Other:
It was proposed that we add Sherry Eaker to the Advisory Board. A motion was made and was voted yes by everyone present. Ricky will make the announcement at the Awards.

Peter Rapanaro worked out for someone to go on Good Day New York to talk about MAC and the Awards. It was decided that Sidney would be the perfect Board Member to go on the show.

Joey Reynolds will be dedicating a week of shows as MAC Week.

The second New Faces Showcase went really well $135 was made on the show. A Seminar on Directors will be on May 22nd. A list of Directors for the Seminar is currently being worked on. Another New Faces possibly in June.

A Board member has been talking with the President of BACA (Boston Cabaret Organization). He wants us to think about some kind of foreign exchange program. Possibly providing a Cabaret room an use 3 acts from Boston for a show.

A list on names was being put together for The Hanson Award the following week. With a decision to be made soon

The meeting was adjourned at 8:39pm.

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MAC Board Meeting May 2008

AGENDA
April Minutes
Treasurer's Report
Membership Report
MAC Awards Follow-Up
Upcoming Events/Seminar
September Annual Meeting/Venue
Open Floor

Meeting was brought to order at 6:30 p.m.

Board Members in attendance: Ricky Ritzel, Eric Pickering, Joseph Macchia, Scott Barbarino, Ruth Kurtzman, Jan Grossberg, Sidney Myer, and advisor Roy Sander

APRIL MINUTES
The April minutes were accepted.

TREASURER'S REPORT
All bills are current

The MAC Awards numbers were up compared to last year's show. A motion was made to pass the April Treasurer's Report and the report was passed.

MEMBERSHIP REPORT
The MAC membership has increased to about 600 members this month. Many new members signed up after the MAC Awards and we have had 54 new members in the last three months.

MAC AWARDS FOLLOW-UP
This year's Awards show was received very well by the community. Trophies are being ordered. A discussion was held about deciding on the date for next years show, so that we may put it on the calendar earlier. The Board decided to hold off on this til at least the next meeting, but agreed that we should at least have two-to-three potential dates for next year's show. The Board also discussed the idea of putting a draft of the preliminary ballot online before it is sent to the membership. This would enable candidates to (a) verify that their applications have been received, (b) check that their entries on the ballot (spelling, category, show details, etc.) are correct, and (c) notify the Board, before a set deadline, of any errors.

One of the Board members also brought up the possibility of having only one Board of Directors recipient and one Lifetime Achievement Award. The issue will be discussed at a later date.

UPCOMING EVENTS AND SEMINARS
The Next New Face Showcase will be on June 25th at the Duplex and the next MAC seminar will be held at the Reprise Room at Dillon's on May 22; the subject matter is Cabaret Directors.

SEPTEMBER ANNUAL MEETING
The Date for the September Annual Meeting will be September 16th at 6:30 p.m. The location will be announced at the next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:41 p.m.

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MAC Board Meeting June 2008

AGENDA
May Minutes
Treasurer's Report
Membership Report
Rules for MAC Awards 2009
Upcoming Events/Seminars
President Emeritus: process and status
Board elections
September General Meeting date/venue
Open Floor

Meeting was brought to order 6:49pm. Board members

In attendance: Ricky Ritzel, Eric Pickering, Sidney Myer, Peter Leavy, Jan Grossberg, Scott Barbarino, and Advisors Roy Sander and Sherry Eaker.

Minutes for May were passed with the understanding that Roy would re-write parts of them.

Treasurer’s Report:
Most of the bills have been paid. BB Kings wants to reserve the date for 2009 MAC Awards. They will hold the first 2 Tuesdays in May. A motion was made to pass the May treasurer’s report, and was passed. Maureen McGovern sent a very nice Thank You Letter to the Board. It was brought up that the board that we need an Archivist. Sherry was going to get information on a possible intern to start to set up and organize items that should be archived. It was decided to table the discussion for the July meeting.

Rules for 2009 MAC Awards:
It was discussed that the rules for the Awards should be posted on the Wed Site sooner. The Board Members were asked to read the current rules on line before the July meeting, so that it can be discussed at the July meeting.

Upcoming Events:
The next New Faces will be on June 25th. The Question was asked, how the performers for the New Faces were picked. By committee was the answer.

President Emeritus: It was discussed that the Board never formally voted on making Barry Levitt Emeritus. A motion was made and passed to elect him President Emeritus.

Board Elections:
The subject about voting online for the next Board election was brought up. The Board decided to do a trial online vote, and discuss it then to see if it would work.

A motion was made to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 9:35pm.

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MAC Board Meeting July 2008

[TO BE APPROVED]

Minutes prepared by Joseph Maccia, MAC Secretary