I. Call to Order – Sue called meeting to order 6:38 pm
Present:
Sue Fagalde Lick
Bob Sterry
Debra Elisa Wöhrmann
Lauren Mallett
Charles Castle
Lorna Rose-Hahn
Absent:
Efrain Diaz-Horna
Aaron Erhardt
Nancy Christopherson
II. Approval of March 6, 2023 minutes
Bob moved to accept and Lauren seconded
III. Officer Reports
A. President
- NFSPS learning meeting April 30-all board members welcome to attend, and the topic
is “Interacting with other Arts Organizations.” Sunday, noon April 30. Sue will send a
link. - NFSPS is planning to present special awards to poetry societies who have done special
things such as poetry readings, youth projects, etc. Do we have anything we want to
submit?
- Elanor Berry has done interesting things, and Sue suggests we can look at these
activities as entrants. - Bob said Tom Hogan sometimes invites Arabic poets to read at the Milwaukee
Series
- Slamlandia results—Ty Brock won and will represent Oregon in Iowa at the NFSPS
conference.
-Next year we hope to also send a representative to the youth slam.
4. Poetry month readings—Sue has been hosting the Monday night open mics:
- Zoom trouble the first Monday, and last night 4 people attended and they had a
fun time reading poetry together. - Final reading on the 17 th because the reading on April 24 will be cancelled
-Lauren suggested we cancel with enough notice so people can attend on an
earlier date.
- -Bob is hosting an open mic April 19 Artichoke Music with Tom Hogan as featured
reader (and this has been advertised on social media)
-Not OPA-related but requested by Artichoke music - Sue has been working on a list of all the regular poetry events that happen around the
state.
-Lorna asked about Eugene events because someone inquired on Facebook, and
Charles listed a few: WordCrafters events; a Tuesday reading at Spectrum;
Windfall once a month; River Road, and a couple of coffee shops are doing
things. (One of the coordinators has joined the OPA)
-Lane Literary Guild has been on the verge of collapsing and Charles has been
suggesting they become a local arm of OPA. So far they do not want to join
forces.
-Debra announced a new open mic in NE Portland beginning at the end of
May—last Sundays—called The Humble Poets Open Mic at the Stacks.
-Charles talked about Big Wave in Florence: they’ve recently “gone live” after
Zooming through the Pandemic
B. Vice President-not present (see notes under “Adult Contest”)
C Secretary—no report
D. Treasurer—Aaron, not in attendance, sent a financial report:
- Current balance: $50,773.54
- Income over the past month includes membership fees and a donation
- Aaron’s role as treasurer is official, notary complete
- 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.
V. Committee Reports
A. Social Media (Lorna)—Facebook has 12-15K followers, and this is where we have the
most people.
-Please send Lorna poetry news: published poetry, readings, new book, etc.
-Youth contest ends May 1 st and Lorna will post reminders
B. Membership (Charles)
-319 active members
-Total pool of 407
-92 overdue members
- People continue to struggle with logins on Wild Apricot, and Charles would like to
quicken the process between when someone mails a renewal and when they are signed up
as paid members. - Lorna and Lauren asked if we need to rethink the use of Wild Apricot.
-Lorna will ask what her other boards are using
-Charles suggests asking the National about what they use.
-Sue gets 2 or 3 emails a day from people frustrated by Wild Apricot when they
can’t join an event or pay their dues. - Members can renew through Submittable, but it is much more complicated and creates
more work for OPA Membership Chair and Treasurer.
C. Adult Contests (Nancy) - March Verseweavers readings went well except for a tech glitch on night two. 18
attendees the first night; 16 the second night. Only one judge attended: John Witte. Some
folks couldn’t get in for night two.
The Spring Adult Contest has concluded. Everyone has been notified of the results.
Winning poems have been posted on our website. Announcements have been made on
social media and via our newsletter. Files on winners and judges have been sent to Aaron
for $ prizes and honoraria dispersal.
- The full file has been sent to Dale for next year’s Verseweavers 28/2023.
D. Youth Contests—deadline May 1 st
- 30 submissions so far, and Lauren says the contest is right on track
-Loren is inviting her own students to write
-Loren needs Board Members to read and judge
-Rana is staying on as Webmaster for Cascadia
-June 1 st is Zoom reading, and she will send out a simple Zoom link rather than go
through Wild Apricot
-Send last minute reminder to participants
E. Webmaster (Sue/Lorna) -Stacy says the website was temporarily down but is okay now.
V. Old Business:
A. Efrain reports that Verseweavers books have been mailed.
VI. New business
A. CONFERENCE!
- Committee met March 25 and format will be like the last years: keynote; workshops;
readings
-have asked OR poet laureate to be keynote
-Bob talked to Kate Ritsau and she has offered to run the Zoom for the conference
- We will need a master room and two other rooms, like last year
- Kate has also offered to run a training for volunteers to run the rooms several
weeks before the conference
- Looking for a theme, and Sue would like ideas
- Saturday, October 7 th is date of conference
- $300 for keynote and $200 for workshop leaders
- Committee now includes Sue Lick, Lauren, Bob, Efrain, Lorna, Sharon Johnson, and
Betsy Fogelman Tighe.
- Next committee meeting: May 5th
B. Banta award rewards someone who has served Oregon Poetry over the past year.
- we have chosen a recipient
- we will consider what to give this person to honor their contributions
VII. Next board meeting—Monday, May 8 @ 6:30pm
VII. Adjournment—Lorna moved to adjourn and Lauren seconded the motion
Meeting adjourned @ 7:32
Recorded by Debra Elisa Wöhrmann