OPA Board Minutes for May 8, 2023
I. Call to Order – Sue called meeting to order 6:38pm
Present:
Sue Fagalde Lick
Charles Castle
Nancy Christopherson
Aaron Erhardt
Sharon Johnson
Lauren Mallett
Bob Sterry
Debra Elisa Wöhrmann
Absent:
Efrain Diaz-Horna
Lorna Rose-Hahn
II. Approval of April 11, 2023 minutes
Approved
III. Officer Reports
A. President
1. Attended NFSPS Learning Central Roundtable on April 30 & discussed
– partnerships with other organizations to promote poetry
– ways to interact with organizations such as monetary sponsorships
– using social media platforms to promote events
– how Ohio Poetry Association works with local bookstores. They promote each other.
– groups benefit by developing liaisons
2. Sue is nearly ready to post statewide poetry events.
3. Sue received promotional items from Rana and
– an enormous OPA Banner (for events with enough space)
– OPA bookmarks
– lanyards
– totebags
4. A takeaway Sue found with AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) is the idea of an interactive online or in-person poem where passing poets add a line to a continuing work
5. OPA hosted three open mics on Mondays in April for members with books published since 2020. Attendance was small at the first two, good at the third. A fourth open mic was canceled due to lack of a host.
B. Vice President-not present, no report.
C Secretary-not present, no report.
D. Treasurer
1. Current balance: $48,394.05
– Income over the past month includes membership fees and small donations.
– Need to fix $60 expense Fee Reduction Fund – should be for members attending conference.
2. Aaron found paperwork to be OPA treasurer in limbo due to new banking regulations
– could not follow up on lost March electronic payment to Milepost 42
– Aaron to start updating OPA Board info process with BofA per their rep
– Aaron will set up electronic signing doc with final May minutes to identify Board members to BofA
3. Bob suggested putting some money into a CD or another interest-producing account
– the board agreed some investment is a good idea and will determine how much money needs to be kept on hand
– Aaron to check on ability of 501(c) to earn interest/invest stagnant funds without jeopardizing non-profit status
IV. Committee Reports
A. Social Media – (Lorna) not present, no report.
B. Membership (Charles)
– 312 active members, slight drop
– Charles suggested reaching out to lapsed members, suspects difficulty with Wild Apricot to blame
– Charles expects a couple of renewals weekly, a welcome break to March’s rush of renewals
– Bob forwarded about 8 membership/renewals on May 5 to Aaron
– Bob suggested snapshots of checks through banking app to speed up process. Aaron to follow up on it.
– Aaron currently forwarding membership/renewals to Charles by email
C. Adult Contests (Nancy) Not present, no report.
D. Youth Contests (Lauren) – deadline May 15th for judges (BOARD) to return results to Lauren
– 127 submissions across 3 age groups, sent to board to judge & rank
– Judges to narrow down to 10 best liked poems, rank those in descending order 10 to 1, 10 most favored
– Lauren recusing herself from judging – knows students
– Lauren to format winning poems for Cascadia publication on website
– Rana is staying on as Webmaster for Cascadia, will publish poetry on website
– June 1st is Zoom reading, and Lauren will send out a simple Zoom link rather than go through Wild Apricot
– Lauren needs to be appointed Zoom host for the reading or risk denial by device
– Send last minute reminder to participants
E. Webmaster (Sue/Lorna) –Nothing to report.
V. Old Business:
A. Find something better than Wild Apricot/Submittables for memberships and event registrations?
VI. New business
A. CONFERENCE!
1. Committee met May 5th and format will be like the last years: keynote; workshops; readings
– Anis Mojgani, Oregon’s Poet Laureate, is unable to attend as keynote
– Pondering other possible keynote speakers
– Workshop proposal deadline is June 16th
– Bob suggested workshop “Should Poets Read Their Own Poetry?”
– Zoom conference to be run by Kate Ristau of Willamette Writers
– We will need a master room and two other rooms, like last year
– Registration opens August 1st
– Need to publicize!
2. Theme: Past the Mask
3. Saturday, October 7th is date of conference
- $300 for keynote and $200 for workshop leaders
4. Committee now includes Sue Lick, Lauren, Bob, Charles, Lorna, Sharon Johnson, and Betsy Fogelman Tighe.
– Next committee meeting: June 10th
B. Bob brought up changes at KQAC, their All Classical Music Space (CMS)
– local to Portland, but also online so worldwide audience
– has around 250,000 daily Oregon & Washington listeners
– Currently located above Oregon Ballet near OMSI
– Moving to KOIN Tower for larger space with auditorium
– Bob asked Susan Nance about OPA & CMS partnership & is happy to start liaisoning
– Bob believes CMS is likely to take on greater portion of OPA & CMS idea
– Charles suggested recording poetry-related readings & interviews, editing to produce a smoother work
– Sue mentioned Oregon Poetic Voices
– Portland Literary Arts involvement?
– Charles was curious about CMS donating digital archive to UO Collections
– Bob would appreciate other ideas & suggestions regarding partnership
– Bob will send email so far to Sue to circulate
C. Sue noticed no new OPA events between June 1 and Oct 7 Conference
– Charles mentioned Big Wave Open Mike in Florence and Unitarian Church 75 person auditorium rental for $25 for an OPA One Off Event
– National Federation of State Poetry Societies is having its annual conference in Iowa in June
– Bob brought up bringing publishers into promoting poetry events
– Sharon noted that poetry slams attract younger generation & develop current & future interest in poetry
– Sue says Verselandia is going again for Kids and Teens
– Lauren expects winnings for Cascadia winners to total about $1500
– Bob asked if OPA membership fees are appropriate, high enough ensure future events
VII. Next board meeting—Monday, June 12 @ 6:30pm
VII. Adjournment—Meeting adjourned
Recorded by Aaron Erhardt