January 13, 2019 Zimfest Association Board Meeting Synopsis
Members in Attendance: Daniel Lockley, Jacqueline Fallon, Chris Halaska, Evelyn Mukwedeya, Mandy Walker-LaFollette, Alex Weeks, Janis Weeks
Members Absent: none
Non-voting member in attendance: Claire Jones
Review and Approve November Meeting Minutes
Will review by email
Review and Approve December Meeting Minutes
Will review by email
Zimfest 2019 Update (Claire)
- Online applications opened Jan 2, very few applications thus far, like last year.
- Zim Guest Coordinator’s report from Zimbabwe: Gov’t shutdown precluded any visit to US Embassy.
- A Zimbabwean has agreed to help any Zimbabwean B-1 applicants with technical aspects of online visa app. if needed, but not allowed to answer questions for applicants.
- May try to use Skynet courier service for B-1 invitation letters (but no response from Skynet yet)
- In response to the survey and other feedback, Claire will send a blog post to explain that Zim B-1 visa holders cannot perform in paid concerts, also why their workshops are by donation
- A suggestion to consider is that we make the Sunday evening concert free (by donation) so that Zimbabweans can perform.
- We will have to adjust ticket package prices, etc. accordingly
- Claire proposes two changes to payments for families with children to try to encourage greater family participation at Zimfest:
- Workshops for children require any child <7 years be accompanied by an adult who also registers for the workshop. I propose the accompanying adult be allowed in free; a coupon would be made available in RegFox. Approved by ZF Board.
- Can we make Family Discount for Housing a little easier to qualify for? Present criteria state: If your family (at least one parent with two or more children below the age of 12) wishes to request a family housing discount, please contact us at before you register and pay for housing, so that we can determine your eligibility and enter up to 20% off your housing costs for you. A revised policy requiring only one child under the age of 12 was approved by ZF Board.
- Zim dinner volunteer had to withdraw offer of assistance, so no one to take it on this year.
Festival Policy Review (Claire)
Clarified a few points in the Performer Concert Ticket Policy and the Zimbabwean Guest Travel Policy.
Request to Extend Zimfest’s Insurance Coverage for a Benefit Event (Janis, Claire)
Zimfest’s insurance coverage for other events is no longer an option. Our coverage now only covers the 5 days of the festival.
Marimba Set Donation Discussion (All)
A Zimfest member would like to raise money to donate a set of marimbas. We do appreciate the motivation to help us with marimbas.
Finance Update/WA State Excise Tax Return Information (Chris, Claire)
- Not much has changed in the last month. A few donations have come in over the month.
- WA State Excise Tax is due at the end of January. We don’t have to pay any taxes but we do have to report it.
- 1099 and 1042 forms will be due.
Tech Committee Hand-Off Update (Janis, Alex)
Alex has stepped off of the tech committee and Jake is stepping on to the tech committee. RegFox has a beta for membership that the committee was going to look at but now RegFox has it on hold because they are working on other things. ZATC chair has started cleaning up the Google Drive and will create best practices for using Google Drive.
Sexual Assault Allegation Follow-Up (All)
No responses to the blog post.
Next Meeting
Sunday February 10th, 6:30 pm PST on Google Hangouts
