Update 11/6: Anyone in Seldovia is welcome to join the teleconferenced meeting at the Seldovia Village Tribe Visitor Center Boardroom on Monday, 11/10 at 10 am.

(Latest agenda version: 11/10/08)

Meeting agenda

1. Minutes of last meeting (Spurkland)
2. Treasure’s report (will be provided at the meeting or by email upon request to treasurer@seldoviaartscouncil.org)
3. Old Business:
   1. Events:
      • Soul Street Dance
      • Ball in the House
   2. Festival Committee Reports
      • Director (Mumma)
      • Assistant director (Lewis)
      • Housing (Stranik)
      • Transportation (Spurkland)
      • Publicity (Zerwick)
      • Sponsorships (?)
      • Merchanise (?)
   3. Alaska State Council on the Arts Meeting in January (Mumma)
   4. EVOS Art Exhibition (Lewis)
4. New Business:
   1. Bylaw changes (Lewis)
   2. Report on Conferences:
      • FAR-West: report at director’s blog; download expanded report (Mumma)
      • Arts Northwest report (Mumma)
   3. Program Selections for next year (Mumma)
   4. Office space (Mumma)
   5. Homer Council on the Arts membership proposal (Mumma)
   6. Alaska Statehood Banner contest: website; download (Mumma)
   7. The Big Read participation (Mumma)
   8. Winter season meetings (Lewis) withdrawn at chair request

(Download a copy of the full meeting packet, updated 11/7/08) Update 11/10: full meeting packet removed to conserve hosting space; all individual files above remain available.

Ballots are provided in both .pdf and .doc format. If you do not have software to open these file formats or have problems with the files, contact websupport@seldoviaartscouncil.org for assistance.

To cast your vote, ballots should be printed out, marked with the voter’s selections, placed in a blank envelope, sealed, and then that blank envelope placed in a mailing envelope addressed according to the instructions printed on the ballot plus your own name and return address (so we can check you off against the membership roster). Identifying information (the outer envelope) will be separated from the ballot (the inner envelope) before the ballots are counted so that the tallying of votes will be fully anonymous. Votes will be tallied by Tania Spurkland, Tobben Spurkland, and Savannah Lewis.

Voting is open Oct. 22nd - Nov. 7th. Your ballot must be postmarked no later than November 7th and received no later than Nov. 14 to be counted.

Election results will be announced Nov. 24 via Twitter and on this website.

General Yoga
Mondays from 3:30 to 5 in the Music Room at Susan B. English School

Gentle Yoga
Fridays from 3-4 at Lakeside Terrace

Yoga classes will be offered at the same prices as the summer session:
$5/class drop-in
5/$20 punch card
ages 12-18: free

Dance exercise
Mondays from 5-6 in the Music Room at Susan B. English School
Monthly focus will be:
October: salsa
November: hula
December: African
The dance class will be free.

We will be holding election of officers for 2009 next month. Nominations will be open from Oct. 1 till 15; voting will be held from Oct. 16 to 31. Results will be tallied and reported in early November. The call for nominations will go out to members via email from the secretary, and nominations will be made by return email. Voting will be conducted the same way.

All currently paid-up members are eligible to vote. If you don’t receive an email nominations notice, please email secretary@seldoviaartscouncil.org so we can make sure that we have your current email contact information. It’s not too late to pay outstanding dues and become eligible to vote: download a member application and mail it as the form instructs along with your dues check.

Although no actions could be taken in workshop session, participants reviewed proposals for next year’s program and refined them for further comment:

1. Memorial Day in conjunction with the Chainsaw Carvers event:
   proposed:chainsaw-juggling comedian Mad Chad Taylor
   plan: director to discuss with Chamber of Commerce
2. 4th of July booth or fundraiser
   discussion: favorable but no specific ideas put forward
3. Other July event: Mary Glover would like to bring one of the Fiddle Camp folks to town
   discussion: depends on what kind of music we book for solstice festival
   plan: hold planning on this until festival selections are established
4. August event workshop:
   discussion: favorable
   suggested topics: fiber arts, possibly silk-painting or ? (more suggestions on topics and artists needed)
5. Labor Day event: Guitar Masters concert
   Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart signed up
6. additional suggestion: radio theatre
   discussion: favorable with call for participants in early spring and schedule to be determined by participants and potential venues
   plan: Susan Mumma will be taking a podcasting workshop at ArtsNorthwest that might allow us to record and distribute this event online as well as in performances
7. additional suggestion: late July/early Aug: Kenai Peninsula Orchestra (touring group) chamber music performance
   discussion: favorable

What do you think about these proposals? Leave comments and suggestions in the comments here or share them at the next arts council meeting.

The next regular meeting will be held November 10.

