The board of the Hub City Writers Project February 26, 2006 on the eighth floor of the Montgomery Building. They received reports on upcoming books, revisited the mission statement and bylaw issues, discussed what to do with its archives and got an update on the new building, among other topics.

Members present: Paula Baker, Carol Bradof, Liz Fort, Gary Henderson, Max Hyde, Tom Johnson, John Lane, Stephen Long, Nan McDaniel, Melissa Walker

Staff: Kerry Ferguson, Betsy Teter

President Mickey Pierce was unable to attend because of a last-minute obligation, so executive director Betsy Teter presided over the meeting. Back in our familiar meatlocker, she called the meeting to order and asked the board for approval of the January minutes. The board complied.

Melissa Walker presented the report for the publications committee. She noted that a number of members of the committee had reviewed the manuscript for a children's biography of Kate Barry. Tom Moore Craig, a descendent of Barry's, also reviewed the manuscript. All who have seen the manuscript agreed that, properly edited, it would be an appropriate title for HCWP. Melissa asked the board to approve proceeding with publication of this title during 2007. The board voted to approve the project.

Betsy reported on the status of several other projects. She noted that Kirk Neely's book of Christmas stories looks terrific and that Neely's daughter-in-law had produced a set of gorgeous watercolor illustrations to accompany the book. Deno Trakas has worked with Neely to edit the manuscript. This book will be published in time for Christmas 2006. The Cottonwood Trail book, also a Christmas 2006 title, will enter production this week. Betsy announced that Deno Trakas has received an Arts Partnership grant to fund travel to Greece in order to conduct research on his history of Spartanburg's Greek community.

Betsy noted that the Noble Trees book has long been out of print but that she receives frequent requests for the bookone of our most popular titles. It was an expensive title to produce, but she would like to do another printing, IF she can secure some underwriting. She asked for authorization to pursue funding from the Milliken Foundation. The board agreed and asked her to pursue the funding.

Betsy thanked everyone for their participation at the planning retreat, and she noted that the board had adopted a new mission statement at that meeting. The mission statement read: The Hub City Writers Project celebrates place and community through the literary and collaborative arts. Betsy noted that we need to add this mission statement to our by-laws. Discussion ensued about what we meant by collaborative arts. There was general agreement that the intent of the phrase had been to indicate that we collaborate with people from visual and performing arts on projects, but there was concern that "collaborative arts" was unclear, suggesting that there was some thing called a collaborative art. Several suggestions for revised wording were thrown out, but none seemed to quite capture the intent. The issue was tabled for discussion at our next meeting.

The board approved two by-laws changes. The first standardizes the beginning of board terms to the beginning of calendar years. The second set the size of the board at a minimum of 12 members, but not more than 18 members.

Betsy announced that Hub City would co-sponsor a Dixie Hummingbirds concert with the city of Spartanburg in Barnet Park on Friday, June 2 at 7:30 pm. Ira Tucker, the lead singer for the Hummingbirds, is a native of Spartanburg. We will also bring in the author of a book about the Hummingbirds to speak at the library the night before the event. We will apply for an $8,000 grant from the Arts Partnership to underwrite production expenses. Betsy will attempt to find another sponsor who will underwrite advertising of the event. Tickets will sell for $10. The board voted to donate all proceeds from the concert to the Spartanburg Music Trail, the downtown trail that will honor legends from Spartanburg's musical heritage. The Music Trail is a project we are co-sponsoring with the city, the Historical Association, the Music Foundation, and several other organizations.

We have had two resignations from the board: Rachelle Prioleau because of the demands of her job and Michael Smith because his wife has taken a job in Washington, D.C., and they will be moving. Betsy noted that five people are scheduled to rotate off the board in December as well. She asked the board to think about new board members and particularly to think about whether we need to fill the two open spots immediately or wait until December.

Tom Johnson discussed the possibility of donating the Hub City Archives to USC-Upstate. At this location, the archives will be preserved and cataloged but also available to Betsy when she needs to consult them. Betsy has met with Frieda Davisson, the director of the library at USC-Upstate, and they are enthusiastic about receiving our archives. The board voted to place the archives there.

Kerry Ferguson reported that we are making excellent progress on the Hub-bub Building. Steven, Betsy, and Kerry are selecting tile, light fixtures, and other finishes for the building and we are on schedule for a May move-in of the Hub City offices. The artists-in-residence will move in in June.

We had 46 very fine applications for the artists-in-residence slots and have two selection committees, one of artists (Ann Stoddard of Presbyterian College, Andrew Blanchard of Converse College, and amateur artist Buck Brandt) and one of writers (all from out of town because of the number of local writers who applied.) They have met to narrow the list to a group of 10 finalists who will be interviewed by Betsy and Kerry who will make final selections based on fit, male-female mix, and other factors. The final decision will be made by April 1.

Kerry noted that Link, a Greenville arts weekly, included a nice article about the Hub-bub project and the new building and artist residencies last week.

There was some discussion of the possibility of life or emeritus board members. Betsy asked the board to think about this for the next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned shortly after 1 pm, but small group discussions continued for quite some time as we endeavored to solve all of Spartanburg's problems.

Respectfully submitted,

Your secretary,

Melissa Walker