Once again as the meeting began we thought it was going to be a rather small group, but as time passed attendance grew to twenty.
Who was there:
I've included the links for the first time meeting folks if I have them, so you can get an idea of what they are up to. As usual attendance at two meetings is required to get on the front page of SoloTogether. Everyone seems to be working regularly, I guess the ecconomic times are a changin again for the better. Bern Budd's Mark Twain and Marie Hennedy's Charlotte Bronte programs follow in the fine tradition of solo performance. Janet Parnes programs are very interactive events geared toward different age groups, where young ladies and gentlemen can learn to be proper Victorians. David Noard had quite a bit of usefull information for performers who like to specialize in senior and assisted living venues. (If you're interested in what he had to say you can contact him at vincentanddavid@aol.com) James Horrigan's Col David Crockett looks at the politican rather than the frontiersman and incorporates James' knowledge of a visit by Crockett to the Massachusetts state house. Of special interest in the "What's going on" part of the meeting were JoJo LaRiccia and Keiko Ikeda. JoJo came looking for characters who might fit as visitors to her cable program "JoJo's Dreamcart". This is a childrens program, seen on quite a few different cable systems (over 100 if I remember right). The program focuses on how people can bring their dreams to life. Its aim is to inspire children to achieve. I don't get cable, but you may want to take a look and send JoJo a note if you think your character might be the kind of inspiration she's looking for.
Keiko Ikeda is visiting Harvard from Japan, studying the way culture and history can be taught through first person historical interpretation. She apparently had never been in a place with so many characters at one time. She's hoping to interview several members to get a feeling of how we work, why we do it, etc. before she leaves later this year. Hopefully she'll be able to make our next meeting (see below) to give us a report on her progress.
Marketing was the topic de jour. For those of us involved with schools, we tried to figure out how to keep in contact with the different cultural enrichment committees at schools, when the people change every year or two. Consensus was that the best way to contact is to have a name, but that just doesn't work with parents on committees who leave when their children move up. No one seemed to have a good solution to this problem. If you have one pass it along. Paul Manning offered his method for finding gigs, he performed a Mapquest web search on schools within 20 miles of his home base, which allowed him to target more easily. I've had good luck finding school information by visiting Great Schools for schools here in Massachusetts and visiting the education department in other states where they often have databases with school information. Unfortunately, often the specific data is not all that good, principals have changed, etc., but at least the address and phone numbers are usually good. The New England Library Association has some good information for libraries and there are other places on the web for historical societies, senior retirement communities, etc. When all was said and done, marketing comes down to a lot of plain hard work.
As usual nine o'clock came and we were still going pretty strong. It was suggested we go back to four meetings a year, and consensus was this was a good idea so our next meeting will probably be in April (date to be announce when Ted gets word from Bentley). If anyone can think of something I missed let me know and I'll add it. If you've got events coming up, send them along so I can put them on the calendar and check out the calendar once in a while and attend a performance of one of our members.
Mike Francis