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Meeting called to order by Art Gruneberger (SP) at 7:45 PM after a celebratory Holiday Pot Luck

Lee announced that we have an opportunity to get group tickets at a discount price for the play War Horse, coming to San Francisco in August and September. She reported that a group of us were able to see a preliminary introduction to Jerry the horse puppet on Thursday night and that it was extraordinary. She passed around a sign-up sheet for those who would be interested in getting the discount tickets. The best time/date for us to get a number of tickets would be Tuesday or Wednesday night, and that Sept. 4th or 5th would have the most and best tickets still available. However, we would have to let her know by Tuesday Feb. 21st for sure how many tickets we would like. She would send out an email to everyone on the list giving a listing of the group prices.

Michael – Membership report: We have 115 members as of now, with 6 months to go in

our membership year. This is the same number we had at the END of last year, which is a record for our Guild. This looks like it will be a record breaking membership year. Michael also reported that we now have membership dues payable through PayPal,

Art reported that it is almost time for board elections and asked people to consider running for the board. Conrad reported that although it seems like it is a “responsibility”, it is actually a lot of fun, and the people on the board are a great bunch of people.

Lex announced our program for tonight, but started with announcing that it was Elizabeth’s birthday and we all sang “Happy Birthday”.

The program: Alameda County 4-H Puppeteers performing “Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock”. The team is 5 4-H members age 9-18 who have been in the puppet project from 1-8 years. However, the oldest member and a 12 year old were not able to make it tonight, so Sharon and Kristen Clay had to step in as substitutes. Both are Guild members. Sharon is the leader (has been leading the puppet project for about 15 years) and Kristen is her daughter. The team has practiced 4 hours a week for about 5 weeks to prepare for the 4-H Presentation Day on Feb. 4th.

Here 4-H members are evaluated on their Presentations (which could be a demonstration, or a speech, or an Illustrated Talk, or a Share the Fun, or a Cultural Arts Presentation) and if they get a Gold award, they go on to Sectionals at U.C. Davis on March 31st. The team got a Gold for their “Share the Fun” Puppet Show.

New Guild member Artie Poore did a Puppet Slam presentation and talked about different Puppet Slams that go on across the country almost every week. (The SF Puppet Slam is on April 1st) At a Puppet Slam, performers can present a new act for an audience, or one that they want to try out again. Artie performed a piece where he operated rod puppets, mouth puppets and moved set pieces around all the while singing A capella original compositions.

Conrad and Elizabeth from Independent Eye read from their new memoir, “Co-Creation, Fifty Years in the Making” about a their life, love, theater and puppets. They are doing readings around the Bay Area.

Meeting adjourned at 9:05 PM

Sharon Clay, Secretary

Attendance: Valerie, Michael, Sharon, Randal, Conrad, Art

Absent: Lex, Jesse, Talib

Meeting called to order by Art at 2:07 PM.

Minutes of meeting of 11/9/11 approved as written. Motion: Randal 2nd Conrad

Membership report: Michael: 100 current members. At end of last year, membership was

115. 28 members get newsletter printed and mailed.

The roster is ready but not sent out. Discussion on how to distribute. Board

decided to email roster to all those who are receiving the newsletter by email

but a limited number of printed copies will be available at next Guild meeting.

Guild Membership Card: Some people have asked for these so they can get a

discount at JoAnn’s Fabrics. Michael will make a stack of these and will fill them

out and mail them to a member if anyone asks..

Treasurer’s Report: $6622.86 total. Of this $1405.25 is designated for scholarships.

Discussion of setup of PayPal account which Michael has done. There

is 2.9% transaction fee + 30 cent fee per transaction. Therefore a

$20 membership fee costs 88 cents. Decided not to raise the membership fee

for those using PayPal, as the current treasury is adequate, and we don’t know

at this time how many people will use this system.

Review and approval/change proposed dates for Guild Meetings:

Next Guild Meeting Plan: Discussion of still having “holiday party”, but

it will be a Valentine’s party rather than a Christmas party.

Next meeting: Feb. 18. Program committee: Sharon, Randal, Lex

Art, will meet via email and set program and location.

May 20th – Michael is meeting with Old Books group in Vallejo. He will find out if we

can do a Guild meeting at the same venue and consider the topic of Old Puppet

Books. August 25th or 26th in Fairyland. Randal will find out for sure if these are the dates.

November 10th – program to be determined.

Web Master: Michael has been doing the minor changes to the web site and thinks, in general

he can do most of the changes. He might need consultation from an “expert” very rarely.

