Thursday, December 3, 2015

November 19, 2015 - meeting notes


Chicks on Sticks Meeting November 19, 2015

Present: Anne, Tonya, Angie, Nicole, Sarah, Tara, Sharon, Malia B

Review of agenda – approved

Check ins
Accept meeting minutes- passed
Next meeting
Our next meeting is the annual meeting.  Jan.21, Sharon’s house, Sarah will chair, Tara will prepare agenda.  Anne will not be able to attend but will let us know about her voting status.  Time: 6:00-7 potluck, 7-9 meeting    Update 12/20/15: Laurel will bring a laptop and take notes.

Proposal to put financial Info on the web,
Gaea made a proposal to put Chicks financial info on the web.  Discussion included:
Better to keep it simple. 
Doesn’t seem necessary to do this. 
Would be nice to move it to a newer program that others could use.
Decision to postpone the proposal until Gaea could be present to explain, Jan. meeting.

Liability insurance
Tara – Barebones liability insurance includes teaching for 1000-1500/year through ???(Tara will find out what company and contact them)
Gaea did research- no luck with Westpoint, K&K, Specialty insurance would cover individuals for $260-350/year but doesn’t cover troupes, waiting on F.L.Dean and Assoc.
Sharon still working on Fractured Atlas, requiring a lot of forms that don’t apply to our activities
Discussion will be continued in Jan. 
There was concern about waivers for teaching.  Please bring any waiver forms for teaching that you may have to the next meeting.

Fabric-
Angie brought the fabric and lights left from the Greenway glow.
Angie would like fabric for one pair of pants
Is there someone who could help us with EL wire problems?
Tara will make a pair of pants for sharing.  Laurel needs more lights.  Tonya needs lights.

Discussion led to a proposal to make a group costume for MayDay again this year and have a yearly costume making that debuts at May Day. Discussion on proposal will be continued at Jan. meeting 

Skill Share
Sara and others are interested in a skill share time. Discussion included:
How to do skill share. 
Could happen at a training session for new members at least once per year. 
It’s been hard to schedule play dates which could also be skill share. 
Perhaps one of our meetings could be a training/skill share session. 

Website access- Anne will forward Info.  Need new username and password.  Sara will figure out password. 

Business cards
Malia has been in contact with Soozin but progress is slow.  We decided that a business card committee will be established at Jan. meeting with a goal to finish before May Day.
If you want your photo on a business card, put your photo in the google drive folder by Jan. meeting.

Google photo depository
Sara set up a google drive depository for photos.  Put any photos you wish to share into it. Editing can be done by the group.
Questions that came up: Can we use intagram or twitter or tumblr?  Are there other ways to use social media for networking?  

Treasurer’s report 11/2015

Balance in checking $4696.48
Income $17,789
Expense $17,392.64
                  Performance                           12,478.43
                  Performance + coordinator   3,295.00
                  Coordinator                                  475
                  Treasurer                                       450.05
                  Materials                                       206.58
                  Insurance                                       173.00
                  Costumes                                        111.21
                  Administrative                                 70.00
                  Website                                             63.22
                  Taxes                                                  70.15

Total gain      $396.36

It was requested to figure out how much the kitty is short this year from gigs that didn’t pay into the kitty.  Answer: If we had added 10% of all gigs to kitty we would have had $470 more than we currently have.
We voted to take $967.79 from kitty.  We spent $867.79.  Do we need to pay $100 to people who did Lady Parts gig? Answer from Sara: No, they were paid enough in cash.
Monarch Fest payment? Has not been received. Malia will contact Amy.
Final (I hope) IRS letter and payment have been sent.
Yearly corporate renewal done.


Malia suggested we close the meeting with something we like about Chicks.
Likes:  working/ stilting together,  looking forward to developing skills,  creativity is inspiring,  delight of people watching us, commaraderie, Chicks has had an influence on personal art, joy, surprise of audience,  celebrating all female collective that is financially viable.

Meeting adjourned

Sunday, September 27, 2015

September 14, 2015 - meeting notes

Present: Malia, Sharon, Anne, Nicole, Tara, Sarah, Gaea, Angie
Not present: Soozin, Tonya, Laurel

Check-in's----
  • Malia- Tonya broke knee-cap at teaching gig....may need moral support
  • Sharon- overly busy-a little scattered
  • Anne- busy-scattered-ho;ding things together
  • Nicole- Holding a lot- doing ok- Norma health challenges...shock,grief, one
  • day at a time
  • Tara- starting BBones, pacing yourself, balance
  • Sarah- Bad kale-fainting- food poisoning-took day off -connections with Nicole Aunt
  • stilt appreciation
  • Gaea-full fall schedule- Grad program- Ren Fest-Barebones-feeling scattered-
  • high stress-presentation due
  • Angie- ankle injury at fashion show -still stilt-aagh-resting

FINANCE REPORT-----------
  • Balance  today $5624.26
  • still have checks out-not cashed.....
  • need receipts from Convention Ctr./ Little Mekong
  • Tax Consultant?
  • Got info from qualified friend for 3 yrs of back taxes and filed to rectify
  • but some snafu's -still working it out with IRS
  • From group---Do you want to have someone else do this tax thing?
  • Sharon feels compensated.....
  • Again-Do we want to hire someone other than bookkeeper to do taxes?
  • Sharon- Once old taxes are done(this year) this would be helpful...
Discussion----
-Issues with random amounts of pay for gigs that aren't consistent i.e. $100/
stilter/gig
-Error in pay amount from Edina Art Fair gig
-Complications with gigs paying less than $100/hr or special projects---
Nothing going into kiddy-not budgeted for (Convention Ctr., St. Paul Saints, Greenway Glo)
Again of $100- $25 taken out for organizer cut, bookkeeper, kiddy-$75/hr for stilter

Special exceptions that failed to get kiddy $-----
1) Gigs got booked at lower rate(community events)
2) Special Projects( forgot to add fee for organization-usu. 10% of total gig)
3) Teaching gigs-Powderhorn

What is kiddy $ for??
- matching for grants
- liability insurance
- provides cushion when pay is delayed
- special costuming projects(like big wings)

Should create expense budget yearly to know what overhead costs are.

