BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MYRNA LOY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING AND MEDIA ARTS
NOVEMBER 20, 2000
MINUTES


The board of directors of the Myrna Loy Center met Monday, November 20th in the 
Myrna Loy Center at 7 PM. Bob Anderson convened and chaired the meeting. Present were Bob 
Anderson, Ellen Alborn, Chip Clawson, Peter Bovingdon, Phyllis Lefohn, Allen Lefohn, Melinda 
White, Pat Clinton, Martin Holt, and Hattie Jo Lehman. Not present were Board members Leigh 
Bohn, Ali Sheppard, and Michelle Allen. Non-Board members present were Ed Noonan and Mike 
Schechtman.  

A motion to approve the minutes of the October 16th meeting was made by Allen Lefohn 
and seconded by Ellen Alborn. The motion carried.

Ed Noonan presented the Administrator's report. Les has made contact with 
Entertainment Equipment concerning the sound system. The company has reviewed the blueprints 
and pictures. Upon reviewing the material, the company wants to make a site visit. It would cost 
$5,000 with half of the amount paying for the equipment. $1,500 of the $5,000 has been received 
from TRW. At the recent On Broadway fundraising dinner, $1250 was raised. Several strong 
applications have been received for the Director of Development position. Interviews will be 
scheduled during the second week of December. The budget has been adjusted and will be 
discussed during the Finance Committee report. Ed described the situation regarding Saturday 
Night Live and the availability of the Myrna Loy Center for two nights in February. The Board 
agreed with Ed that it would have been difficult to provide two consecutive nights in February 
because of the conflict in films scheduling. Obo Addy will be on Friday, February 23 and Saturday 
Night Live will be at Grand Street Theater on February 24 and 25.

Allen Lefohn presented the recommendations from the Infrastructure Study Selection 
Committee. The Committee, following an interview and the checking of references, recommends 
that Morrie Warshawski be selected by the Board to perform the study. After a short discussion, 
Chip Clawson made a motion to accept Morrie Warshawski's proposal and that Ed Noonan 
interface with Mr. Warshawski regarding the implementation of the study. Martin Holt seconded 
the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

Mike Schechtman mentioned that the Board needed to consider the timing of the search 
for a Manager of the Myrna Loy Center. With the retiring of some board members and the 
introduction of new members, he suggested that the Board consider the timing of the search 
process.

Ellen Alborn presented the Finance Committee report. Instead of the $145,000 surplus, it 
is now estimated that the surplus will be approximately $95,000. Ed Noonan described the 
reasons for the changes in the original figures. After a discussion, Allen Lefohn made a motion to 
adopt the amended budget, with the caveat that detailed explanations of any further variances to 
this budget are presented to the Board in writing. Chip Clawson seconded the motion. The motion 
carried.

Mike Schechtman presented the Fundraising Committee report. He reviewed the 
Fundraising monthly revenue report and discussed the specific items in the report. A copy of the 
report is attached. The next On Broadway fundraising dinner is scheduled for February 12, 2001. 
On January 11, there will be a joint reception/open house with the Helena Symphony for new 
physicians and their families. Mike then presented the Business Sponsor Campaign summary. The 
"breather" letters were sent out to nearly 100 business sponsors from the "Open the Door" 
campaign. With about 20 responses so far, over 35% are saying that there might be a possibility 
that they would be a sponsor for the $5-$10-$15 performance series. About 225 packets were 
sent out to prospects for the series. Progress to date has been slow. Christy is re-sending the 
packets to those businesses that cannot locate the original mailings. It will be necessary to make 
calls to the sponsors by December 1. Mike then discussed the year-end appeal for endowment 
gifts. Mike presented to the Board the recommendation for two new endowment funds: The 
Montana Performing Artists Fund and The National Performing Artists Fund. These two funds 
would be in addition to the existing Myrna Loy Center Unrestricted Endowment Fund. Mike 
proposed that appeal letters (mailed first class) to the Myrna Loy Center's 150 to 175 major 
donors, to follow by "Dear Friend of the Myrna Loy" bulk permit letters mailed to the remainder 
of the Preview list. If the Board agrees to the creation of the additional endowment funds, then 
Mike would approach John Morrison regarding a previous discussion he had had with him about a 
matching $10,000 gift. Following a discussion concerning the fiscal restrictions associated with 
the spending of endowment resources, Peter Bovingdon moved to accept the recommendation to 
create the two new endowment funds and Allen Lefohn seconded the motion. The motion carried.

Ed Noonan gave a summary of the NEA grant pre-proposal to use the Internet for 
enhancing audience development activities. The grant letter to the NEA is due on December 1 in 
Washington, D.C.

Allen Lefohn presented the draft of the Board of Trustees' Job Description that had been 
circulated previously to all Board members. Following a suggestion of the ordering of the words, 
Chip Clawson made a motion to accept the job description with the minor change suggested. 
Phyllis Lefohn seconded the motion. The motion carried.

Allen Lefohn gave the Board Recruitment Committee report. He introduced Melinda 
White and Pat Clinton, the two new Board members. Following a discussion concerning new 
Board members, it was agreed by the board that Doug Sternberg would be invited to serve on the 
Board of Trustees, filling the Performer vacancy. Should he not accept the offer to serve, M.J. 
Williams would be offered the opportunity to serve on the Board. Martin Holt volunteered to talk 
with Doug Sternberg and if necessary, Phyllis Lefohn would contact M.J. Williams. It was agreed 
that the Board still needed to fill the vacancy in the marketing and advertising areas and would 
continue to identify possible candidates. Pat Clinton indicated that he would be willing to assist in 
the Human Resources areas.

Chip Clawson presented the Program Committee report. He discussed the $5-$10-$15 
Live Performance Series.

Phyllis Lefohn presented the Marketing Committee report. She presented the job 
description for the committee. Phyllis moved to accept the job description for the committee and 
Chip Clawson seconded the motion. The motion carried.

Martin Holt presented the Building Committee report. He presented the draft of the job 
description and requested that the Board review the description and be prepared to discuss it 
during the December Board meeting. Allen Lefohn agreed to search for a way to handle the 
pigeon problem associated with the building.

Melinda White discussed the status of the Myrna Loy Center database. She indicated that 
the donors, major donors, business sponsors, and the mailing lists had been combined into one 
database. She indicated that with the help of appropriate software, it would be possible to do the 
upcoming performance series mailings for 9 to 11 cents per mailing. This is a considerable savings 
from the previous 18 cents per mailing.

Phyllis Lefohn made the motion that the executive committee be authorized to act on the 
board's behalf between board meetings. Hattie Jo Lehman seconded the motion. The motion 
carried with one exception - Martin Holt.

It was agreed that the next meeting would be held at the Myrna Loy Center on December 
18th at 7 PM.

Martin Holt moved that the meeting be adjourned. Chip Clawson seconded the motion. 
The motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 9:39 PM.


Approved	Date