Director Susan Mumma has proposed the following agenda for this meeting:

1. Planning for Soul Street Dance events in Feb (chair: Mary Glover)
2. Planning for Ball in the House event in March (chair: Laurel Hilts )
3. The Seldovia Summer Solstice Music Festival. June 18,19,20: committee chairs’ timeline
4. PWS RCAC Exxon Valdez Oil Spill 20th commemorative art show (chair: Savannah Lewis)
5. Election of officers: planning, nominations
6. 2009 events schedule, including possible dates:
   • Memorial Day in conjunction with the Chainsaw Carvers event
   • 4th of July ….a booth or fundraiser????
   • Other July event Mary Glover would like to bring one of the Fiddle Camp folks to town
   • August event workshop????
   • Labor Day event: Guitar Master’s again??? can we add more to this?
7. Update on FARWest
8. Update on Acoustic Guitar Camp
9. Update on possible SAC office downstairs in library building

Members and nonmembers alike are welcome at meetings; the Arts Council needs your input in program planning.

The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 29 at 10 am in the public library.

Members should watch for two email polls to be coming their way shortly. These polls will have a deadline and all members are asked to please respond in order to help with event planning for our 2009 season.

Kate will offer her final class of the season on Tuesday, Sept. 9. At this time, her yoga studio will also be closing.

Betsy has not yet released her fall class schedule, but plans to change her class times effective Oct. 1. We’ll update this posting with more detailed information as it becomes available.

Special thanks goes to Seldovia Arts Council Chair Susan Mumma, who brought all of these fantastic performers back from Acoustic Alaska Guitar Camp with her.

Thanks also goes to event chair Jerry Stranik and his crew of helpers: Andy Criscuolo, Greg Davis, Rob Rurka, and Rod Hilts. Thanks as well go to all of the performance attendees who stayed to help put everything away afterwards. We couldn’t do it without all of you.

Got photos of this event you’d like to share? Drop a link to their online location in a comment or email them to photos@seldoviaartscouncil.org and we’ll post them for you.

Del Rey has been a blues queen since her teenage years, playing music with elements of country blues, stride piano, classic jazz and hillbilly boogie. She travels the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia, giving concerts as well a concert/lecture on “Women in American Music”. She’s frequently on tour with Steve James, plays ukulele with Ukeshack, and writes about music for publications including Acoustic Guitar. Del has several collaboration recordings, plus 5 solo albums. The latest, Blue Uke, came out on Hobemian in 2008. “If you like your blues warm, wise, witty and well-played, give Del Rey a listen.” (Dirty Linen)

Doug Cox is not only a master dobro player, but is accomplished on other “slidey” instruments such as the guitar, weissenborn, and national mandolin. Making his home on Vancouver Island, Doug tours festivals, clubs and concert halls and has recorded 2 solo albums plus many collaborations. His music has appeared in film and programs aired on NBC, CMT, Spike TV, A&E, PBS, Animal Planet and Discovery. An acclaimed educator, Doug teaches at guitar camps and workshops across the country, and has produced a series of instructional packages on slide guitar, dobro and guitar playing. “This virtuoso brings the Dobro into the drawing room and the concert hall. It’s no longer just a case of country backup, it’s a front-and-centre solo instrument.” (Jurgen Gothe, CBC’s Discdrive)

Steve James is well known among devotees of contemporary acoustic folk and blues. Steve taught himself guitar from the age of 12, then migrated from New York to Texas where he played solo, led a small combo, and played support for many excellent musicians including Bo Diddley, Bill Monroe, and Dave Van Ronk. In 1988 Steve began recording albums and touring throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil and China. He has published articles, instruction books and videos. Currently Steve lives in Austin where he performs guitar, slide guitar, mandolin, guitar-banjo, and writes, teaches and fishes. “Flawless fingerpicking and slide guitar paired with an idiosyncratic writing style and an exuberant performance persona makes Steve James come on like a full band.” (Dirty Linen)

At the age of 15 Corinne West dropped out of school to tour the country in an old converted school bus with a nomadic group of artists. Realizing that one woman with a guitar could live a creative life and make a statement about the world, she began busking (performing live in public for tips). She developed a signature sound, taking elements from Americana, country, bluegrass and rock. Her first album, Bound for the Living brought accolades from major music reviewers, and being a finalist in the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival songwriting competition launched her career on the national festival circuit. Acoustic music legend Mike Marshall produced Corinne”s second album, Second Sight. “Corinne West is a brilliant songwriter with a powerfully eloquent singing voice.” (Maverick)

With Anchorage”s Alex Weed. An up and coming bluesman, Alex tours clubs and festivals nationwide, including 2007’s Seldovia Summer Solstice Music Festival. His raspy, soulful vocals reflect an unusual depth of understanding, reminiscent of a young Otis Redding or Ray Charles. In between gigs, Alex studies as a guitar performance major at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

The concert will begin at 7:30 pm on Saturday, August 30 in the Susan B. English School Commons. Tickets will be on sale at the gate beginning at 7 pm, at the usual prices.

In fact, everyone had such a good time that we may look at doing this on an ongoing basis, perhaps every month or two, to broaden the availability of resources and expertise in the community. Would you like a chance to bring a project or supplies, look through published works on a wide assortment of book-related topics, and work with other artists on a book or journal project of your own? If so, leave a comment here and we’ll take the matter up at an upcoming meeting.