Members in Attendance: Mandy Walker-LaFollette, Tendai Muparutsa, Heather Steele, Maria Minnaar Bailey, Alex Weeks, Michael Sibanda, Daniel Lockley
Members Absent: Adrienne Stewart
Non-voting members in attendance: Claire Jones
Meeting lead: Maria
Notes taker: Mandy
Was a quorum of Board members present?: Yes
November Notes/Minutes
Approved
OCCU Credit Union Signers
Let the minutes reflect that the Board has decided to remove Janis Weeks and Chris Halaska as signers on the Zimfest Association account, and to add Heather Steele.
Interview New Prospective Board Members (All)
The Board interviewed two prospective Board members, and invited both to join. The Board welcomes Caden Davis and Jesse Larson as new members!
Maria and Mandy will onboard the new members.
Check-ins from Last Month (All)
Documentation updates
Board recruitment page update
Annual Campaign
Annual campaign (membership and donation) in December – Daniel will rework a previous year’s letter.
Code of Conduct
Responsible Board members will now be Maria, Claire, and Heather. Claire will get the website and document updated.
Bi-annual Festival
The Board has made the decision to move to a bi-annual festival, i.e. a festival held every other year, with the intention of alternating with Nhemamusasa North. As previously announced, we are holding a festival in 2025, but we will be taking 2026 off to start the every other year cycle.
Some pro/con notes from the Board’s discussion include:
- This would be disappointing to many yearly festival-goers
- The Organizing Committee gets worn out without enough new recruits each year
- Could momentum be lost if we switch to every-other-year? Or, could excitement be built over a two-year cycle?
- Festival fees will be increasing due to higher costs for Zimfest, and holding a festival every second year may be more doable for festival-goers.
Festival Coordinator Report and Urgent Needs (Claire)
Still working on re-forming Organizing Committee (OC)
- Haven’t heard from everyone yet
- Blogged about urgent OC needs (Concert production; Volunteer Coordinator just found!)
- There will be other needs such as Local Arrangements, lining up a motel/hotel for Zimfest group discount (Board member?). See Volunteer page on the website.
Claire and Larry working on getting applications ready to open Jan 2 – Feb 28, 2025. Mike and Heather volunteer to test/give feedback.
Have set up tent camping for 50+ at Kittitas Valley EC (nice site at Yakima Village!); have made contact with CWU Int’l Studies program about co-sponsorship and co-signing B1 visa invitation letters – sending them references.
Requesting board go-ahead to fast-track Zimbabwean applicants not resident in US
- In order to give more time for those accepted to teach or perform to go through the visa process, Claire proposes making decisions based on teacher application materials received by the end of January (all other decisions to be made after application period ends Feb 28) in order to get invitation letters to them ASAP.
- Zimbabwean applicants not resident in the US will be encouraged to apply by the end of January.
- The Board agrees that this is a good idea.
- Can Mike (Sibanda) provide advice and assistance to those in Zim and SA? Yes.
Lined up Deb Dole to work on graphics for 2025. Use artwork sent in for 2023 but not chosen then? The Board agrees to move forward with the Rau 2023 submission.
Rotating Board Presidency (Maria)
Since we decided on 4-month periods for rotating president, Maria will continue until January; next period would be Feb-Mar-Apr-May. Tendai will take on the next rotation, then Adrienne.
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