Newsletter – January 2012

TYBEE ARTS ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER -  January-February 2012

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF TAA:  RECAP OF 2011 AND PLANS FOR 2012

We had our first Board meeting where we both reviewed our activities from last year and took a preview of plans for the coming year. As you may be aware, the Tybee Arts Association has been the annual recipient of a grant from the City for many years, based on the consideration that TAA provides significant benefit to Tybee as a whole. Here’s what TAA has brought to the table in the last 12 months:

2011 Events & Volunteer Hours
•      Murder at the Driftwood Saloon: 266 hrs
•      Wizard of Oz: 57,309 hrs
•      Tybee’s Got Talent: 185 hrs
•      Work for Show monthly shows: 6 X 440 hrs avg = 2640 hrs
•      Board meetings and business: at least 120 hrs
•      Art Classes: 400 hrs
•      Drama Camp: 400 hrs
•      Publicity and web: 180 hrs
The State of Georgia currently values volunteer time at roughly $20/hr. The above 61,500 hours are roughly the equivalent of $1,320,000 of community benefit based only on reported volunteer time.

In consideration for this kind of value to the community, TAA and the City have also agreed, effective as of this last week’s City Council vote, to a lease agreement that will allow us to remain a tenant at the current art center for the foreseeable future. City staff is completing some sorely needed repairs and upgrades, mainly to the electrical service on the building, after which we will also be able to use the Jim Ingham Black Box Theater again for dramatic productions.

The TAA will be pro-actively communicating any building modifications, obtaining permits in advance and getting inspections as needed, cooperating with the Tybee Historical Society to make sure any further upgrades do not harm the historic status of the building, and making sure new, energy efficient lighting is obtained for the theater. To get the best use of the building, we will continue to work on safety enhancements to the building itself as well as to our use of it.

Clearly, there are a lot of volunteer hours that are behind the work of the TAA. If you are involved with planning or executing ANY TAA event, PLEASE TRACK AND REPORT YOUR TIME. Volunteer hours will henceforward be reported in TAA minutes which are reported monthly to the City Council. Council relies on those reports when considering annual resource agreements with City non-profits. Reporting your time can have a direct impact on how TAA is viewed in the community!

For 2012, we have an aggressive mix of events to bring to Tybee:
•      Six weekend art shows, put on by the Work for Show teams
•      Public art projects:
–     City mosaic
–     Tybee Moons
•      Play: Laughter on the 23rd Floor
–     Others only in consideration stage
•      Annual Drama Camp
•      Greatly expanded art education programs
•      Grant research from new organizations
–     Arts, drama, events, education, historic preservation, solar power
–     Not just the City!
•      Continuing partnerships:
–     Tybee Post Theater – plays and events
–     Tybee Historical Society – preserving and enhancing historical aspects of the art building/fire house, as well as participating in THS events
–     City – TAA to take over monthly electrical bill in July, 2012
•      Focus on bringing Fall Festival of the Arts back in October
–     Major event with major impact on TAA; major loss without it!

Cheryl Martin and Annie Burke have agreed to co-chair the Education Committee. They are looking for instructors for single and continuing classes. Teaching is a great way to get your work known to a larger audience, to hone your expertise, and to make some money for both yourself and for the TAA. As one of the chartered purposes of the TAA is to promote arts education and appreciation, teaching a class provides exactly the community benefit that TAA was created to give. You’ll be hearing more from Cheryl and Annie!

Perhaps the most difficult of these programs is the Fall Festival of the Arts. Planning for this event would normally have been under way for several months already. Due to the cancellation of the event last year, it will take extra effort to get the ball rolling again and turn this into the kind of festival to which everyone has become used. Although the Board discussed some options at the last meeting, like reducing the scope of the event this year, we clearly need additional participation to get it going again, whether this year, or in 2013. If you are interested in helping out with any of these activities and events, please let a Board member know of such interest. We’ll make sure to put all parties in touch and try to get significant support together as soon as possible!

One key initiative for 2012 will be to publicize not only the individual events put on by TAA, but also to do a better job publicizing the participation and effort that goes into the production of these events as well as the results. We intend to provide a list of sponsors, patrons, and members on our web site, as well as providing advertising opportunities for sponsors and patrons in written material, such as in theater programs or show brochures. If you would like to make a significant donation to the TAA in order to get your business highlighted, please be sure to contact a Board member. We’ll certainly contact Tybee businesses before each event, but why wait? If, on the other hand, you have made a donation or are a member who wishes to remain anonymous, please send an email or note to Chris Garbett, our membership chair. We don’t want to invade anyone’s privacy, but we definitely want the community to know about our great members!

We are also looking for volunteers interested in helping to research and then apply for grants for the arts. If you have an interest in learning about grant writing, or have experience, please let the Board know, and soon, since there are already some grants that are closing for the 2012 operating year! The faster we can move on this the better. Rob Callahan is reviewing the existing charter and by-laws to make a recommendation as to whether and how these documents need updating. As we try to provide better written procedures to help future planners of events, we noted that there is a lot of history in the TAA which is not currently written in any usable or findable form, so we are also looking for an historian. If you have an interest in learning about the past of the TAA, and would like to organize our written records, we would like to hear from you as well!

One extra note, our Hospitality Chair has had to resign for personal reasons, so we are looking for someone to coordinate food and drink for TAA events.

Don’t forget to pay your 2012 dues if you have not done so already! If you can volunteer even just a few hours, your donation of time is just as important as your dues. Only by the active participation of our members and friends can we grow the Tybee Arts Association and provide better support for the arts on the island and surrounding communities! TAA will only be as good as YOU make it!

