July 2011 Board Minutes
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American Gothic House Center Board Meeting
Board Meeting Minutes
13 July 2011
American Gothic House Center, Eldon, IA
Chairperson Siegel called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm.
1. Roll Call:
Present: Coffman, Siegel, Parker and Baker.
Absent: Jeffrey
Also present: Holly Berg
Minutes of Last Meeting: Marsha Parker moved and Priscilla Coffman seconded to approve minutes. Motion carried.
Old Business: Holly reported that we had followed through on the advertising package offered to us by the Fox affiliate in Ottumwa. The ads will start running on Fox next week. Holly also reported that the Center would be featured on a “Where to Go” special on the 10 pm news on one of the TV stations in Quincy.
New Business/Staff Report: Holly reported that attendance has been very good of late. We had 178 people over a seven hour stretch last Saturday. We also had a count of 289 on the Saturday of Gothic Days weekend.
Holly reported on more gifts in the gift shop. She is seeking more gift items aimed at children, such as coloring books, puzzles, etc. She is planning to sell frisbie golf frisbies at the shop once the new Gothic Trail frisbie golf course is installed. Beth Howard has signed a one year lease to live in the Gothic House. Holly is conducting a survey of our visitors, to see how they heard about us.
She will be attending the Ottumwa Chamber of Commerce golf outing on July 25. The Center has sponsored a hole for the outing. And she will be attending the Hooverfest in West Branch on August 6, 2011.
Holly reported a few problems with the credit card compliance, regarding the firewall. We also had a discussion of the Wapello Foundation grants and what we should apply for next. We kicked around a few options, with no final decision reached.
Holly showed us a photo print which was donated to us by the artist who created it. We will be auctioning it off as a fundraiser. We might display it at the Art Fair in Ottumwa this fall.
Holly also reported that she is seeking to get the Center some interns from her alma mater, Western Illinois University.
We also talked about an American Gothic collection put together by Price State. It will require an off site museum storage setup. The Consensus of the Board was to pursue the donation of this collection, though a number of entities besides us are interested in obtaining it. The Board by consensus agreed that it would be a good acquisition.
Meeting adjourned at 7:45 pm.
Submitted by: Steve Siegel