The board met April 25, 2006, to address a slight delay in moving to the new building, get a report on the 2006 fundraising campaign, and thank Arthur Cleveland for his four-year donation of free office space in the Montgomery Building. Upcoming events included a Dixie Hummingbirds concert at Barnet Park and a reception in honor of our archive donation to USC Upstate.

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

Staff: Kerry Ferguson, Betsy Teter

President Mickey Pierce called the meeting to order. He asked Betsy Teter to proceed with her report. She noted book sales are strong with about $28,000 in sales so far this year. The annual fundraising letter went out to 800 people last week; so far we have raised $20,000 toward our $38,000 goal. She thanked Dwight Patterson, Carol Bradof, Liz Fort, and Tom Johnson for assistance with the mailing.

The Cottonwood Trail book is still in design at Olencki Graphics. Production work on this title will be complete next week, and then we will move into production of Kirk Neely's book. Betsy showed the board the cover art for Neely's book; that illustration appeared in the fundraising letter. A book release party for the Cottonwood Trail book is tentatively scheduled for the second week of October. The Neely book will com out in early November. The ad for the Wofford book is in the current issue of Wofford Today. A mailing is also going out to parents, graduating seniors, and other Wofford friends and family.

In a slight digression, the board approved the March minutes with one small correction. The crew also complimented Betsy at the variety of sandwiches available for this month's meeting!

Gary Henderson reported on upcoming events for the programming committee. He passed around a sign-up sheet for volunteers to staff the Dixie Hummingbirds concert and the Writers Conference.

Betsy reminded the board of the reception celebrating transfer of our archives to USC-Upstate on May 17. Board members should have received invitations.

Betsy also reminded the board that we are still looking for warehouse space. She is investigating several possibilities and hopes to wrap that up in the coming month.

We have two board vacancies due to the resignation of Michael Smith and Rachelle Prioleau. Rachelle recommended Peter Caster, a new English and film professor at USC-Upstate, to replace her. Caster has already been volunteering on the Hub-bub film committee. Betsy put forth the name of Jeremy Jones, a writer who is moving to town, for the other vacancy. The board appointed Caster and Jones to fill out the remainder of the terms of Smith and Prioleau. Betsy reminded the board that we will have more vacancies at the end of the year.

Kerry Ferguson reported on the status of the Hub-bub building. Not surprisingly, the building will not be done in time for a May 1 move-in of Hub City staff. Nonetheless, the developers assured her that we will be in by the time the artists-in-residence arrive on June 1. The developers and our staff have had regular meetings with the city building inspector, and there have been no surprises so far. She is working with Stephen Long to select furnishings, wall coverings for the gallery space, window treatments, and other necessary fixtures. Pic-a-Book is donating some store fixtures for our store space.

Arthur Cleveland stopped in for a presentation from our president. Mickey thanked Mr. Cleveland for his generous support of Hub City Writers Project over the years, particularly his donation of rent-free office space for the past few years. He presented Mr. Cleveland with copies of each Hub City book published while we have been headquartered in the Montgomery Building and a commemorative paperweight as tokens of our thanks. Cleveland thanks the HCWP for its remarkable contributions to the revitalization of Spartanburg.

Kerry then passed around hand-outs with information on the artists-in-residence, who are all thrilled to be coming. We are already receiving inquiries about next year's residencies. We will begin the application process all over again in the fall.

Kerry has also been working with film, art, and music committees to plan programming for the building. A full calendar of summer events appeared at the bottom of the April meeting agenda.

The board discussed the issue of signage on the new building. Gary Henderson noted the importance of being sure that the Hub City Writers Project identity is not lost in the hubbub over Hub-Bub. There was also discussion about events to celebrate the new building. Mickey Pierce suggested a June event that would get the board and the Hub-Bub volunteers together. Betsy and Kerry will pursue this once the move-in date is more firm. The board recommended to Betsy that the big celebration and grand opening event for building donors be scheduled for the fall, after people have returned from vacations and the dust has settled (figuratively and--we hopeliterally) in the new building.

The meeting was adjourned shortly after 1 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Melissa Walker