University of Bristol A Cappella Society Committee Meeting – Tuesday 15th September at 2pm
Present (Via Zoom):
- Alistair Manclark – President
- Nathan Cave – Vice President
- Ian Tsang – Treasurer
- Lucy O’Neil – Gigs Coordinator
- Mikey Galvin – Social Secretary
- Jasmine Bingham – Social Secretary and Suspensions Rep
- Laura Travis – Publicity Coordinator
- Helena Lee – Webmaster and Bristones Rep
- Henry Winchester – Tone Rangers Rep
- Seb Waddington – Academy Rep
- Laura Odemwingie – Pitch Fight Rep
- Robbie Armstrong – Friends and Alumni Coordinator (Outgoing)
In Attendance:
- Katie Cox – Secretary
1. Apologies
– Laura Rouffiac – Equalities Officer and Top Note Rep
– Mark Carver – Resource Manager (Snaps for setting up Zoom premium)
– Tom Strueli – Tech Coordinator
– Ewan Wadd – All Sharps Rep
2. Previous Meetings Minutes
– People read the minutes, and Laura T even watched the Dora the Explorer Movie (she thought it was alright actually)
3. Actions Update
– Digitalise Music Library – ongoing
– Complain about Terry – ongoing, non-urgent
– Callout for Alumni who still want to receive our emails – ongoing
– Ali put a shoutout on FB, and hasn’t recieved any response; an email can go out later this week too
– Mark to tell Helena what needs updating, and Helena to update website accordingly – ongoing
– Helena still needs to update the website
– Ali to ask SU whether Acadapitch fundraising counts towards Gold Balloon – ongoing
– Still needs doing
– Lucy and Ali to look at smaller term one event, and booking BOSW Anson rooms – done/cancelled
– Booked BOSW for March; theatres looking to reopen in August, so may be a possibility; meeting in mid-November to get more details on this
– Smaller term 1 event won’t happen
– Ali, Nathan, Ian, Mark to meet with SU about reaffiliation – done
– We’re oficially reaffiliated; was a useful meeting for strategic planning
– Suggestions for an ensemble song – ongoing
– Unauditioned MDs will be in position soon to help with this
4. Treasurer’s Report
– £180 from Aquapella mic hire has come through
5. Group Reps’ Report
5.1. Suspensions
– Released all virtual fringe stuff and it was great!
– Released The Weather with all the ex-suspensions which was also fab!
5.2. Pitch Fight
– Not much going on, but working on releasing some new stuff
– Promo has been released on social media
5.3. Academy
– Met up in Bristol to record their album
– The editing company have all the files, and are still waiting on the edits to come back; looking to release at end of October
5.4. All Sharps
– Had a meeting last week, with some cool things coming up
– Working on video release of vitual song
– Talking about auditions, outfits, and recordings
5.5. Bristones
– Will be selecting MD; not sure what is happening this year
– Only one person has applied for MD, so may do an AMD callout after they are appointed
5.6. Brizzlebox
– Nothing to report
5.7. Top Note
– Also selecting MD
– Aashna has a music channel on instagram that everyone should check out <3
5.8. Tone Rangers
– Nothing to report
5.9. Rebound
– Nobody is here
6. Give it a Go Session
– Despite us not being able to meet, we still need to do this for Gold Balloon; so need to plan this virtually
– GIAG last year ended with performances, so could showcase performances of each group
– Introduce committee, the society, and how sessions run
– Will start planning this; want to do it after Freshers’ fair
– Want to have a recorded version too
ACTION: Lucy to set up event for this for Monday 12th – 7pm
ACTION: Group Reps to submit details for their group’s section (eg recording of performance) 4th October
ACTION: Laura T to dig out videos from previous taster sessions
7. Freshers’ Week and Freshers’ Fair
– Freshers’ fair will be a virtual booth online in a music section; will be sharing a booth with groups we have a lot of crossover with
– Event is 12-8? Need to get a timetable together to have at least 2 core committee on the stall at each time
ACTION: Katie to complete a doodle poll for timetable to complete by 4th October
8. Term 1 Situation
8.1. Room Bookings
– Nathan has applied for them about a month ago, but hasn’t had any response
– SU don’t seem to know what is going on; the uni have said building will be COVID secure, so hopefully they will open it
– Have said as soon as they know they will let us know
– Need 10L of air per person for singing rehearsals based on guidlines, so only Anson would be big enough for unauditioned; some more options for auditioned groups
8.2. Unauditioned and Auditioned Groups
– Rule of 6 means we can’t run rehearsals, despite our affilitation with the uni
– If we can get exempt from this, still need at least 10L of air per person, and the only room with that much volume is AR5, AR6, and AR2-bar; if the SU can give us an AR slot, then this will go straight to Bristones, as this will give the most opportunity for the society to continue as normal
– If we get Carpenter, Stephenson, or Gromit, then so long as Bristones is sorted, these should be given to larger auditioned groups
– Have to deal with what we have been given, which will likely not be enough
– Vic rooms aren’t doing external bookings at the moment