Art will check with Rik Franz what he would charge for random “consultation”.

Newsletter Calendar: Is the newsletter calendar postings exclusively for members’

performances only? Randal thinks that this was voted on in the past – that performances that

are important TO Guild Members, not only BY Guild members should be posted.

Procedural Changes: Michael brought up the fact that we have changed procedures on

some of the duties of the board. He questioned how these changes should be presented

to the Guild members. It was discussed and decided that Michael will send these changes

to the board for approval/modification, then when approved will try to find a place on the

website to put important procedures and/or procedural changes. If the By-Laws need to be changed, this needs to be brought up to the membership at a future meeting.

Planning for new board (and new members).

The nominating committee needs to rotate off (after so many years). According to the

By-Laws they are supposed to ask others to replace themselves. However, the nominating Committee usually selects 1 member per office, so essentially they are selecting the new Board members. Discussion: The current nominating committee is doing a good job and should continue for this year. Consideration: 2 nominating committee members plus 1 Board member and make nominating committee part of the board. No decision was made at this time. This would need to be a By-Law revision.

Guild sponsored puppet slam, and mini-puppet festival: Michael

Discussion about whether the Guild should sponsor a week-long puppet mini-festival with Workshops and performances. Would it be a possibility? Could we get enough people to do this. Would it be of interest to members? How much would it cost? Could we get a venue that would be reasonable enough? What about a Puppet Slam? Would this be a Regional festival? Michael: “No, more local”. This was not finalized, just proposed.

Legal Status: What are we, as an organization?

Valerie Moved, Randal 2nd: Conrad consult with SF Chapter of Volunteer Lawyers for the

Arts to help determine what our status is as an organization. We don’t have 501c(3) status, We don’t do tax returns. Should we? Right now donations to us are not tax deductible?

Meeting adjourned at 4:00 PM.

Addendum from Michael Nelson:

I did not recall a discussion of having the procedures approved before posting them on the website.  I did send them out to the board and heard back from Art who suggested a number of changes and a slightly different philosophical approach to them.  I wanted to confer with board on the approach but would prefer to do it at a board meeting (an in-person discussion.)  Currently I have a draft of the procedures up on the website.  It has not officially been approved by anyone, and can certainly change.

 And FYI, we now have more members than we did at the end of last year, so this will probably be a record setting year for membership numbers!

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In this issue:

Puppet Build Pictures on Facebook

Guild members  on The Muppet Movie

Membership Perks

Años Viejos

Dragon Puppet Diagram

Calendar

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Location: Fairyland

Prior to meeting, Michael Nelson announced membership dues are now payable and forms are available.  He also stated that he has Gala tickets as well.

Meeting called to order by Jesse at 5:35 PM.

Randal talked about the Fairyland event for tonight – the “sleep over” (not for us but for the public). He listed the schedule for dinner and the performance that he would be giving at 8:00 PM.

Randal also stated that Lewis Mahlmann has been in the hospital for the past month and is now home with nursing care. He is celebrating his 84th birthday in Sept.

Michael Nelson – Treasurer Report

We have $7,223.87 in the treasury, with $1405.25 designated for scholarships.

$2,000 has been designated for the Gala. Membership year is Sept. 1 – August 31.

He has envelopes and membership forms available for those who wish to pay their dues tonight.

Tickets for the Gala (our 50th Anniversary) are also available. This will be 24 Sept. 2011. Ticket prices are $25.00 for members (past or present), and $35 for non-members. This will include a wonderful catered dinner and fabulous entertainment. Entertainment will include the Oregon Shadow Puppets w/Thumbilina, and Bob Hartman – who is the puppeteers’ Puppeteer.

Michael – Gala Committee Chair

Listed need for volunteers:

C Volunteer Coordinator

C Hospitality Committee (People who will welcome guests and orient them to facility)

C Bartender

C Cleanup Committee

C Memorabilia Chair (items to sell)

C Memorabilia to display – contact Randal

Newsletter: Talib requested articles for the newsletter

Membership: New members/guests were introduced: Gabriella and Yvonne

Valerie and Michael had just seen “Stuffed and Unstrung” in San Francisco and presented their review – They loved it!. They described how the show is done to involved the audience yet still allow a “puppet performance” environment. They do recommend it as an “adult” entertainment.

Ernie Fosselius brought his collection of Mechanical Marvels and delighted us with their operation. Daniel Krakauer showed how he has created another mechanical puppet using cogs and wheels.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:20 PM for dinner at the train station.

Submitted by: Sharon Clay, Secretary