September Board Meeting Summary

Our September board meeting was pretty average. We were happy to welcome a few guests to join our discussions; if you are interested in joining us for a future meeting, please reach out to our secretary, Monica! We meet on the 4th Monday of every month.

• Our Webmaster, Chris, discussed introducing mandatory 2-factor authentication for KWLT email accounts who are superadmins of the Google Workspace, and tightening password requirements for all KWLT accounts. This will increase our security.
• The Board ratified a change made to the COVID-19 Safety Plan, which added the requirement for patrons to be fully vaccinated, as per new provincial requirements
• The Board appointed Ahrar Monsur to the role of Carpentry Manager, and plans to ask him to evaluate our shed as his first task, since it is starting to show wear.
• The Board appointed Emily Crawford, Rachel Hammermueller, and Natasha Jackson as Communications Officers. This new Communications team will be working on reimagining the strategy of the Communications office going forward and splitting the various communications tasks among themselves.
• The Board approved the plan for the Garage Sale happening on October 3, and recommended to the team running it that they do a simple screening of people coming by to purchase items rather than requiring full vaccinations (full vaccinations are only required for patrons who come to see shows in our space, not for walking through for a few minutes to buy something).
• The Board approved dates for a 2021/2022 season. In addition to our shows already planned (The Devil’s Disciple; Telephone Madness; March Madness; and Our Home, Our Stories), there will be 2 mainstage productions. The particular shows will be selected by a combination of the Board Re-Opening Committee and the Artistic Steering Committee. Barring COVID shutdowns & restrictions, here are the dates:
  • The Devil’s Disciple Audio Play (online only): November 11 – 28
  • Telephone Madness (online only): October 15 – December 4
  • KWLT Main Stage #1: February 3-5, 10-12, 17-19 (auditions November 22-26)
  • March Madness: February 25 – March 5
  • Our Home, Our Stories: 3 weekends in April 7 – May 22, TBD
  • KWLT Main Stage #2: June 9-11, 16-18, 23-25 (auditions March 28 – April 1)
• The Board had a lengthy discussion regarding whether to make vaccinations mandatory for volunteers participating in in-person events at either of our spaces. The board is in favour of vaccine requirements, but would prefer to wait to make a mandate until the provincial vaccine passport app is available. The Board resolved not to introduce the mandate now, but will decide the motion at the October board meeting.
• After the Finance Director presented a question regarding our contract with our Bookkeeper, the question was raised as to whether the Finance Director has the power to enact contracts by herself as per our bylaws. To cover our bases, we quickly passed a motion to empower the Finance Director to execute contracts with bookkeepers. This question came up because Board members individually don’t have much power except what is spelled out specifically in the bylaws. Most power is reserved for the Board as a whole, which takes action and makes decisions via motions at official meetings of the Board. Especially when it comes to taking care of day-to-day business needs, it is more convenient for the board to simply empower a role to take action by themself.
• The Board met our potential future Communications Director, Rachel, whom I introduced in the last instalment of the Black Box Backdrop. The next step is for President (me) and the current Communications Director (Matt) to meet with Rachel to discuss expectations and onboarding, and if that goes well, we will aim to appoint Rachel in October.
• A high school student looking for a co-op position reached out to the theatre, but after a brief discussion the Board decided that KWLT is not prepared to manage a co-op student.
• An idea was shared to increase our reach to non-English communities by asking our membership to translate messages of welcome to share. This idea will be considered by the Board DEI committee.
• We learned that the new Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act is finally coming into effect this year, with a 3-year grace period for organizations to make any required changes. I will be looking more closely at this Act and determine what changes we will need to make.
• The Board discussed how many of our officers would like to survey our membership to learn more about their desires (e.g. in terms of what workshops to put on, what actions to take to improve diversity, etc.). I’ll be working to consolidate these and find ways to get answers to questions that are not constant Google forms for you all to fill out!

Active Committees

Show Control Committee

• The new booth is nearly complete, they are just waiting for the new equipment to be delivered (it has been delayed significantly due to the usual COVID supply chain problems)
• They are ready for the October 3rd garage sale

Lobby Renewal Committee

• No update

COVID Safety Documentation/Policy Committee

• Updated the covid policy to include information about vaccinations.

Communications Committee

• The Board-level committee is being disbanded in favour of the new Communications team which will report to the board through the Communications Director.

Artistic Steering Committee

• Applications are being taken until September 30th so an update will be sent by email once members have been selected.
• A place will be held for KWLT DEI representation.
• A 3 part workshop will be held over the course of October to help create an internal Vision Statement that the committee will use to shape activities moving forward.

Re-Opening Plan Committee

• First meeting will be scheduled in October.

DEI Committee

• No progress has been made at this time.