MAC BOD Annual General Meeting MINUTES: updated 12/05/13 4PM
Date of Meeting: October 16th, 2013 at 353 Studios on West 48th Street, NYC
Board Members Attending:
Lennie Watts
Julie Miller
John Koprowski
Jim Speake
Bob Diamond
Kim Grogg
Stearns Matthews
Sidney Myer
Billie Roe
Amy Wolk
Advisory Board Members Attending:
Roy Sander
Apologies:
Thomas Honeck
T. Oliver Reid
Ricky Ritzel
Meeting called to order at 6:35pm
1. President, Lennie Watts, called the meeting to order introducing the current BOD
members; Julie Miller, Vice President; Jim Speake, Secretary; John Koprowski, Treasurer;
Kim Grogg and Stearns Matthews, Co-chair Membership; Google and Website Rep. Amy
Wolk, (who was not present during the introductions; further BOD members introduced
were Sidney Myer, Bob Diamond, and newly elected officer, Billie Roe. Additionally, Roy
Sander, the head of our Advisory Board, was introduced. Absent from the meeting were
BOD officers, Thomas Honeck, T. Oliver Reid, and Ricky Ritzel but were introduced.
2. TREASURER’S REPORT – JOHN KOPROWSKI presenting
MAC has now had four years of being in the black. There are no outstanding bills or
receivables at this time. The organization makes money primarily from dues and by
income from the MAC Awards. Since we have a reserve fund, we are able to pursue other
activities to promote the art of cabaret. A deposit for BB King was made for the upcoming
2014 MAC Awards. The Treasurer has been using the square device for credit cards
payments. John asked that members please be sure to include their zip code on all
membership applications as it is needed for processing their applications.
3. MEMBERSHIP REPORT – KIM GROGG and STEARNS MATTHEWS presenting.
3.1. MAC presently has 500 members including 71 clubs in membership. Previously,
Gretchen Reinhagen computed all online memberships, and now Stearns Matthews has
taken over that responsibility. Previously, emails were manually sent out as reminders to
renew membership. Now with the new website 3 notices will go out to the membership as
reminders to renew. Kim Grogg stated that people with no computer access will still be
notified via mail. Rob Lester inquired as to the length of membership. Kim informed all that
membership is rotating on a 12 month basis.
4. UPCOMING 3 EVENTS – JULIE MILLER presenting.
4.1. The first of 3 annual events “They Write the Songs’, the 2nd annual songwriter’s
showcase, will be held on Sunday, November 17, 2013 at the Baruch Performing Arts
Center in their Engleman Recital Concert Hall at 55 Lexington Avenue (entrance on 25th
Street & 3rd Ave). The show will be from 4-6 pm with a reception following the show.
Featured Songwriters will be Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, Marcy Heisler & Zina
Goldrich, Joe Iconis, Bobby Cronin, Sam Carner & Derek Gregor, Lois Morton, Andrew
Sotomayor, and the recipients of the Dottie Burman and John Wallowitch Awards will be
presented. Each will present a song. Hosted by Julie Gold with Musical Director, Steven
Ray Watkins. Ticket price is $20 in advance and $30 the day of the show. Go to the
website for more information. Julie Miller pointed out that MAC will subsidize the cost of
tickets for members making the event affordable to a wider audience. Tickets will be
available for purchase through Ovation Tickets.
4.2. Shaynee Rainbolt asked how the performers were selected, and why there were no
auditions. Lennie Watts informed the group that the performers chosen to present the
songwriters material were past MAC winners and nominees selected by the songwriters
themselves with the casting assistance of a BOD committee working to match the
appropriate singer with the song.
4.3. The December Holiday Party is December 9th at Elmo in Chelsea at 156 Seventh
Avenue (between 19th and 20th Street). Julie Miller added that the $25 ticket price to this
party is also subsidized by MAC to keep the price low and encourage more people to
come to the party. The membership only pays about half of what MAC is charged by the
club.
4.4. The 28th Annual MAC Awards will be held Thursday, March 27th, 2014 at B.B. King’s.
The Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to Marilyn Maye. Please consult the MAC
Website for information regarding this upcoming event.