When short on $ what do you do (Sharon)-?
Always pay stilter first-then organizer fee- then Chicks/bookkeeper

Do insurance research NOW as we are not (? )as busy.....November..

How much $ are we short for gigs this year? Can we get a figure?
-----------------
Edina Art Fair- Anne coordinator
Anne- bad time- took on too much- messed up and undercharged Edina
Art Fair $600
Proposal-Gaea- Chicks covers $400- Anne-$200
More discussion.....
Anne has been a solid sender- rare mess-up
We all make mistakes
Move for Chicks to cover entire $600
---------------------------
Left-over lights/fabric--
Wait until next meeting
Bring EL wires 
Everyone Assess /e-mail info
--------------------------

PRO-BONO DISCUSSION -------
When do we do it? How do we decide as an organization?
  • Sarah- Like the idea of donation as part of Chicks- 1 pro-bono gig per year
  • Gaea- add to membership requirement..1 gig per year
  • Malia- Each year is different for each of us....
  • Values discussion-how do we decide who to donate to as a group?
    • What are criteria for pro-bono consideration?
    • Should look at who we did pro-bono work for in past( coordinators).
  • Anne- mostly coordinators hearing about requests for pro-bono... Many organizations in need... Neighborhood organizations vs. fringe non-profit
  •  *Anne will e-mail Deb/Soozin to compile list of past work
  • Nicole- At beginning of Chicks- did  a lot of pro-bono work ... $ can be there or not(Chick sponsored gig)... Would rather teach vs. do a gig for free
  • Angie- Mandatory maybe- gigs come in randomly-can't always predict... If passionate -free is good ... Curious about non-pro bono and not full rate
  • Sarah- Could have x # of probono hours that Chicks would cover from kiddy per year and after that decide by gig
  •  Discussion 
    • Could each Chick find a pro-bono gig? Maybe too much...
    • How do we count gigs that are personal vs. not?
    • We can all do free- lance but how does this impact the group?
  • Malia-Tied to Values Discussion. What is close to our hearts? Align with vision as decide what to give...
  • Anne- Micro-grants for women businesses...$500.00 per month---could cover a pro-bono gig or supplement budget. Some depend on $ from gigs as income. Chicks create a form and organizations have to apply ahead- reward those who are organized. We create a process.... Look to groups we want to cultivate a partnership with- grants... Partners for Arts and Participation-MN State Art Board-Social service org partners with us -we collaborate on grant- provides teaching for youth- good pay.
  • Sarah- What is a partial rate for a gig? Different things when people can't pay full rate. Could do 50% matching in grants
Decisions---
Make an expense budget for 2016- bookkeeper
Predict gig income for year to help estimate amount avail. for pro-bono
Have a Value Discussion

WEBSITE DISCUSSION -------
How do we update info? Wordpress- Nick Lethart
No updating done
Want to do website update-Sarah, Gaea, Deb
Password plus admin
*Send any photos to Sarah C.
*authorize up to 200 for Nick to update/teach about changing website
*Put pics from only Chicks gigs on website

LITTLE MEKONG - - -
  • Umbrellas for props. 
  • Most expenses for Little Mekong covered except $20 
  • Does Chicks own umbrellas?
  • What is rate compensated to make umbrellas?
  • Sometimes we agree to do something but don't have time/people power...
  • Think about budget for costuming in special projects---$ for materials +
  • labor to make
  • Problem was people being commissioned to make something.
  • Umbrellas were selling point for gig.

UPDATE ON OTHER PROJECTS - - -

Calendar Project
  • Photogratper for b-day party/labor trade?
  • Our next step was to make a contract.
  • Was this approved by the group?
  • No info on cost of project
  • Anne- $100/person for photo shoot
  • Traded $350 in labor for teaching/making stilts
  • Did we agree to make stilts as well? 2 pair
  • Anne- We were excited to pay to do a test run
  • Can pay someone to make 2 pair of stilts...
  • Many busy currently.....
  • Tara- seems disconnect about discussion ---negotiating about 
  • calendar gig
  • We have traded teaching/building for calendar project? Not full consent of
  • group
  • Angie- should give diffinative answer to photographer. Not good to string people along.
  • Gaea- In original conversation-discussion of 2 pairs stilts.
  • Nicole-Want to be a part of people contacted- frustrated because not being included in decisions
  • Sharon-What is the calendar budget? Clarification
  • Anne- My understanding Tonya and I doing mini-shoot-pay out of pocket
  • -pilot
  • Sarah- borrowed teaching stilts but also Chicks name
  • Angie- Have been talking since Jan. need to make decision
  • Malia-felt strange to be compensated for teaching ----
  • How do we decide on content for project? Objectification of Women...
  • Caution with that
  • Anne- Skin in game -protocol seems sticky
  • Tara- good to not negotiate for things we don't have knowledge of 
  • Sarah-OK to say- no contract- no teaching for now...
  • Should not be forced into an unsafe situation-representing Chicks
Business Cards
  • Chicks e-mail/facebook/ logo
  • * Need to revise Chicks photo albulm- Google drive- Sarah
  • use drop box?
  • Coordinator form...do we have one? 
  • Gaea created and sent to Sarah to revise
  • * Send to everyone...
March Forth
  •  Oct 15th _March Forth @ Cedar Thursday play day for Chicks 
2 additions post meeting via Sharon 9/22/15 - 
  • We moved and passed the proposal to cover the $600 from the Edina art fair from the kitty.  
  • And I believe in the calendar discussion it was made clear that Chicks has not contracted with the photographer and is under no obligation to do so.  The obligations so far have only been between Anne, Tonya and the photographer.

### NEXT MEETING: Thurs. Nov. 19th ###
Notetaker- Sharon
Facilitator:Malia
Location-Anne's 3224 17th Ave. S.
Agenda maker: Sarah

Sunday, September 6, 2015

July 16, 2015 - Meeting Notes

Chicks on Sticks Meeting 7/16/15


This Thursday's agenda:
agenda: laurel
notes: Sarah
chair: Sharon
where: Sharon's house
when: 7-9pm Thursday, July 16, 15.

