TAMHA Meeting Minutes 11/08/05

 

 

The 11/08/2005 Traditional Appalachian Musical Heritage Association meeting was called to order at 5:40 p.m. by President Chip Bailey. There were 13 people in attendance.

 

Chip reported that Appalshop in Whitesburg, Ky. has a Kentucky Arts Commission grant that pays musicians $525 for 5 days work in Kentucky schools with the teacher initiative project in Traditional Appalachian Music. Any TAMHA member who is interested in participating may contact ssavell@appalshop.org for additional details.

 

In Treasurer Frankie Odiorne's absence Joe McKenzie reported that TAMHA opened the year with a fund balance of $1,054.27, and currently had a balance of $1.067.27.

 

I attended the Governor's Regional Conference on the Arts in Knoxville on TAMHA's behalf in October. The meeting was well attended with over 250 people representing various arts organizations primarily within the East Tennessee area. There were several seminars presented throughout the day. I attended the seminar that explained the new online grant application process for the Arts Build Communities (ABC) grants. The Tennessee Arts Commission is in the process of converting to a new system, and future grant applications must be submitted online. As a result of this requirement, the arts commission has set aside some funding (maximum of $2,000 per organization) for computer purchases by eligible organizations. My understanding is that this money is intended for small organizations such as TAMHA that do not presently have computer assets available. We will be investigating the possibility of obtaining some computer equipment through this program. I was also able to attend an afternoon seminar dealing with marketing ideas for organizations. Although there were some good ideas presented, TAMHA probably isn't a large enough organization at present to employ many of the suggestions that were offered.

 

TAMHA recently submitted a grant request for $2,000 to the Tennessee Arts Commission through the Rose Center ABC program. We recently learned that we were awarded $1,400, which requires matching funding. The money will be used to pay musicians for presenting educational music programs in local schools. This amount of funding should be adequate for presenting programs in 10 or 11 schools. Frankie Odiorne will be coordinating the program. Congratulations to Joe McKenzie who did an outstanding job preparing the grant application. TAMHA fared very well in the overall rankings of all grants that were submitted to the Rose center.

 

Chip suggested Speedway Children's Charities be approached next year as a possible funding source for future children's educational activities. He also pointed out that a press release announcing our recent grant award could be helpful. Joe will investigate this.

 

Exchange Place in Kingsport is in need of musicians for various Christmas events. If you are interested in participating, contact Sue Cadwallader at 423-288-6071 (Exchange Place number).

 

Jim Bowman reported that the cost of a state historical marker is $1,400. It was suggested at the last meeting that TAMHA pursue obtaining one of these markers to document the contributions of the late Ralph Blizard. Jim will explore possible grant opportunities, as well as potential locations to erect the marker. Rutledge house in Blountville has been suggested as a possible location.

 

I recently renewed the TAMHA internet domain name (www.tamha.org) for another year. Although TAMHA's website has been underutilized and unfortunately does not presently contain much timely information, we are hoping for much better utilization in the future. If anyone would like to take charge of updating/maintaining the website, please contact me at drotenberry@icx.net. I will attempt to manage the site until we have a webmaster.

 

Joe McKenzie read the slate of candidates that the nominating committee presented. The candidates were:

 

2006 TAMHA Officers

President          Chip Bailey
Vice President  Mildred Blizard
Treasurer          Frankie Odiorne
Secretary         David Rotenberry

 

Board of Directors (term effective 1/1/06 expiring 12/31/06)

 

Garth Blackburn
Richard Blaustein
Mel Calhoun
Bruce Haney
Dennis Houser
Frankie Odiorne

 

A motion was made and seconded to accept the slate of the nominating committee as presented, and the candidates were elected by acclamation.

 

Submitted by David Rotenberry