MANY THANKS TO LAST YEAR’S BOARD, RENEE DE ROSSETT, RICHARD ADAMS, SALLIE MCCLELLAND, AND KIM TRAMMEL, AS WELL AS ALL THE VOLUNTEERS AND INSTRUCTORS WHO WORKED TOGETHER TO MAKE 2011 AN AMAZINGLY SUCCESSFUL YEAR!

Let’s build on their successes and make 2012 even more amazing and successful for the TAA, for its members, and for the City of Tybee Island!

-          Michael Bodine

PS I’m sure everyone will be relieved to know that I’ll make sure to write something a LOT shorter for the next newsletter!

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UPCOMING EVENTS

TAA ART SHOW & SALE: Feb. 3, 4, 5 “From the Heart”

Friday, Feb 3, 6-9 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 4, 10-6 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 5, 10-5 p.m.

Tybee Arts Association Building, #7 Cedar Wood, Tybee Island.

Paintings, Prints, Stained Glass, Photography, Sculpture, Jewelry, Fiber Art, and Note Cards. Enjoy live music, art demonstrations, and light refreshments. Meet the talented and quirky artists who are offering their work during this event. There will be a raffle for items donated by the artists. Drawings will be done several times each day. A protein gift (canned meat, peanut butter, etc.) for Tybee’s Food Pantry gets you tickets for a special art raffle.  Interested artists please contact Vicki Smith Hammons, Chair for this show @ vicki@vickisvintagestitches.com  For more information follow this link: http://tybeearts.org/february-art-show-and-sale/

FUTURE ART/WORK FOR SHOW DATES

April 13-15 (weekend of wine festival)
May 4-6 (weekend of SCAD Sand Art Festival)
July 6-8 TBD
Aug. 31-Sept. 2 (Labor Day weekend)
Nov. 2-4 (weekend of Rock and Roll Marathon

Check our web site for information about upcoming shows.

THEATER: “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” a Neil Simon comedy.

March 2012. Dates and times to be announced.

Rehearsals in progress. Contact Carol Ingham @ carolberdette@gmail.com or Richard Adams @ partydec@aol.com to volunteer to help behind the scenes.

ONGOING ACTIVITIES/PROJECTS  Education: New classes are starting at the Arts Center. A schedule will be posted on the website shortly. If you are interested in teaching a class please contact Cheryl Martin @ cherylyvonne63@att.net or Annie Burke @ annieb51@comcast.net or visit our web site at http://tybeearts.org/category/classes/

COMMUNITY ART PROJECTS:  We have 2 large community art projects planned for this year:

“Tybee Moons” (see youtube film)  http://youtu.be/TVptxkVU2t8 and see how this NC community has given a whole new lovely, dramatic, wonderland of light to the Holiday Season.. For Tybee the implications are year round.  Mary Ingalls heads up this workshop/individual participant classes – so get in touch with her @ maryingalls13@gmail.com – for particulars.

TAA LOGO MOSAIC: Newcomer Annie Burke is a Mosaic artist and will be having a “Mosaic Party” to mosaic the TAA logo for our building.  A much larger plan for ‘mosaic-ing’ a public wall is in the works…watch for updates.

MEMBERSHIP: 2012 DUES ARE DUE. TAA – PO BOX 2344 – TYB IS – GA 31328 –Single – $25, Couple/family $40, Senior over 70 $5. Membership is renewed January of each year for the following year, however, memberships acquired in December of 2011 are valid through 2012 as well. Visit our web site at http://tybeearts.org/ to download a membership form. Membership forms are also available at Dragonfly Studio and the Tybee Arts building on Tybee.  New and returning members will receive a membership card in the mail in about a week.

FROM THE BOARD:

Next Board meeting: Feb. 13, 6 p.m. @ The Arts Center, #7 Cedar Wood, Tybee Island.  Board meetings are always open to all membership. Board meetings are held the second Monday of every month at 6 p.m. at The Arts Center.

Volunteers needed.  We are currently revising our bylaws and are recruiting additional committee members to the Bylaws Committee. We are in need of a new Hospitality  Chair.  We are also in need of volunteers to produce the Fall Festival. If you want to offer your services, please contact a committee chair or board member.

TAA BOARD AND COMMITTEES

President-Michael Bodine <serendip80@rammb.com> 912-786-0617/912-655-4361
VP-Samantha Claar <samanthaclaar@bellsouth.net> 912-786-4351/404-966-3647
Treasurer-Sallie McClellend <saramcclelland@bellsouth.net> 912-786-7973
Secretary-Doris Grieder <dorisgrieder@aol.com> 912-349-0354
Past-Pres-Renee DeRossett <ReneeDeRossett@gmail.com> 912-596-4992

Committee Chairs
Membership- Chris Garbett <tybeechris1@bellsouth.net> 912-786-0448
Education-Cheryl Martin <cherylyvonne63@att.net> 912-786-5535/912-224-4134
Education-Annie Burke <annieb51@comcast.net>912-604-0655
Hospitality-vacant
Theater-Richard Adams <partydec@aol.com> 912-224-5111
Publicity(media)-Vicki Smith Hammons <vicki@vickisvintagestitches.com>912-508-1976
Publicity (Web) -Debi Burk Scott <debiscott@gmail.com> 912-660-3383
By-Laws-Rob Callahan <robc1950@comcast.net>912-660-4615
Education Committee-Community Project Directors
Moons Over Tybee-Mary Ingalls  <maryingalls13@gmail.com> 912-655-9812
Group Mosaic – Annie Burke    <annieb51@comcast.net> 912-604-0655

VISIT US ON THE WEB AT:

Tybee Arts Association- http://tybeearts.org/

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/TybeeArts