Quorum: Tara, Sharon, Soozin, Tonya, Malia (left early), Laurel, Sarah, Angie, Gaea (late)
Start time 7:20

-7-7:20 check in
10 min Check-in
Laurel - shirts and paint and shoes (maybe Anne’s black sketchers?)
Angie -Catsitting currants eating yummy
Sarah - Garden, garage sale, gig, painting
Soozin - Summer school for 42 teenagers finished yesterdays then going to Valley Faire really fun. State Faire show. First job with PTO.
Tara - Doing well. Week off. Violet’s birthday. Gearing up for next gig. Foraging
Sharon - make food and going to AZ next week for mom.
Tonya - Family Reunion 69 tomorrow. Archiving family history and photos for family. Woods at preschool berries deer foxes.
Malia - Good too busy and on neighborhood association. So proud of Chicks on Sticks for showing up and representing. Parents moving back to mpls from Kansas (has to leave early)
Addendum - Agenda Review and accept old minutes (forgot old minutes)

7:20-7:30 Finance (Sharon)
  • Taken in 7189
  • 6300 from 3 gigs
  • Balance 5437 but just wrote checks
  • Leaves at 2818 pending balance
  • IRS taxes $26.27 owed Yay!
  • I screwed up taxes again this year but they nice IRS guy fixed it
  • Still don’t know about insurance
  • Greenway glow
  • 250 earned
  • overspent by $67.79 for costumes only no one got coordinator fee or gig pay
Soozin - we should talk in advance
Sharon - we did talk ahead because we didn’t get as much as we planned for, so we knew it would go over
Tara - but we did get three costumes
Soozin - I move that we authorize Sharon to take 67.79 out of the kitty to cover the additional expense for costumes for the greenway glow gig with the caveat that in the future we have that discussion ahead of time
Sharon- we did
Soozin - I just don’t like double standers
Sharon - we are trying to eliminate the double standards. We discussed
Laurel - How do we know ahead of time?
Soozin - we might not know the price ahead of time but we could ask to spend up to $100 and so you request an amount a bit above that and the group can vote on it. If we said we’re only allowed to spend 50 and the rest is out of pocket
Laurel - I think this will cost more than budgeted by this much…is it ok if I get this much out of the kitty?
Tara - we had a close estimate from little mekong based on what we did before
Soozin - we had the knowledge of the expenses but we could’ve decided to limit people or limit costume budget
Tara - some of us are looking at total budget to see what makes sense sometimes it takes a while to get in a big check but sometimes the pool gets small
Sharon - We just voted
-Unanimous accepted-
It was going to be 200 over but it was 400 total
—Gaea arrived—
Tara - thought she should get paid as much as the Stilters
In the end instead of having 300 for the musicians we had two musicians so it ended up being 450
Tara - there was some communication breakdown towards the end.
Gaea - I think the whole thing went really well and I don’t think 400 over is so bad with a 5000 budget
Soozin - 400 over isn’t bad for 5000 but we’ve done MIA gigs with 2000 and never gone over and just took less pay as stilters to make this
Sharon - we could rework this
Malia - as a precedent this is a little concerning; I put money into the kitty and I’d like to get to know
Tara - I have a suggestion that stilters were getting 450 but we could take 50 less and that would cover
Laurel - I can appreciate that but I spent 3 days I should’ve been working and looking for costumes and building things so if I had not spent that time looking for things and building things
Gaea - which you did under the understanding you were getting what you were getting paid 450 and that’s why it was acceptable
Tara - Costumes - 392 instead of 300
Laurel - the amount I spent on paint which I have leftover, would be the difference in the costumes cost
Sharon - I have leftover so I could take less
Laurel - I meant not getting un
Malia - maybe we could set aside and figure this out later
5200 was approved previously via email
so on the table Difference of 188.93
Soozin - Table the discussion go back to the 5200 budget and have the project people go back and decide among themselves where to cut rather than taking discussion time during the meeting.
Angie - I’m willing to take the 88 dollars
Laurel - No, I’m willing to take the paint
Table the tabled discussion til the end for
Gaea - we have a precedence previously
Tara - we have a discussion about eliminating
Tara - it is exciting to think of doing larger things
Laurel - and artists getting paid for their work is an awesome thing
Sharon - going back to treasury report - we have to pay the musicians what is owed and now so we would be at about 2400 in the kitty we are getting an advance from the kitty to pay the musicians in advance of the 5000.
(actual 8:02) 7:30-8:00 Project follow up:
Sharon - Agree to take a break later - Malia needs to leave - doing Mekong
 - Creative city challenge evaluation (Sharon)
 - People's festival
 - Greenway Glow
 - Powderhorn stilt classes (are these ongoing?)

8:00-8:10 short break (perhaps sit on my car w/ stilts)

8:10-8:30 upcoming projects:
- Little Mekong (Soozin) (addendum add on some)
Soozin- they wanted to do 2 weekends but they couldn’t raise enough
They just want to do Aug 7 and 8 instead closing off streets. Oscar asked if we would come back after dark 4 stilters from 9-12
I said $75 an hour
maybe props budget $200 for umbrellas to make illuminated to shine down
Sharon - we did have 100 an hour
Tara - it’s important to honor that
Soozin - I could come back for 100 per hour and see if they could do it
Two nights Fri and Sat night
Gaea - Two per night?
Soozin - I think 4 per night Would we be willing to do it for 75 ?
Tara - we would only pay stinters 50 per hour that way and it would be good to keep it up
Gaea - it sounds like a fun cool gig and we might be willing to pull it down
Tonya - what if we set a precedent and told each other and all that
Tara - I think we could set a precedent and they can work it out and be clear
Sarah - I propose we accept her pushing back for 100 per hour and see what they say and then do something
Soozin - Victoria theatre is looking for proposals in frog town and revive and old theatre and they want them to submit a grant to put a show outside one on a thursday 6-8 pm
Gaea - 1000 would be a nice budget for stilters and musicians as our base of what we want to get paid
Tara - If our organizer is 150  is that enough?
Sharon - 100 per hour for 2 hours come in setup we could do it for less or 2 hours 8 people ground crew and musicians
Angie - 1400 before grant and kitty
Sharon - 100 per hour adds the kitty and treasurer and
Angie - I think 2000 is what we should go for
Soozin - I think 1400 is what we’re more likely to get it for
Sharon - That’s what happened the last two times and they cut it in half
Soozin - I’ll put in a budget for 2000
Soozin - I want to put together 2-3 person vignettes sometime (side note)
Geae - also it would be great to have it swappable
Soozin - I applied for a grant and 500 applied 62 finalists and I am one of the finalists. I proposed to make a lantern parade from mini park to frog town park a year from now. I’m proposing a 50,000 budget. A matching grant They would give 25,000 and I would match 25000. Work with artists in the community and that would be large lantern construction, teaching stinting, samba band, parade costume making, part would be hire chicks to teach stinting at frog town parks they’re confident for the parade. longer relationship with community. I’m still thinking budget story. I just wrote the forecast public arts grant as an artist and artist grant committee and working with communities and friend’s school St. Paul.
Asking for a blessing for Chicks on Sticks for the proposal I’m submitting tomorrow
-Everyone sparkle hands-
That sounds Super Awesome!
Laurel - Lots of fabric from Grandma’s do we want any for Chicks?
Soozin - How much
Laurel - Parts of Bolts
Soozin - We’ll see when it gets here

