DRAFT for validation during AGM to be held on 7 June 2017
Annual General Meeting of the New World Theatre Club 2016
Monday 20th June 2016 at 7.30 pm at BUROS
Present: Karl Pierce, John Brigg, Christine Probst, Chris Wilson, Pam Carlisle, Alan Carlisle , Peter Milne, Hilary Brown, Philip Dutton, Tim Lone, Ann Overstall, Alex Mc Caffety, Lesley Chesters
Apologies: Cynthia Albrecht, Les Wilson, Carol Abel, Paul Abel, Daniela Badea, John Overstall.
Proxy forms received from: Les Wilson, Carol Abel, Paul Abel, Daniela Badea, John Overstall.
Committee members present: Chris Albrecht, Rose Flammant, Julie Fraser, Pauline Lloyd, Rod McCall, Valerie Scott.
The meeting opened at 19:49
Minutes: Chris Wilson
1.Approval of draft Agenda.
Philip Dutton asked if the minutes of last year’s AGM had been sent out. Chris Albrecht confirmed that they had been.
Proposed: Christine Probst Seconded: Pam Carlisle
2. Approval of minutes for 2016 AGM
Proposed: Pam Carlisle Seconded: Ann Overstall
3. Matters arising from the 2015 AGM minutes.
i. Chris A. commented that the committee had tried to setup a system to ‘ring fence’ the functioning of LEATSS but that it had proved difficult. Discussions with the organisers had taken place, but it was a complex matter as it was not just a matter of ring-fencing the finances, but also defining who expected what of whom. There was disagreement on some of the facts, so they were now trying to find common ground to agree on the past, present and future. The intention was to help LEATSS become independent. Philip Dutton asked what timescale was being considered, and Chris Albrecht said that the intention was for LEATSS to be independent by 2017, but that there was no fixed deadline.
Peter Milne stated that the LEATSS revenue/expenses were as much as all other NWTC events combined, and as LEATSS was not an event controlled by the NWTC committee that he would support the forming of a separate asbl.
ii. Venues – NWTC were still using a variety of venues, benefitting from being able to use Altrimenti, Culturando etc. NWTC has reactivated contacts in the city of Luxembourg which have been positive.
iii. Chris Albrecht thanked Karl Pierce for continued technical support with the NWTC website.
iv. There has been an increased transparency and promotion of the Richard Chappell award, and this year 4 different members had been supported in different areas of theatre training.
v. Andrew, assisted by Julie, had organised and evaluated a survey of the membership. The main club activity that people were hoping for more of were social activities, so the committee had committed themselves to increasing the social side of running the club. The club presently has 133 members.
4. Chairman’s Report.
The committee has had a very busy year. Julie informed us that the committee members had attended a total of 155 meetings; mainly production related, but also related to social events, Youth Theatre etc.
i. Insurance: The club presently has 5 separate insurance policies: one for 3rd party liability, one for personal accident, one for transport within Luxembourg, one for costumes and one for the barn. Recently venues have been asking for NWTC to provide additional and dedicated insurance cover for individual productions.
Pauline Lloyd said that the cover for the costumes and the barn was only for water damage, not fire or theft, so this was being investigated.
Pam Carlisle asked if any policy had age restrictions – for example for people over 70, and Chris Albrecht said that he would look into this.
Christine Probst asked whether this would be the responsibility of directors or the committee in future, and it was felt that directors would need the help of the committee in organising this.
Philip Dutton asked if the insurance just covered productions or also the rehearsal period. Chris Albrecht said only the rehearsals that took part in the final venue were covered.
ii. Website and Marketing: Julie explained that the website had been relaunched in April 2015. In 2014 there had been 6742 website hits, and in 2015 12670, so almost double. There was a new area on the website for members called ‘Get Involved’. She thanked Les Wilson for uploading images and Artemios Vogiatzis for uploading information. There had been more contact from people ‘off the street’ as NWTC now came up in Google searches. Julie asked that if anyone had problems with finding information on the website (Philip Dutton mentioned about paying subs) that they contact her.
