PHG Board Meeting 03-26-20

Agenda
Portland Handweavers Guild Board Meeting
7 PM, March 26, 2020
Online Zoom Meeting

1. Call to Order
   1. Roll Call: Dan, Linda, Sue, Robin, Pat, Janis, Lynne, Amy, Laura, Debbie, Barbara, Sylvia, Maggie
   2. Determination of Quorum
   3. Any changes to the agenda
2. Minutes from previous board meeting—accepted with changes
3. Correspondence—annual filing fee; will be handled online. 
4. Old Business
   1. GotG and Fall Sale: It will be moved to the end of October due to the pandemic. We wouldn’t have a separate fall sale in that event. Concerns: what happens to us and the vendors if it is all cancelled in the fall as well. Janis thinks the Convention Center would keep the 25% deposit, but we wouldn’t pay the decorator fee if it was cancelled more than two weeks ahead. This time the advertisers are rolling our fees forward, but we don’t know if that would happen a second time. We could lose up to $4,000 if it is cancelled in the fall as well. 
      
      Refunds for booth fees to sale participants—would we be willing/able to refund the complete booth fee.
      
      Clarify if the Convention Center would refund the fee if they cancel/the governor declares events cancelled (likely not).
      
      Motion that PHG commits to participating for the new dates, and to provide full refunds in the event of a second cancellation. Suggestion: refunds—instead, create a policy that we could use going forward. Refund everyone now and collect fees from fall sale later? This motion withdrawn.
      
      Motion to participate in GotG as currently scheduled for Oct.30-Nov.1. Passed unanimously. This will take the place of our regular fall sale at the MAC.
      
      Booth fees and refunds:
      Workshop fees have been refunded—for some, no money had been spent; for one, fees were refunded minus cost of handouts and mailing. Same for the retreat, which has also been cancelled.
      In the event of another cancellation of the GotG, who would cover the loss? The Guild or the members? Percentage? Do we need the Sale to make money? Take a longer view than the last couple of years. It is an outreach, not a fundraiser for the Guild. 
      Motion to refund all booth fees now and collect them again at an appropriate time closer to the event. But what if no one signs up? Based on the response so far, it sounds like there would be enough. Motion passed unanimously.
   2. April Film Screening: Linda has not heard back from the Clinton Street Theater, and suspects everyone has been furloughed. She has not heard back from Marilyn, either. She proposes canceling, and then rescheduling a joint showing at the MAC. When? Earliest possibly sometime in August. Would people be comfortable gathering in groups yet? Linda will try again to contact Marilyn and see what things are like in a month or so.
   3. Project grants/Scholarships: Open to non-Guild members/students? Does it have to be for an academic program, or would ANWG or a workshop count? The Debby Scott family sounded like it was more for a new weaving or learning new techniques.
   4. 501(c)(3) application: Maggie and Dan have been going through the bylaws and rewriting/organizing. There haven’t been many changes. The educational aspects are being emphasized. Dan will be looking for a lawyer to review.
5. New Business
   1. HGA Call for Guild Articles: Any ideas or suggestions? Debbie has already written several about the banner project. Side note: one or two may be going to Hiroshima for the Peace weaving sakiori project.
      Sue’s suggestion: how about what the Guild is doing for outreach in light of the closing of local weaving stores, OCAC, to show people what is available.
      Sue will take the lead, with Debbie.
   2. ANWG Conference Update
   3. WeGO Update: Ruthie’s is closed, so name tags won’t be woven there for the time being. The Guild is still moving forward with weaving, but no work party for the lanyards has been scheduled.
      Michelle Lee has stepped up to be the volunteer coordinator, and Pat Zimmerman will be helping her.
      They had expected to go to Willamette University for a site visit in April, but the university is closed, so the site visit will be later. The status of the WeGO meeting has not been determined (canceled completely or done online).
      Grant—do we have an idea for what we’d like to do? It is a simple form, but we’d need to get something started because it is due in April. Maggie proposed a grant to attend the Oregon Art Teachers conference to teach a workshop and demo as a way to show what the guilds all over the state can offer. Motion approved unanimously.
   4. Zoom Account and Future Meetings: Dan will continue the Zoom subscription. We will do the April meeting this way as well, and consider using it in conjunction with in-person meetings.
   5. Support for Fiber Artists in the Current Situation: Could we put them/contact information somewhere on our website? Maybe also something in the Newsletter? Just a spotlight. Website would be best for more information.
6. Director Reports (Time permitting):
   Linda—programs—keeping some openings due to cancellations from this year. This May—could Deborah Jarchow do May instead of April? Linda will check.
   Robin—pdf of coverlet information—what about putting it on the website? Dan would like to make a creative commons copyright version we could share, as a start to sharing publicly-available information on our website. Copyright would be an interesting topic for a future workshop; inspiration vs infringement. 
   Lynne—workshops are done for the year.
7. Set April meeting 
8. Adjourn