- Break -
8:27
People’s Festival and Powder horn stilt classes we got 20 per hour for one and we got two instructors because it was important. The 5 who did it was really great
She’s excited to teach again…I’m asking 25 per hour which she paid for the first gig but less on that
I’ve talked to her about a couple options through the winter or not
I need to coordinate with Liz but that’s difficult on all fronts because she is very busy
Gaea - Poeple’s festival went on and was adorable children
8:29
Greenway Glo Recap
Angie - Fabric was really cheap pants for 4 stilt pants and two were built
We have extra lights for costumes
ELwire and other things leftover
We could use this for the umbrella thing too
Two extra pants because Angie doesn’t need hers for a dress
Laurel - I used a dress I had but didn’t get all the lights so I’d like them
Sarah - I had an outfit
Sharon - I also wanted an outfit
Tonya - the costume I was working on last year, so I didn’t get it done but it got finished and sharon wore it so yay! There had been at one point a voting for EL I was going to get parts and we had a vote that I was going to get money to buy my own EL wire and it was approved. Tonya I don’t care too much but we still want it. Also a bunch of years ago I found lights and brought them over the Sharon’s with 4 AA batteries string lights battery power.
Sharon - Can we coordinate via email for costumes needed and distributed. So that’s
Angie - If anyone buys them again, buy them on Amazon if there’s time because they’re much cheaper so they were more expensive cuz I bout them without time

Creative City Challenge Recap and Feedback
Gaea-let’s do this nice and an area
usually I ask everyone to do one of each then we do a popcorn
POOP Sandwich - Positive Opportunity Opportunity Positive
Leggings, looked nice, colors looked great from a distance and close up, laurel and Gaea acro table and candelabra, awesome site and working with talent, fun working with everybody and getting together even though it was a lot of pressure and seeing howe everybody did things. ditto doing new thing (Gaea) and partnering with a new org, tara loves to perform and pull time from 7 years ago. Tonya Frowny Face was awesome, Anne with the whistle was great, faces
Categories:
-Opportunities for Improvement-
Laurel - Not being here for the first part and not enough time and attendance
Angie - Deciding the director part of it I asked everyone and no replies and then Gaea said maybe
-Positive/ what went well-
-Don’t ever do this again-
*More notes were taken on paper for debrief and Gaea said someone would photograph the feedback on lists*

8:30-8:50 other open projects/Nag sheet progress check in

8:50-9:00. Confirm next meeting & choose: chair, agenda maker, & note taker.  (September 14, 7-9pm)
  • Monday Sept 14
  • Soozin Chair
  • Tara Note taker
  • Gaea Agenda
  • Soozin - backyard
  • Sarah - rain date as the location for the meeting
Add on - Official Address for Tax Form - Angie requested
-Anne’s address is Chick’s on Sticks tax info Jemiah’s house - it needs to be a stable house Sharon, Tara, Soozin, Anne
Gaea - I think we should tell Anne and offer to see if she wants to move it to her house (Laurel is volunteering to do this thing)
Angie - Convention center gig left a note to send it to Sharon’s house so hopefully it gets there instead of Jemaih’s house
Soozin - you could find the person who will write the check and ask them also.
Sharon - we could also tell Jemiah and warn him that it might happen

Laurel 50 off for un-used paint
Angie - I’ll take 80 off my pay because it was the most
Gaea - Sheets I can take it off 10 bucks and 2 for spray paint…take $25 total
Tonya - you can take some off $25 I came to all the things but I didn’t bust my ass

Budget fix:
189
50 Laurel
139
25 Gaea
114
25 Sharon
89
35 Tonya
54
45 Angie
9 Tara
0:-)

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

May 21, 2015 - Meeting Notes


Chicks on Sticks Meeting

Attendance: Gaea, Angie, Tara, Laurel, Anne, Nicole, Tonya, Soozin, Sarah
Check in: This happened.  I didn’t write it down because I was getting my computer booted up.  Mostly, folks are good and busy for the summer.
Chair: Tara
Notes: Gaea
Motion to move non standard gig conversation to the end of the meeting as it isn’t pressing.  Motion passed.
YWCA teaching gig
Angie: This is a volunteer gig to teach girls at the St. Paul YWCA.  Is anyone else interested in doing it?  Can I use the teaching stilts?
Gaea: When is it?
Angie: June weekdays 1-3 or 1-4.
Tara: Excited about teaching gigs but worried about current teaching stilts.  They sometimes break, which means they need to be repaired in a timely fashion.
Soozin: On the business end, we should ask for some kind of pay because that’s a precedent we want to set. 
Tara/Anne: Can we do a trade or barter?
Gaea: What is the standard teaching rate?
Soozin: $25-60/hr
Tara: continuing concern about stilts and scheduling/repair of stilts.

P’Horn Gig
Gaea: P’Horn loved the Spring Break thing.  We have a gig for summer.  At the moment, we have $300 through the People’s Festival to teaching for the 3 weeks leading up to the People’s Festival and have the students perform at the People’s Festival.  Further details to follow when I talk to Liz, the coordinator.
Tara: Continuing concern over scheduling the teaching stilts and making sure they are in good repair.
Soozin: Maybe they can build stilt pants/stilts as a separate class?
Gaea: There are stilts that need repair.  I have knee pieces cut, I need to install them.
Tara: We should set up a calendar.