– Smaller rooms could be given to auditioned groups for sectional rehearsals
– Want to try and allow Top Note and Tone Rangers to get rooms, and hopefully this will be fine with smaller rooms due to lower numbers; there will be significantly less rehearsal time than last year
ACTION: Ali to ask about room bookings at Vic rooms
8.3. Auditions
– Currently don’t have room bookings, so don’t know how this is going to work
– Leave to each group to decide how they are going to work their auditions
– Can hire an outside venue to host auditions if they need to, so long as social distancing is maintained
– Can give people a timeslot to help maintain social distancing
– Have MD, AMD, one person on door, and another peson on panel; with the auditionee, that is 5 people, and thus under 6
– Auditioned groups to use these guidelines when organising auditions to help society stay within legal guidelines
– Auditions likley to be no earlier than October 9th; should also be after taster session
8.4. Using Zoom
– Need to prepare for likelihood of doing things electronically if no rehearsals can take place at all. Eg, using teach tracks, etc
– Find people with recording software to help with this
– Dropin sessions to record parts in groups of six for unauditioned groups so people don’t feel exposed
9. Socially Distanced Socials
– Want to keep engagement up, and everyone is completely Zoomed out, so want to look at other ways to do socials
– Mikey and Jaz put out a survey
-A few people did say they wanted a quiz, so this could be done for those who want one
– Having different events with groups of 6 or 4 so people could meet new people (like a family social, but with new people every couple of weeks)
– UK A Cappella speed dating was apparently a success, so could model off this for an event
– Socially distanced scavenger hunt of some sort
– Software for virtual graduation allowed tables of 4 or 6, and people could move around; uni might be buying a licence for it, so if they do this would be good
– Families to be set up too, and have had some good responses so far
10. AOB
10.1. Membership Fees
– Difficult to charge our normal price without offering the normal services
– Budgetting so far has been done based on £8 for both terms
– Should still charge for term 1 regardless of if we meet in person to maintain income, but would be good to do a kind of ‘free trial’
– Need to consider that Freshers’ won’t want to pay £5 for something when they don’t think they will get anything out of it
– Need to have some kind of income for if we can have BOSW later on
– For unauditioned groups, people only needed to pay membership to perform anyway, not to come along
– If we aren’t having a performance in term 1, no need for them to pay for term 1; can still pay for term 2
– Bulk of our income isn’t from membership anyway, so Ian thinks we don’t need to worry too much about this from this perspective
– If we go for a virtual concert, do we make people pay for this?
– Unauditioned and auditioned likely to be impacted the same, so if we charge for one we need to charge for both
– Decided first term will be free, and second term can have a fee if performances can go ahead; optional £5 year membership, but 1st term can be free as another option; need people to pay membership to peform in virtual performances; auditioned members will be asked to pay; will review again after Christmas
– Lowering membership from £8 to £5 due to reduced services
10.2. Updating Website
– Needs to be done before Freshers’ fair so that everything is functioning when potential members want to look
– Ali asking SU for Gold Balloon video they made during Nat’s presidency, but they are being slow with that; would be good to put up on website/Facebook as part of the ‘taster’
ACTION: Group reps to look at their section on the website, and message Helena with anything they want updating
10.3. Alumni Coordination
– A lot of final years didn’t get their last year properly due to COVID, so the society could try and include Corona alumni a bit more this year: attending socials, etc
– Something for social secs to think about
– Wanted a sendoff/leavers’ social previously, but that isn’t viable now anyway
– Definitley a good idea to keep people involved
– Can include alumni in a virtual project this year too
– Alumni Facebook group might be an idea too
– Will give the option for unauditioned members who want to stay involved to do so, despite there not being a specific alumni group for them
– Will keep alumni relevant stuff in one place
– Optional, and people don’t have to be added to it straight away when they leave
– Include president, alumni coordinator, and publicity
ACTION: Robbie to callout on the group about creating an alumni group to gather interest
– Could have a social specifically for alumni, including a cappella history; would encourage people to join the alumni group, and get more involved
11. Cake Rota
– Laura T made Biscoff bread and took it to her new neighbours (snaps for being a good citizen)
– Lucy made lemon and poppy bread
– Katie made fudge
12. A Cappella Song Rota
– Bristol Suspensions – The Weather
– Pitch Fight Promotional Video – Full Release 26/09
– Honourable mention: Tune Army – Behind closed doors