4.5. Lennie Watts spoke on the changes made to the MAC Award guidelines. Categories
were added and/or deleted to reflect relevant changes made over the years in cabaret. He
further added he thought it necessary and right that these changes be reflected in the
awards themselves using as an example the new ‘Featured Instrumentalist’ award
category, a new ‘Drag Artist’ category, and the ‘Piano Bar Entertainer’ whose initial
nomination will now come from a committee. Some categories were necessary to
separate such as ‘Piano bar Instrumentalist’ and ‘Restaurant/Lounge Instrumentalist’.
4.6. Joe Regan, Jr. inquired as to how MAC Award applications are to be submitted for
nomination. Lennie informed him and the group that applications will be accepted by mail
and website for the calendar year of January 2013 through December 2013. For further
information regarding the awards and guidelines please consult the MAC website.
5. MAC WEBSITE and GOOGLE GROUP - Amy Wolk presenting.
5.1. Amy Wolk informed the membership that the new MAC website is nearly completed
and presently in soft launch. Please go to the website to familiarize yourself with the
various pages and categories. She emphasized that soon all members will be able to join
and/or renew their membership via the website. Members will have individual pages to
promote themselves to other members, and they will be able to print their membership
cards directly from the website. All past data will be condensed and held in Cloud format
which all members will have access to as well as be able to buy ads on the website to
promote their shows. The website will also have a monthly calendar which will inform the
memberships whose shows are coming up within the next month all in an effort to promote
and encourage cabaret within the Metropolitan area.
5.2. Rob Lester inquired if ‘March is Cabaret Month’ and the Bistro Awards on March 3 rd
would be promoted on the website and/or included on the events page? He was assured
they would be so promoted.
5.3. Shaynee Rainbolt asked if there would be a way to stream the awards via the website
or the location of the award ceremony. Amy informed Shaynee and the membership that
would require permission by the building and membership at large, but stated it was
definitely something worth looking into for the future.
5.4. Amy Wolk spoke of the MAC Google Group. She continues to police the google group
board to confirm only current members use it and further asking to inform her of anyone
misusing google group too frequently or for purposes other than the subject matter of
cabaret. Please contact her at info@macnyc.com.
5.5. Julie Miller emphasized and encouraged that the MAC Facebook group has over 1000
members, many of them active on the page, and can also be used as a good source of
communication and to promote your shows with less restrictions as the FB page is not
exclusive to MAC membership. However, all official MAC announcements will continue to
be launched on the MAC website page.
5.6. Bobbie Horowitz inquired if there would be a message board on the new MAC
website. Lennie Watts informed the group that would not happen as most message
boards are now hit with so much spam making it impossible to police and/or operate. Other
suggested websites or pages to post notices were suggested by Bobbie. Cabaret Singers,
LA.; Songbirds, DC; MAC You Tube page where Amy posts videos of previous award
winners, performances, and pictures. Amy encouraged all to join You Tube, however, in
the future the performer’s page on the MAC website will have the ability to do anything You
Tube can presently do.
5.7. Amy Wolk further discussed the proper ‘posting and receiving’ guidelines for the MAC
Website, Google Group, and Facebook page, and further assured the membership that a
chat board on the MAC Website would be too time consuming to police as it would require
the monitoring of posts as well as spam. She again encouraged the membership to send
any complaints privately to her email address at info@macnyc.com. She reported that the
MAC website is almost fully functional although you cannot post a video on the website as
a member. However, the website can ‘like’ a member’s channel. There are over 1000
pictures and 200 video’s now posted on the website on the Flicker page to watch previous
MAC awards and events. If a MAC member would like to be listed in the member’s
category of Musical Director, Director, Musician, Voice Teacher, etc., please contact Amy
and she will put your name and link in the appropriate category.
5.8. Rob Lester inquired how often a member may post an advertisement. Amy instructed
all members they may post only once a week per event not per member. Lennie Watts
warned performers not to over market yourself, and to stagger your advertising on the
various webpages noted earlier.
6. OPEN FLOOR – lead by Lennie Watts
6.1. Shaynee Rainbolt inquired if the Calendar on Facebook could be integrated with the
MAC website in such a way that events posted on Facebook could appear on the MAC
website calendar. Amy said she would look into that possibility.