Greenway Glow
Angie: We got $250 from the Greenway Glow.  That is half of what we asked for.  Our notes from last meeting should reflect that we agreed to kick in from the kitty to cover what we needed the difference.  I don’t know what the costumes cost originally to tell how much that will cost.  Stilting has always been volunteer.
General discussion about Greenway Glow including a review of the original proposal.  Who needs costumes? Laurel, Angie, Sarah, Deb, Sharon.
Anne: Sharon totally deserves a costume.  She works harder than anyone to get all the financials of our group in order.  She should at least get a costume.  I’ll make her hat!
                  TWINKLE!
People committed to the gig: Gaea, Laurel, Anne, Nicole, Tara, Angie.  (Tonya maybe) Need to follow up with people not here.
Angie: When can we meet for costumes.
Sunday May 31st, 7-9
Gaea: We need to order lights sooner rather than later because they took two weeks to arrive. 
Nicole: Can we get the costumes from Paulette? 
Tara: Concern over costume costs, can we pare it down?
Gaea: I can sew corsets.  So can Laurel.
Laurel: I have sewing machines.
Discussion of space.  Soozin’s studio is a good possibility.
Angie: Is this meeting for deciding on fabric or for building?
We need to start building sooner rather than later.  This meeting will be for building.  We will email around all the details of the previous costumes.
GAEA TO EMAIL OUT OLD COSTUME EMAILS
ANGIE TO EMAIL ABOUT MORE STILTERS
Soozin: Can we have little portable speakers to make it more fun!?  Also, can we join in later.

Calendar
Tonya: Anne and I met.  We are working on some things. 
Anne: Maybe doing a test run with the photag. 
Tonya: Fully embracing the storybook element.
Anne: With a test run, maybe we can get something more concrete from the group if we know what’ we’re looking at more specifically.  Concerns about over sexualization may be mitigated if we know what it will look like.
Tara: Concerns about money and cost.  If it is going to be personal cost, this might be too expensive for some individuals.
Anne: We’re doing the test shoot on our own, out of our own money. 
Soozin: The intent is that Anne and Tonya do a photo shoot without any commitement and for the fun of it without a commitment from CoS.
Sarah: I want to join too!

Soozin: I took calendar to mean something else, like future gigs.  Little Mekong is fundraising for a bigger, better market in a better location.  They have asked if we want to come back.  The market is 5-midnight.  They will pay us the same we did last time, which we think was $50/hr/stilter.  Maybe stilters later in the evening.
Dates: July 3rd & 4th and late July/early August.
Anne: I’d be interested in a later in the evening.
Soozin: Laurel is in Little Mekong’s fundraising video.

Gaea: Off topic – Can we clarify how we deal with teaching paying in the kitty? 
Tara/Soozin: The total for all the gigs is going to be $350, but that depends on if we get paid a full $25/hr for the gig.  But we need to think about precedent on these types of gigs.  Previous gigs have been figure it out as you go.
Gaea: I will work out our pay with Angie and let the rest of the group know.
General agreement

Convention Center
Angie: They gave us $5000, rather than $7000 or $10000.  The date is also now in flux, they want August/September, we proposed for July.
Anne: I can’t do August. I am heavily invested in this.
Gaea: August and September are during my heavy performance season and I would prefer not.
Angie: So if we say we’d strongly prefer to do July, but we’ll take Sept if we have to?
Soozin: Steve is the kind of person who might be willing to listen to a strong reason like the collective was planning on July. 
Angie: So, I’ll push for July but we’ll accept September if we have to.  If its that or nothing, we’ll take September.
Angie: A reminder of what the original was: we were going to pull characters from fairytales and do short vignettes.
More discussion
Tara: Angie will get the details of nailed down and send out an email.  We will meet again soon about the details, once we know them. 

Offtopic
Gaea: Am I missing gig emails?  There are gigs I’m confused about.
General discussion.  Culmination: Gaea needs to learn to read.

Back on topic
Soozin: Can we be reminded about what this entails?
Angie: There is budget for rehearsals, props, costumes, and performance.  We can scale back on some things to produce more stilters or however we want to do it.  We should have enough money to have anyone who wants in being paid to do things.
Tonya: Times?
General statement that times are weird for our group.  We have a combination of self-employed and standard employed groups.  Maybe we can do a hybrid and take advantage of the small group nature of vignettes to use people’s times as we have available.
We will meet soon and sort out the details.
ANGIE WILL ORGANIZE A MEETING!

Wrap Up
Next meeting is July 16th, the week after we hope to have the Convention Center gig.
Place: Soozin’s backyard!
Notes: Sarah
Chair: Gaea
Agenda: Laurel

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Stilter Nomination Process


Chicks On Sticks
Nomination Process
Updated 5/3/15 DE


Notes:
(1.)              At the annual meeting in January, we assess the stilters and gigs we have and determine if we need new members at that time.  (This motion and the nomination process approved at the 9/15/14 meeting.)
(2.)                This process is intended to apply to for both stilting/nonstilting members– and includes consideration for voting/nonvoting membership.

-

Nomination Process

Step 1.

At any meeting, Chicks can share names of individuals interested in joining the group. Chicks should be careful not to promise any sort of outcome to the person interested in joining the group one way or the other. This is just a declaration of interest, nothing more.

The group can discuss the individual and decide by vote one of four things. To:

1.     Nominate the individual as a candidate
2.     Decline an individual’s interest outright
3.     Invite them to get back in touch after a certain period (when there’s a need for more stilters in the group)
4.     Recommend a specific course of action (a la “getting to know you”) if there isn’t enough information to make a nomination

In order to be nominated a stilting candidate, an individual must be recommended by 3 sponsors - including 1 person who has stilted with them - who says her skills are sufficient to keep up the reputation of the group.

Voting for a stilter to become a candidate means the group is ready to invite the new stilter into the group with certainty. The group should not vote for a stilter to become a candidate unless they are ready to vote them in. Making a stilter a candidate triggers the process by which stilters join our group.

Step 2.

If the individual’s interest is declined outright, a designated Chick will be identified to let them know in a timely, tactful fashion.

