The board met March 26, 2006, on the eighth floor of the Montgomery Building to review progress on fall book releases, review plans for upcoming events and finally settle on a new mission statement. Kerry Ferguson announced the winners of the Hub-Bub residency and provided an update on the Hub-Bub programs.

Members present: Carol Bradof, Linda Cobb, Gary Henderson, Eugenia Hooker, Max Hyde, Tom Johnson, John Lane, Nan McDaniel, Dwight Patterson, B.G. Stephens, Melissa Walker

Staff: Kerry Ferguson, Betsy Teter

President Mickey Pierce was unable to attend, so your faithful scribe, Melissa Walker, presided. She called the meeting to order and asked the board for approval of the February minutes. The board complied.

Betsy Teter reported that our book sales so far this year have been terrific, largely thanks to the stellar sales efforts of Beatrice Hill and Brenda Lee. Through the end of the first quarter, we have sold over $35,000 in books (against a budgeted $48,000). The South of Main book has outsold the Wofford book 10 to 1. She is working on strategies for improving the sales of the Wofford book, including a large ad in a forthcoming issue of Wofford Today.

We have already received $1,000 in donations this year, remarkable in light of the fact that we don't even undertake active fundraising until May.

The Cottonwood Trail book is currently in production. Betsy shared the proposed cover, a lovely photograph of the trail. Production work on this title will be complete in about a month, and then we will move into production of Kirk Neely's book. Neely's book will be our lead title for the year and will be used in our fundraising effort. If board members have any potential donors to add to our mailing list, they should send Betsy the names right away. Morningside Baptist Church has also shared its mailing list for the marketing of the Neely book.

Betsy shared quotations on our property and liability insurance policy with the board. She noted that our insurance costs will go up significantly with the new building because we have much more property to insure. She asked the lawyers on the board their opinion about whether we needed a liquor liability rider in addition to our normal liability coverage. The consensus among the attorneys was that alcohol sales were incidental to our business and that we wouldn't need a separate rider. The board voted to accept the low bid, a bid from Correll Insurance Group.

Gary Henderson reported that we will need volunteers for a couple of upcoming events including the Dixie Hummingbirds concert in June and the Writers Conference later the same month. Betsy will send board members an email requesting volunteers. The City Council has approved the concept of the Spartanburg Music Trail. Our Dixie Hummingbirds concert will be the first concert (of at least two) to raise funds for the trail. We have received donations from Spartanburg Regional, White Oak Manor, NBSC, the Barnet Foundation, and the County Foundation to underwrite all our costs for the concert so that all of the ticket revenue will go toward the Music Trail.

The group of convening organizations who are sponsoring the Music Trail will determine guidelines for inclusion and set up a selection committee.

We postponed discussion of Paula Baker's proposal that we develop criteria for emeritus board members until Paula could be with us.

After a brief interruption when our executive director's phone rangto her mortificationwe resumed discussion of the mission statement. Since several board members had observed that "collaborative arts" was not a clear and easily understandable term, we discussed alternatives that would capture the full scope of our activities. The board approved Betsy's draft language as follows:

The Hub City Writers Project of Spartanburg, South Carolina, celebrates

place and community through the creation and presentation of literary,

cultural and artistic works.

Betsy reported that the Milliken Foundation has committed a grant of $4,000 for the reprint of Noble Trees.

She also noted that USC-Upstate was thrilled to be given our archives. The celebration of that event will be held on their campus on May 17. Betsy thanked Tom Johnson for has advice on the negotiations with USC-Upstate.

Finally, Betsy reported that Y'all Magazine, a publication out of Oxford, Mississippi, included a 2-page story on Hub City Writers Project in a recent issue.

Kerry Ferguson reported that work on the Hub-bub building is on schedule. The offices will move in on May 1 and the artists-in-residence on June 1. She has been working with a committee on programming for the building. Mondays will be Hub City Nights and will include our usual readings series, Slam Poets, local filmmakers, and other events. Movies will be shown on Thursdays and Saturdays; these showings are being organized by a film committee led by Peter Caster of USC-Upstate and Josh Foster. Friday night will be music night, including everything from regional and national acts to high school bands. Wednesday nights will be open-mike nights. In other news, Kerry told us that the Hub-bub web site will receive a major overhaul in April.

The artists-in-residence have been selected. They range in age from 23-29 and include two women and two men. The roster includes a filmmaker, an installation artist/painter, sculptor/painter, and a creative writer. The Mary Black Foundation is planning to donate four Cannondale bicycles and a bike rack for their use. A welcome party will tentatively be held on June 10 and their art work will open on July 7. John Lane reminded the board that we need to document this very unique program and build in some evaluation mechanisms.

With no other pending business, the meeting was adjourned by your substitute president at 1 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Melissa Walker