Julie had relaunched the newsletter in May 2015, and so far had sent out 10 8-page issues. She said that there was always plenty of information to send, but would welcome contributions.
iii. Membership: Rose said that last year we had had 23 youth participants and a total of 143 paid-up members. Presently there are 79 adult paid-up members. She asked for suggestions as to how to encourage people to pay their fees as the committee had sent mailshots and included calls for payment in the newsletter too. No suggestions were made. We were represented at fairs at the Grand Theatre, the Parliament and St. Georges.
iv Barn and Costumes: There was no change in the situation at the barn. Hilary and Valerie had now almost finished cataloguing all items in the costume store.
v. Productions:
50/Husband had been a joint production with BGT. The collaboration had gone well and it had been a financial success.
Finding Sophie was co-produced in Bourglinster. It was marred by bad weather and made a small loss because of the bar costs.
Oliver had been a huge show, with 19 production meetings and 172 people involved. It had been a good collaboration with Pirates, and the Kinneksbond were very happy. There had been a problem at the Waldorf School at one of the last rehearsals, where some unsupervised youngsters had caused damage. The payment will come from insurance. The committee felt this issue had been a difficult experience, and one to learn from.
Chris Albrecht thanked Rose and Valerie for their support of the production. He was proud of having worked on this historic co-production and that it had achieved such a positive result. Philip Dutton said that Pirates could not have done the show without NWTC. Julie thanked in particular Rose, Chris A, Valerie and all the production team for their contribution to Oliver, upon which the AGM gave applause.
vi. Workshops: Janice Dunn did 4 workshops – with Youth Theatre, Oliver cast, Writing Group and the Director’s workshop. Mike McCormack had done a workshop for ‘Pillowman’ cast and an all-day acting workshop.
Julie said that the committee were pleased that the membership had agreed to fund workshops at the 2015 AGM. She said that they were still learning how to best cost and organise them. Lesley Chesters said that the feedback from new people attending was very positive.
Julie announced that 2 more workshops were already in the pipeline for next year. She said that all new teachers were recommended by Graeme du Fresne.
vii. Youth Group: Natalia Sanchez had given 17 sessions of 2 hours each at Altrimenti, with a share at the end which 80 people attended. This raised money for NWTC’s forthcoming refugee integration project. Julie thanked Christine Probst and Rose Flammant for helping with the organisation.
viii. Social Events: Rod said that he had organised 2/3 NTLive events where people had met for food & drink then gone on to a show.
Rod said that the Writing Group had begun with 24 people, then 6-8 had met regularly. John Brigg had organised the script then it had been performed at a Café Villon evening.
There had been 3 play-readings, and more were planned. They would try and alternate Café Villon evenings with play-readings. The writing group would continue with a new format of working through Noel Greig’s playwriting exercises.
Julie had organised Club evenings from April 2015, but these had stopped when Café Villon had restarted.
ix. Future events: There was another Café Villon evening the next day, and another play-reading planned for September.
There is a refugee project which Chris Albrecht had proposed to OLAI and had been accepted, with a subsidy of 2500 euros, to do a series of workshops. This is planned for the autumn & winter.
Gav Guilfoyle would be directing ‘The Pillowman’ in Mersch in October.
Julie Fraser would be running Youth Theatre with her proposed ‘Hobbit’ project. There would be a show or a share of the project on 30/3/2017-2/4/2017.
NWTC has been invited to take part in Feats 2017. Members are being approached to offer to direct. A decision will be made in 2-3 weeks.
John Brigg is thinking about proposing to stage “I kissed a slag’s deodorant”.
There will be another 10-minute play festival in February 2018 (provisional date) at the Kinneksbond. The lycée in Mamer might be invited to be involved.
Proposed: Christine Probst Seconded: Alan Carlisle
5. Treasurer’s Report.
5.1 Pauline said that the finances were healthy. The Oliver profits had been shared equally with Pirates. Youth Theatre had made a small loss as we had paid a professional tutor.
5.2 Auditor’s Report: Peter Milne commended Pauline on presenting clear accounts, and agreed to stay on as auditor on the basis that she remained treasurer. Chris Albrecht wished to thank Peter Milne for his time and effort in checking the accounts
Proposed: Philip Dutton Seconded: Alan Carlisle
6. Discharge of 2015/2016 committee: Chris Albrecht thanked all the committee members for their contribution to a successful year. Chris Wilson wished to give the outgoing committee a big thank you for all their work over the past year which was echoed by John Brigg.
7. Election of new committee: All except Rod McCall were prepared to stay on for a further year.
Proposed: Rod McCall Seconded: Karl Pierce
8. Any other business – NONE!
The meeting closed at 21.36.