If the individual is voted to become a candidate, a Chick will be identified to connect with them to discuss Chick responsibilities/qualifications, go over how gigs are organized and the specific expectations with being booked for them, explain the nomination process, go over the annual calendar, and invite them to an upcoming meeting. This should be a detailed conversation, and a copy of the calendar, and Chicks responsibilities/expectations document should be provided for the candidate.

If more information is needed, a designated Chick will connect with them to explain that, and how the group would like to proceed moving forward in order to get to know them better. At the end of the specified “getting to know you” period, they can then be considered for nomination again.

Step 3.

If, after been made aware of Chicks’ expectations regarding responsibilities, the candidate still wishes to become a member, they can confirm their attendance to the upcoming meeting (or not). The Chick who explained group responsibilities should notify everyone in writing of the candidate’s wishes (either way), and when they will attend a meeting if they continue to be interested in joining the group.

Step 4.

The candidate attends a meeting to see the how the group functions in that capacity. The group will make sure excellent snacks are present at this meeting to further woo candidates.

Step 5.

After the meeting, a designated Chick follows up with the candidate to see if they have any additional questions/concerns, and if they would like to join the group.
The Chick will notify the group in writing promptly of the candidate’s response – and if they will be at the next meeting.

Step 6.

As first order of business at the next meeting the candidate attends, Chicks will vote them into the group as an official (nonvoting) member.

Step 7.

During the Chick’s first six months, they will have an assigned ‘mentor Chick’ who will be responsible for answering any questions, and generally making sure they’re blossoming in their membership. The mentor will be original Chick who nominated the new Chick and communicated with them along the nomination process in the first place.

After a Chick has been an official member for six months, they can then have the option of becoming a voting member. This is not by-vote, but is an automatic option, which they are welcome to accept or decline.




Sunday, April 12, 2015

March 19th, 2015 - Meeting Notes


Chicks Meeting – March 19, 2015

Nicole, Angie, Tara, Gaea, Tonya, Anne, Malia, Laurel, Sharon
Checkins

General: Lots of projects

Financial Report:
$3,633.84 in Checking Acct.
Good news: The IRS has removed the penalties, but we do still have to pay the interest.
(owing 50% less).  The bill is still coming?  Unclear from their letter.
2014 taxes were filed, then refiled…

3 gigs booked for the year so far.

Blog Access checking…?

GENERAL NOTE on Communication: If you change the topic of an email thread, CHANGE THE SUBJECT LINE  (Twinkles)

Anne: Amazon Posse: email to chicks, mostly… friend owns gallery called Regla de Oro (golden rule in spanish) … having a fundraiser for breast cancer with superhero women… Would be fun if a bunch of us showed up, came and supported.  This Saturday at 5pm.

Project Updates

Poho: stilt teaching class.  It’s happening!   Maybe eventually a summer-long program.  Ages 12-16.
Business Cards: No idea
Pinup Calendar Review: Tonya: hasn’t done anything since right before xmas.  It will stay in T’s head unless someone else wants to push it forward.   There was never a meeting.  Can we do the calendar in another way?  There would need to be a proposal… T doesn’t have time.  Anne can sit with helping figure out what we want to say and putting it into a shape.  Also we have photography skills in the group (Laurel, Gaea)…. Had lots of ideas she’s really excited about.

Policy Question:  How long does a coordinator wait until they contact a backup stilter for a gig?
When we were doing voting members in January, decided not to accept new members.  This question arose. 
Anne: idea that can work:  Each gig is its own feel.  The Ordway is a huge organizing headache.  They want to know far in advance, lots of switching.  Different if you have 2 stilters only.  Good to schedule a backup ahead of time.  Let me know by (THIS DATE… )  Give it a grace period.  Sometimes gigs come with only 2 days notice, in which case go for whomever can do it…  Show in good faith to prioritize Chicks.
Gaea:  Send out one more email, with a  “Final Call”  Give it another day if you can.
There’s usually already a backup stilter.

Gaea:  Proposal A general policy that, when possible, coordinators to give two weeks to fill a gig, and a final call by email if that gig hasn’t been filled before opening up to outside stilters.  Coordinators will make a good faith effort to cast Chicks. 

Question: Can we propose something and pass it in the same meeting?  Clarify: What kinds of proposals can be voted on in the moment?  What is the standard?  For next month’s agenda.

Anne: Seconded. 

Passed with All (except Nicole who’d stepped out)…

New Projects:
Greenway Glow: Angie.  Tonya’s stuff is on porch.  Sharon, Laurel, Deb.  Lights for Nicole.  Sharon: there are extra things in a bag in her house.  No more lamay, but lots of fluffy bits.  (Pouf).  Event June 20, Proposal due by April 14.  Who’d like to be on a committee for that.  $500 max for budget.  Committee will meet for making the proposal.  5.5 miles relay down the Greenway.  Angie, Sharon, Gaea, Laurel. 

Next meeting isn’t until May, how would we proceed?  Vote on it now? 

We agree to put together a proposal for Greenway.
Later, make a separate proposal if we want to use money from the kitty (once we know how much we get and how many people want costumes.
Anne: Agree that we put in a proposal for the Greenway Glow.   Passed.
(Angie be the lead coordinator, and include herself in the budget.  10% of total budget.  (plus a costume).   

Mpls Convention Center:  Call to propose events, pop-ups, activities…. Mini-polis, a replica of downtown Mpls.  Animates it for one month.   Site: 87000 sqft: Indoors.  Event days need to be coordinated w other events.  Streetscape.  Can by modified for the performance.  Open to all MN residents.  Due by April 13.  $10,000.  Commission for each month.  Each group can do one day, a recurring thing, or everyday.  Participation: a few workshops… Tall people walking through a tiny city.  Stilt pants, but everyday person, “pedestrians”.  Workshops at hobt… $2000.  Teach people how to stilt.  A liability issue?  Fun to do something sculptural.  Moving sculpture from stilters.  We can also pay ourselves for rehearsals.  Teaching: could be something other than stilting.  Glowing costumes.  Glowing puppets?  Sculpture/Rehearsal: Costumes as buildings.  Living statues on stilts.  Since it a full month, we could divide it into 4…  July, August, Or Sept.  (we can choose a month).  One night, have glowing costumes, make a new set of costumes…  4 separate “Team Captains”?  Don’t let our money issues get in the way of paying ourselves?  Laurel: Alice in Wonderland thing…. Glowing mushrooms, flowers that talk…  “High Tea” ..  We can work hard for that 10,000, or 2 pieces for 5000,….  We don’t need to work so hard for the money… 4 projects or one project?

