June 3, 2002
To Town & Gown Board of Directors
From Ben T.
Note: Names don't appear in full in this version; if you don't already know them, see your "Envoy."
Report of the 50th Anniversary Planning Committee
The committee met on May 22 to review and advance the plans for our observance of Town & Gown's fiftieth anniversary. John V., Fran T., Amy M., Allen R., Bill A. and Ben T. were present.
Our areas of special responsibility are as follows.
- Allen: liaison with the Founders' Committee and the Guild
- Amy: social events including "reunion" or "homecoming"
- Ben: patron interviews, public/press relations
- Bill: budgeting and financial management
- Florence K.: retrospective displays at the theater and elsewhere
- Fran: special events not already in our instructions and funding for them
- Harriet A.: preparation of necrology
- John: liaison with Play-Reading Committee and Second Stage Coordinator
I am setting up a calendar on my web site so that committee members can keep track of their own progress and deadlines as well as what the rest of the members are doing.
Our social program will center on a kickoff event at the start of the 2003-4 season, possibly linked with the Guild reception for season ticket holders, and a homecoming party in the March to May 2004 period.
The committee will cultivate contacts with local businesses and benefactors who can provide support, in cash or in kind, for such expense items as catering, hall rental for parties, printing and postage for publicity and invitations, and creation of commemorative items (awards, souvenirs).
We will seek grant funding (Georgia Endowment for the Humanities, corporate and other foundations) for special events in three areas:
- Visiting artist programs (for example, a former Town & Gown member who comes back to give a workshop in some special topic)
- Archives and history (for example, funds to pay a theater history student to draw on our archives and create a written history of the company)
- Traveling exhibitions (for example, exhibits linked with what Florence creates for the playhouse but suitable for showing at libraries, schools and so forth)
The committee also discussed approaching the Athens-Clarke County government for more than symbolic support, citing our Fifty Years of Continuous Service to the Athens Community (John's phrase, and I am sure I got it right because he repeated it at least a dozen times).
The president will create an advisory group to prepare a decade-by-decade list of "new" plays for the use of the Play-Reading Committee that will be established next winter.
The committee will seek a graphic designer to create a special visual image for use on all our publications before and during the 50th anniversary season. Such an image or logo might also appear in commemorative jewelry and on T-shirts and other souvenir items.
The committee will explore the possibility of a commemorative video, including footage from ceremonies, rehearsals, parties and so forth, which could be coupled with archival photos, scanned posters/programs, texts and film/video records and made into a DVD for sale at the end of the anniversary year.
To save money in the preparatory period, we will use the "Envoy," the Town & Gown E-groups, and web sites to recruit T&G members who can help the committee set up and coordinate events. Member participation will be crucial in putting over our observances.
Plans for press releases, reproduction of old and new photographs, and so forth are at an early stage.
We plan to meet again on June 15. Business for that meeting will include a review of progress toward funding and work on our calendar, our short-term budget (now through the end of 2002), and a highly provisional long-term budget.
| Approved Ben Teague web site |
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