Minutes of the Board Meeting of the Needle Arts Guild of Toledo

May 3, 2007
The Board of the Needle Arts Guild of Toledo met at the home of President Marianne Mussett on May 3, 2007 at 6:30 pm. Besides Marianne, her cats and her dog, there were four other board members present: Karlyn Thompson, Donna Mohn, Anna Kerlin, and Annette Hill.

Treasurer Karlyn Thompson reported that our bank account balances are: savings $2045.16, checking $1250.39, and CD $2000.00. She paid our dues for this quarters’ renewal in the amount of $152.00 for national, and $8.00 for regional. The Budget Committee delayed its meeting due to Maria’s illness, but will be meeting soon.

Resident Organization Council Representative, Anna Kerlin reported on the recent meeting led by President of the Board of the Toledo Botanical Garden, Mimi Creutz. There are plans to add a visitor’s center at the Bancroft Street entrance, and a children’s center. They are considering setting up artist’s booths in rows this year for the Crosby Festival of the Arts in June, to make it easier to locate artists. Since the recent association of the TBG with the City of Toledo, TBG does have some revenue coming in from the City, but it will be important for the levy to pass in November to complement that funding. The city only provides about 50% of the operating budget. Some of the money from the city is being used for needed repairs. TBG has a new logo. The Garden has paid off the greenhouse debt.

Anna also reported that Janet Schroeder called her on Sunday about our guild’s participation in the 1st Sunday event, Open Art, on Sunday, May 6. They want us to do more than just sit and stitch. We will be in the Terrace Room with the Miniatures group. They want us to have a little project to teach. Anna is developing ideas and will provide materials . The event is scheduled from 12 noon to 4 pm. For Art in the Gardens on the first Sunday in August, we will handle the raffle. Annette Hill will stitch a scissors case to donate as a prize. The ROC wants all signs for various organizations to look the same this year. We need to put together little projects to teach at upcoming1st Sunday events. There is some funding from corporate sponsors for supplies.

Marianne has received our charter as a Resident Artist Organization at the Toledo Botanical Garden. The Board discussed the annual report which is mentioned in the charter, listing events held there and the number of people in attendance, with a description of the programs offered. Although we have probably not filed this in the past, it may be to our benefit to document the programs that we sponsor at TBG.

Donna Mohn, Membership Chairman, will keep in touch with EGA national about the transition in the administration of membership renewals in their office. Marianne is considering writing to national to request that membership renewal be done once a year, and prorated for new memberships to implement this. Donna will be collecting from plural members each January.

Our trial blog now has minutes posted for the February, March and April meetings. It also has our newsletters. Marianne continues to investigate the potential uses of a blog to distribute information on the internet.

Plans for our annual show are coming along fine.

Marianne received an email from Sandy Nicolai regarding the regional seminar in Madison, Wisconsin in 2008.

The meeting was then adjourned. The next meeting is scheduled for June 7 at Marianne’s home.

Respectfully submitted,
Annette Meyer Hill