Where are people’s passions? Teaching? Performing.
Anne: not into teaching.  Rather perform.  (Teaches all day).
Laurel: Costumes that work with wind.
Residency idea: Brainstorm what those could be.

Little Mekong:
Need a longer convo with how do we deal with non-standard gigs? 
Money in it, budget was a mess.  Guidelines & perimeters, unclear who was actually going to do the gig?  Lots of work involved.  General confusion that it had a single director, or a collaborative effort between different people?

Trying to create some non-standard gig Guidelines…. For a proposal, to have clarity about that.

Future Meeting:  Learning that process right now.

Doodle Poll: Really good info came up.  Idea of “State of Chicks” Poll came up.  We’ve come far this past year.  Dealt with things we wanted to address.  A way to get time to respond with time to process.  Check in w ourselves.  Writing things down can be easier for some people.    Interested, but after performance season.



Action Items:
Get Blog Access: Ask Soozin to re-send?  She did on 3/15, but Laurel didn’t get it…  Need gmail account?  Tara can talk and ask to re-send it…  What is the Chicks on Sticks Gmail account?  Anne too is having trouble with gmail….  Laurel will ask Soozin.

Anne and Tonya will meet to work out a proposal about the calendar project.  

Angie, Gaea, Anne, Tara, Nicole, Laurel, Sharon:  Working on Proposals for Greenway, and Working on Proposals for Mpls Convention Ctr.

Gaea: May follow up on People’s Festival if they get the Phorn gig for teaching.

Next Meeting May 7
Anne: Location
Sharon: Chair
Gaea: Agenda-drafting

Next Play-Date:
April …. Do parade together.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

January 22nd, 2015 - Meeting Notes

Chicks on Sticks Annual Meeting 1/22/15


6:24 Amy has reached pure gluttony first
(not here yet Kat)
Tara, Laurel, Angie,Amy, Malia, Tonya, Anne, Gaea, Sarah, Soozin, Nicole


Chair Gaea
Note taker Sarah
Agenda Amy


Agenda Review 6:45 and accept


Reading subcommittee meeting minutes (ANNE reads)
Chairperson
Secretary
Treasurer (6-8 hours per month)
Coordinators
-Answers email and Facebook
-No more phone number
-Communicate details, costume bits etc.
<Clarification>Tara about agree to close conversation and table agenda items
<Soozin>Do we want a year-long chairperson I have collective housing and the chairperson always changes
<Gaea>I noticed certain items were never followed up on
-Amy (someone could pass the torch)
-Soozin I feel like sometimes in the past one or two people have run things for a long time and so there has been frustration on someone’s part in that
-Tonya One thing I have I like about having different people that people have different styles and like having that
-Amy - I like rotating things because we could have a hard time communicating with one person, if we make that choice then there are things we’re missing. Is there another way to capture the loose ends (maybe a new role)
-Anne “The Nagger” to nag the loose ends (laughter)
-Soozin - maybe have a new google doc or some way of capturing who that is
1 Year long
2 6 month
3 Rotating Chair (status quo) learning to be a chair, low pressure, rotating through strengths
4 Head- nagger (or 3b) someone to follow up on all loose ends


Agenda mod - 30 min late
30 min check-in
Slideshow at end?


Check-in
Laurel gingerbread, armstilts
Angie Stick to agenda, jazz fest, acro
Amy one year anniversary of loosing job, we’ve been keeping to our agenda and quorum, excited from learning to read or reading to learn, personal, gotta get on my stilts
Nicole: goal: self build a new pair of stilts (maybe add aluminum etc) us: more social meetings nice to host at homes and plan extra times for socializing or have sewing meetings or crafting meetings and I miss that favorite moment Selby Jazz Festival, new one and lots of people of color and the music was amazing
Malia: Ditto amy yay us for having meetings fav moment: can’t choose but sewing illuminated costumes, making flowers and something else. goal for myself as a chick I think about few people know how to sew and maybe I could pass sewing skills on to youth and I think it’s empowering and costume-making I miss group crafting and personally I’m doing awesome chee gong (spelled wrong?)
Tonya goal for self Costumes! Expand wardrobe and sparkly things and in a social way goal for us as group get together and sew and be creative together, fave moment was stilters ball. It’s nice to come and stilt without a gig
Anne Stilter’s ball and sewing at our house and tossing the crap around here and that’s nice. It has turned around for me as chicks. Goal for us: make more costumes that go together with individual style but it’s cool to see those illuminated costumes together and I will add on it will be fun to do some sort of a performance of all of us, doesn’t have to be super choreographed. Goal for myself: it’s all about the poofs! Encyclopedia of Exquisite Things illustrations of gigantic head dresses think ship in hair
Gaea: fav moment covered by everyone but also really enjoyed performing again after returning to Chicks and our three new chicks and new energy and perform with you guys have been super fun the extended reentry process goal as group: I agree we could do social stuff on stilts where we have the most fun but I don’t think we can do that until we get organized so my goal is I want us to get organized in a way that is achievable for us and also have more fun, my goal is to have more fun and goof off and still get stuff done synergy. I have a photo show up at the Unitarian place and reception on Sunday 12:30 to 5pm
Sarah: Highlight added to Chicks Group yes to fun and organizing
Soozin: Fav moment: illuminated costume and making them and seeing the reaction at the Little Mekong Night Market in St. Paul (new audience) reaching out to new community and the costumes looked really slick and great and have a set of matching costumes so I was excited about that even though it was bumpy to get there. Goal for self: the last couple years  have been hard so I want to lose 50 lbs and I feel like I’m a bigger person on stilts but people seem to react that way so I like being that way so i can feel good about representing for that but I used to be able to spin on one peg and skip which I like doing and showing off Goal as a group: more documentation and compile pictures better, we want more business cards chicks flickr account or dropbox or something. Documentation would be good. I also like it when we work on a group project together to work on. My strengths lie in strategic in big picture planning or objectives but not in people relationship building. I would like us as a group take a strengths finder training to see where our strengths lie and how we work together and what we do well. It could be interesting.
Tara: highlight having fun together bedlam ball, building things together and working together. Sometimes as you do a larger work project you sometimes discover strengths about the group you may not have seen and we also have pretty intense personalities also so learning as we go. Personally I have been pulling back a bit from stinting because some of my excitement hasn’t been as strong and I need challenges and if i don’t see them so I have loved creating and pushing self in the past about convey concepts and challenges but a big challenge for me was working on the greenway project which wasn’t exactly chicks but chicks were involved. Apply for grant money to have a seed to work on a bigger project to do a performance and longterm planning and get a seed of money to get that to work in a really awesome way. I would like us to do a larger project: maybe Acro Yoga or fire troupe etc. During the class a member of the aerial yoga said we always wanted to learn to stilt and stilters have wanted to learn how to do the Acro Yoga. potential collaboration and I’m excited for dreams to hear and moving them all forward. I’d love to do more costuming too giant butterfly wings for everyone.
Laurel: strand beast video creatures that work with the wind and I want stinting costumes with strand beasts on the top and sculptural costumes that function with the wind.
8:34
Year in review moved to end of agenda


