Meeting scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. via Skype
Present: Bruce Parker (President), Diane Corson (Membership Outreach), Jennifer Rood (Vice-President), Carolyn Adams (Treasurer), Dave Mehler (Submittable and Membership List), Dale Champlin (Newsletter), Stella Guillory (Adult Contest), Susan Morse (Assistant Secretary)
Not Present: Dan Liberthson, Secretary
- Call to Order
President Bruce Parker called meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Note: Susan Morse took notes and typed minutes in Dan Liberthson’s absence.
II. Approval of October 12, 2019 Minutes
It was moved and seconded that the minutes be accepted without amendments.
The minutes were accepted by voice vote without objection.
III. Report of Officers
A. President’s Report
OPA table at Portland Book Festival: Due to the collapse of a ceiling in one of the main buildings at the festival, the OPA booth was assigned to a more isolated tent location
outside of the main area. Possibly due to location with poor for foot traffic, only $100 was earned, while the space rental fee was $500, so in terms of financial
investment, it was not a good one for OPA. This was OPA’s first year of participation. Bruce and Diane did learn that parents and children seemed eager to encounter poetry. Board members’ opinions were solicited on whether OPA should participate in next year’s festival and whether the publicity is a benefit versus any financial gain. No decision about 2020 has yet been made. Members’ books might be sold as a membership benefit at the festival if OPA participates next year; the books would be consigned through Bruce Parker in the event OPA does participate in 2020.
B. Treasurer’s Report
Carolyn Adams submitted an OPA Financial Overview November 2019, as well as a
Budget Overview 2019 Jan 1 – Nov, plus a detailed OPA Operating Budget
Proposal based on past expenses and income. She reported that the 2019 OPA Conference held in Salem was significantly more expensive than the previous year’s conference held in Eugene. As the 2020 conference will again be held in Eugene, there should be a savings next year. Diane Corson remarked that OPA must hold a yearly conference for its membership and that most of the past conferences seem to “break even”. However, for 2020, OPA must purchase event insurance as the Valley River Inn in Eugene has new owners who require it.
Page 1 of 3
IV. New Business
A. Spring Poetry Contest
The OPA board is expected to choose contest categories, entry fees, stipends, and
prizes. Current categories are: Poet’s Choice, Members Only, New Poets, Traditional Form, and Theme. It was discussed whether to add a Youth category. Various suggestions for age divisions for the proposed Youth category were discussed, but the Cascadia Student Poetry Contest is already specifically designated for various youth/ student levels, which we agreed shouldn’t be duplicated. A motion was made
and seconded to form a Spring Poetry Contest committee to help Stella Guillory
with the preparations. Carolyn Adams, Jennifer Rood, and Susan Morse volunteered
to be on that committee. Stella requested input from the new committee early in
January, as advertising for the Spring contest usually begins in February or March.
In addition, ways to advertise the contest were discussed, which included
Submittable, an ad in Poets and Writers, possible ad in American Association of
Poets, Boulevard journal, plus the OPA website and newsletter as possibilities.
Dave Mehler will contact Tiel Ansari (Webmaster) for the list of schools she uses to advertise the Cascadia Student Contest. In addition, the committee needs to begin
considering judges for the Spring contest, as well as fees, prizes, honoraria.
B. Cascadia Contest
Bruce Parker will help Lisa Baldwin advertise the Cascadia contest. She reported
that entries have been slower than usual for the current contest. David Mehler
asked whether the prize monies had been paid to this year’s Manningham winners
chosen from the 2019 Cascadia contest, as there had been some delay from
NFSPS; Bruce stated the issue with the award money has been resolved.
C. 2020 OPA Contest
Venue: Appears to be the Valley River Inn in Eugene, OR, with an approximate
date of October 2, 2020. Conference committee consists of Diane Corson, Chair,
Dale Champlin, contact person, with help from past president Shirley Marc.
Logistics: Discussed need to maintain a 15 minute interval between workshops.
Better control of the registration process is needed next year with more volunteers
to streamline the procedure and check to make sure all attendees are actually
registered for the conference. David Mehler volunteered to help with improving
the on-line registration process.
Carolyn Adams has been contacted by Emmett Wheatfall of Portland regarding
his band playing at the Friday night social mixer. She will have him contact
Diane Corson to discuss scheduling his band.
Dale Champlin is soliciting names for a keynote speaker. The keynote should
Page 2 of 3
ideally be an Oregon poet who has won the Oregon Book Award; she will submit
a list with prospective candidates to all board members for consideration.
Board members took a brief break from 8:00 p.m. to 8:05 p.m. and then resumed the meeting.
D. Grant Applications
Carolyn Adams raised the question about who applies for OPA grants and how
financially valuable are they to OPA? Recently the Collins Foundation
grant application was denied. OPA received a Miller Foundation grant in
2018 of $3,000. The current deadlines for grants through the Miller Foundation
are 12-16-19; 3-16-20, 6-15-20, and 9-14-20. She wondered how those dates
align for funding the Cascadia Poetry contest. Grant money has not been used to
fund Cascadia in the past. Carolyn stated she has not written a grant application,
though she has helped edit them, and she asked if there were any grant writers
included on the OPA volunteer list. Bruce Parker stated there appear to be two
volunteers for grant writing. He will contact them, and if no one else comes forward,
he and Carolyn will work on grant proposals. The Autzen Foundation is another organization to check for prospective grants.
Dave Mehler asked who is the OPA Volunteer Coordinator and how does OPA
collate and update its volunteer information? There is a volunteer list that Bruce
will send to Dave for updating.
E. Miscellaneous
Diane and Bruce have proposed a mini Spring retreat for the board members
to meet face-to-face since not everyone has been introduced. They will host
the retreat at their home in Portland. Tentative dates include Spring break during
March 21st to March 29th, 2020.
Carolyn Adams brought up cloud storage on the web for back-up files. It is
believed that OPA does have a “drop box”. Bruce will check on access to it.
The board contact list was discussed. All members are supposed to have it, but
it may need phone numbers updated. Contact Diane Corson to update.
IV. Announcements
The next meeting via Skype scheduled for Monday, January 13, 2020 at
7:00 p.m.
V. Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Page 3 of 3