6.2. Bobbie Horowitz inquired if the Clubs would be willing to collectively pay for local
advertising for upcoming MAC events/member shows to attract more of a regular
audience. Is there a way to engage clubs in the membership more completely in that they
are members themselves yet not required to pay an annual membership fee? Could a
hotel ‘concierge program’ be installed? Lennie noted that Ricky Ritzel has been working
on increasing club membership for the past year, and that the problem with a ‘concierge
program’ is that there can be no quality control on any given advertised show, but any
advice or help on the matter would be most welcome.
6.3. Terese Genecco brought up the issue of performer’s complaints against MAC clubs.
Can MAC 1.) Create Club guidelines for MAC members and post information like club
contract requirements on the website, 2.) Create a MAC review board to instill quality
control for its performing membership, 3.) Provide a place on the MAC website to report
grievances against any offending club, 4.) Make clubs more accountable for these
grievances? Lennie Watts replied that as MAC is not a union we have no grounds for
intervention. The best way to handle any complaints about a club is word of mouth.
6.4. Mary Foster Conklin suggested that MAC might incorporate the use of the MAC
membership private page to post their grievances regarding any club with full awareness
to the MAC membership at large. Regardless, dealing with any club you get what you get.
6.5 Lennie Watts agreed that something needs to be done as this is an issue continually
brought up at each annual meeting although at this point the only option he sees is to
publically make vocal your grievances as performers. Shaynee Rainbolt voiced the opinion
that if a club does not honor its contract to a performer, i.e. not pay in a timely manner, the
cabaret press should be so advised and write about it. She sighted a particular club’s
singing competition as an example. Amy Wolk replied that it is the performer’s
responsibility to enforce the stipulations of the contract as it is not the place of MAC to
enforce club contracts.
6.6 Billie Roe suggested perhaps MAC might consider letter grading clubs based on
previous performers complaints (much the same way New York restaurants are graded) in
order to inform future MAC performers.
6.7. Terese Genecco again stressed the need of creating and enforcing member
guidelines when interacting and negotiating with MAC clubs. Full disclosure should be
made on the MAC website based on results of these guidelines. Mary Foster Conklin
agreed based on an experience she had at the club in question. Bobbie Horowitz
suggested the current press attending in the room might do an expose on the subject.
Lennie Watts agreed that public disclosure by aggrieved performers would likely yield
results, but reiterated, again, that MAC would not be able to officially rate or grade clubs,
as this is a membership of both clubs and performers, and not exclusively a performers’
union.
6.8. Amy Wolk believed a well-placed call to NY1 or the NYT might help the situation
along, but that would be up to the individual performer. As MAC is not a performers’ union,
it would not be appropriate for MAC to take that type of action. Terese Genecco said she
had even contacted an owner of the club and his reply was ‘we’re working on it’.
6.9. Billie Roe informed the membership that she has now worked out a payment plan with
the club manager, and informed him that if they do not stick to this new agreement she will,
regretfully, be forced to seek legal counsel and sue for nonpayment. (To date the club has
upheld its payment agreement.) Terese Genecco reiterated the need to grade clubs.
Mary Foster Conklin sited several examples from other clubs from the past where the
collective denouncement of a club was successful.
6.10. Roy Sanders said to do a grading system would require a lot of time and
investigative research in order to grade each club and there would be legal matters to
address. He did not believe the BOD was equipped to handle that much.
6.11. Karen Gross felt a petition of support and advocacy might be effective as well as a
discussion on city club contracts.
6.12. Shanee Rainbolt suggested that MAC sponsor future events informing and educating
new members on club contracts and policies. Lennie suggested that we organize a MAC
event covering Shanee’s suggestion. Amy Wolk confirmed that the BOD would organize
and schedule a forum on this topic within the next couple of months.
6.13. Joe Regan, Jr. announced that Richard Hollbrook is home from the hospital after
treatment of a serious illness, and is doing well and is so grateful for all the cards and
prayers sent by the membership. Lennie encouraged all to contact Richard via email or
Facebook. All applauded!
6.14. Lennie Watts thanked all the membership for coming and their active participation at
the meeting and throughout the year. He encouraged all and anyone who has additional
questions or complaints to contact via email any member of the Board of Directors who are
all there ready to serve the membership at large.
Meeting adjourned: 8:11pm