2)Meetings (Every other month April and October Off-limits and only one in Summer) March May July September November January generally Third Thursday 7-9
We agree 7-9 on Thursdays is doable
March 19
May 21 (Amy will be in Greece-poor Amy)
July 16 (Anne won’t be here and Violet’s Bday)
Monday Sept 14 (No Angie this is a MONDAY)
Nov 19
Jan 21 2016!


7:48
Voting member policy (do we like having non-voting members and voting members) Are non-voting members for gigs? Yes. we like this
It leaves a way for people to not damage quorum and get gigs and contribute early on
Laurel - I think it would’ve been nice to be a non-voting member for the first bit. Do we always have to wait for the annual meeting to build quorum do we add them and then putting them on a non-voting status for 6 months….will there be a probationary period for 6 months
Tara - clarify about do we want this to be can we change half way through
Amy - I like the idea of flexibility importance
Anne - poof hilarity dead
Gaea- important thing to bring up adding people mid-year and made them choose then and there if you were going to be voting member I think part of what we need to establish is non-voting or voting status commit for the year or can you change halfway people in good faith should commit
Anne - I think  we should make a good faith commitment and mindful and trying to stick to one or the other
Amy - if you say tonight you want to be a voting member you are committing to these meetings and miss only two
Anne - head-nagger t-shirt and poof with built in flashing siren and tiara


Voting member do we want to be?
Gaea yes
Sarah yes
Soozin yes
Tara yes
Laurel yes
Angie yes
Amy yes
Nicole yes
Malia yes
tony a yes
Anne yes
Sharon (assumed yes)
Amy (sent email to people
Soozin (Gabriella said no)
Deb said no because she might be living in NYC
Amy (Kat said no)


12 total
9 Quorum


8pm
Year-round roles do we want new members?
Malia - new members topic having a thought generally I’ve heard of friends of color who want to learn stinting and make a goal this year to teach them and see how they like it and then maybe invite them later because it would be great
Gaea - I like that and want to figure that out
30 gigs income of 15,091.00
Sharon found checks!


Soozin, Tonya (small number of gigs), Tara, Laurel, Angie, Amy (small), Nicole, Nicole, Anne, Gaea, Sarah
(Sharon says no not actively stilting gigs)
Predicted 5 gigs per chick per year
Soozin last year one sub (mark saffron) two gigs in one day and may day build day etc etc. So after adding the stilters.
Malia - don’t add people but put people on trainee status as sub of sub
Gaea - I like the idea of opening up and teach people to stilt but they won’t be already performer “member-ready” in the first season
Malia - maybe learn how and have different layers
Laurel- trainee fun things idea on months that we don’t have chicks we could have a fun thing during the same meeting time like it could be a new people learn things and play or craft and sewing or eating or bringing the poof to show people walk in the park
Malia - Awesome idea and maybe lets schedule and people pick a time they want to do something who takes on what and when.


Fun year meetings (surprise agenda item based on Malia is awesome)
Feb 2/19 lantern-making at HOBT 7-9 (Sarah will remind)
April 5/23 Mayday build Chicks Fun help Angie
June 6/18 Hosting Gaea, Amy, Sarah Hosting
Aug 8/6 Anne hosting
Oct 10/15 Build and Barebones Tara
Dec 12/17 Malia Sewing craft party


Gaea
I propose: We are not opening up for new members this year but we will start running workshops to invite people to stilt so we can open it up in future years so we can expand the love of stilting (consesus)
Malia - addendum keep an eye out for people who might be a good chick and have them secretly in our back pocket to “audition”
Tara - create a back-up list maybe have a list for coordinators
Gaea - it could be tough to fall back on back-ups too soon after two days not hearing from chicks
Tara - yeah, how much time can go by before you go to back-up list
Gaea - Maybe March conversation Back-up stinters and lead time and how long you wait


Year-round roles
Malia- Rotate chairperson and have a head-nagger who could pass on the “poof” if it’s needed
Gaea - Could be nice I like that option
Malia: "I propose we have a rotating chair, secretary and agenda-maker so we all get a chance and to have an official head-nagger position which is consistent throughout the year but if they feel it’s too much they can pass on the role. The head-nagger is somebody who volunteers for the position and then is voted in by the group."
(agenda-maker must collude with head-nagger)


-Proposal passed-
Soozin nominate Gaea
Vote unanimously approved!
Laurel back-up nagger
takes her place if she’s not around or nag if Gaea is not nagging


Soozin I like head task-mistress not nagger
which devolved into cat o nine tails and black vinyl stilt chaps

Slideshow
Adjourn meeting at 8:45 pm!!!! early!!!!! wee


Announcements!
March 7th Anne premier book goes to mad mouse city
January 31 HOBT 10 and 12 Snowflake Bentley
Gaea photo show Sunday January 25
Amy - Community sings 7pm January 31 at the Walker

Chairperson in March Sarah!!!!
Note-taker Malia
Laurel agenda-maker


Sarah: you need to make a form for coordinators and the gigs they make.