June 2016 General Meeting Minutes

General Meeting Minutes
13 JUN 2016

This General Meeting was called to order at the San Antonio Garden Center (3310 N New Braunfels, San Antonio, TX) by President Caryl Gaubatz at 11:17 am.

May Minutes
The May minutes, which were presented to the general membership electronically in the newsletter, were presented for additions/corrections. None were brought forward and the minutes were approved as transmitted.

Financial Report
This report is to be published for the general membership to view on the password protected part of the website but because some issues are being resolved with the website no report has been published. These issues should be resolved soon and the financial report will be available at that time.

Old Business

• Kathy Furukawa: The sale of Kathy Furukawa’s items has ended with only a few items left. Caryl thanked in particular Mary Ann Johnson and Phyllis Jordan for handling the sale. A committee will be put together to make decisions on how the proceeds will be spent.
• Storage Locker: In March the board approved a 7.5×10 ft locker to store items needed for the Runway Show. Diana Kellerman was able to consolidate this to a 5×10 ft space saving $504/yr on the rental fees.

New Business

• Bylaws: Proposed changes will be voted on at the July 2016 meeting. A rough draft was sent to the general membership and Caryl has received many comments/questions concerning the changes. The bylaw committee, composed of Phyllis Jordan, Diana Kellerman, and Caryl Gaubatz, have put forth changes to 1) remove language referring to “the federation” which is now defunct, 2) correct grammar and spelling errors, 3) focus more on education and streamline the process of scholarship disbursal, 4) add language that brings our bylaws into compliance with IRS stipulations and requirements.
  • Elaboration on #3: Up to this point, our 3^rd VP (Runway) was also shouldering this responsibility. Since we received our 501(c)3 in part because we give scholarships, the board felt we needed a single person whose responsibility it would be to disburse the scholarship funds in a timely fashion. The current bylaws allow the Board of Directors to appoint other officers as deemed necessary (Section VI, #5). A 4^th VP for Scholarships will be added to the Board of Directors, this will be an elected position in the future and will carry one vote on the board. The 4^th VP will have a timeline and will disburse the scholarship funds in a timely manner. They need to be distributed by August each year. The Board appointed Sherry Christensen to fill this position at the present time. She has a background in Arts Education and is an excellent choice for this job.
  • Elaboration on #4: We received our 501(c)3 designation on 17 AUG 2009. At that time, FASA agreed to implement the following: 1) Artists cannot sell work at the Runway Show; 2) FASA cannot collect commissions on works sold; 3) These stipulations must be written into our bylaws. FASA is not in compliance with these IRS requirements. Because of deep concern for this issue, Diana Kellerman and Caryl Gaubatz met with a CPA who handles accounts for non-profit organizations. He confirmed that non-profits may not make a profit from their membership and that the non-profit may not send in the sales tax for members but each artist would be responsible for sending their own sales tax to the IRS. This is a confusing issue so board members are going to meet with this CPA again on Monday, 20 JUN 2016. Please email Caryl with your questions (by Friday, 17 JUN) so that your concern can be presented to the CPA for an answer. This will make for a more informed discussion before voting on changes. For now, all discussion on the bylaws will be tabled until the July meeting after the board meets with the CPA.

Board and Committee Reports

• 1^st VP, Linda Rael, Programs
  • July program is Gilbert Muniz showing some of his fashions designs. There are a few openings still in the screen printing workshop on 10 JUL presented by Gilbert Muniz. Cost is $150; he will provide supplies. There also will be a short workshop after the July meeting on Shisha Embroidery. Cost is $45; 3-4 hours.
  • If you have signed up for one of these workshops and have not paid yet, please do so ASAP, or you may mail your check to Linda.
  • The August program, Artist Buffet, is still needing a few more volunteer artists to share a technique. Please contact Linda ASAP for more information.
• 2^nd VP, Jean Dahlgren, Annual Exhibit
  • She will have the name of the juror for this year’s exhibit to present at the July meeting.
  • The Annual Exhibit will be at Say Si and run from mid-November to mid-December.
• 3^rd VP, Runway, J’cil Horn
  • Shirley Bugosh agreed to co-chair this position
  • The next Runway show is set tentatively for 6 MAY 2017
  • More information on the venue, theme, etc.
• 4^th VP, Scholarship, Sherry Christensen
  • FASA received two notes of thanks from Southwest School of Art and Incarnate Word University.
• Education, Sherry Christensen
  • As the Chair for Education, she is FASA’s representative to the Garden Center. Their next meeting is 7 SEP 2016; members can pick up information on the table in the lobby on each Garden Center meeting and there are plants are sold at each meeting.
  • Sherry presented an idea for members to open their studios for a studio tour for our membership. This would serve us all to see how other artists work, organize, and create. She is thinking about possibly three events per year. Please contact Sherry directly if you would be willing to open your studio for one of these events.
• Newsletter and Publicity, Lyn Belisle
  • Our newsletter is one of our best forms of publicity, so please forward it to anyone you think might be interested.
  • Deadline for the newsletter is 25^th of every month.
  • The newest publicity item is “FASA members in the News”, which highlights members of this organization who are exhibiting, teaching, or otherwise are in the public eye. If you know of a member who is speaking or exhibiting, etc., please send that information to Lyn for inclusion in the newsletter.
• Community Service, Peggy Foerster
  • Members please log your volunteer hours each month; this is something we need for the IRS.
  • 2 items left after the Runway Show, a small crocheted angel and a small hanging ornament.
  • The Food Pantry bag is missing, so if you accidently picked up this bag labelled “Food Pantry”, please return to Peggy.
• Website, Shirley Bugosh
  • Dues can be paid on the website now and also, the membership form can be downloaded.
• SPUTNIK
  • Caryl Gaubatz reported that there were 15 members present for this meeting which was the first one held at Jean Dahlgren’s studio.

Meeting adjourned at 11:39

Respectfully Submitted,

Rebecca Lilly Segura
Secretary, FASA