MAC and "To Be Or Not To Be"
MAC and "To Be Or Not To Be"
#0MAC and "To Be Or Not To Be"
Posted: 5/23/06 at 7:21pm
An astute performer named Julie Reyburn posted on cabarethotlineonline with observations & opinions that I believe to be spot on. She made very good points that I hope the MAC BOD takes seriously.
I hope that anyone who came late to the mtg didn’t come in so late that they missed hearing the many, many complaints & comments that current & past mbrs made & how dissatisfied they have been for quite sometime because they were excluded fr the decision making process. Speakers expressed their dissatisfaction with the nature of the awards process & the free ride given to jazz & comedy performers at the expense of the actual dues-paying mbrshp. Some of us were there for 4 hours putting in time & effort & re-arranged our schedules for all kinds of things & made personal sacrifices in order to be there.
Frankly, I am dismayed that so many past vocal MAC supporters did not make the time to put 4 hrs into something they wrote/said was imp. to them. Frankly, where were so many of the cabaret regulars who were listed to be part of the MAC Awards Show? One would think they would have shown up. & how many of the MAC mbrs who didn’t attend would be pleased to know that under the new system, many of the jazz & comedy nominees didn’t have to pay MAC dues? I daresay none.
Here’s what Stu Hamstra had to say about it in his newsltr: “As to the matter of MAC attempting to increase influence and membership by allowing nominations to be made on behalf of those in the jazz and comedy fields without requiring membership dues and without the eligibility/nomination/election process that cabaret performers had to go through (the board admitted that in come cases jazz and comedy performers were nominated even without their knowledge), there was a strong resentment on the part of many cabaret performers at the meeting.”
I’m doubly surprised at those BODs who were either there & left, or didn’t show up at all. It is important to note that Pres. Emeritus, Jamie deRoy failed to show. Most notably absent was former MAC BOD Pres. Barry Levitt who was president when the fait accomplis announcement of the unsatisfactory new Awards plan was announced & said at last yr’s mtg that there would be no discussion permitted, pro, con or suggestions, period. He was MAC BOD Pres. when after their July 5, 2005 “emergency mtg”, the BODs refused to convene a General Mtg requested by the community to reevaluate the now clearly-failed system that was devised w/o mbr & community input. Had the MAC BOD listened then, they would not have alienated so many people in the community, & it would not have led to an Awards Show most people have reported took place in front of an embarrassingly small audience. The show was reportedly very heavy on jazz & did not represent our community.
I find it frightening that for so long Barry Levitt avoided hearing what the community had to say, that it took 8 months after the community requested a mtg & waited for so long, that he didn’t bother to clear his schedule & be willing to give something up in order to hear what the community had to say to him with regards to what became of MAC under his watch. Astoundingly, he is still on the BOD.
I do believe that MAC should drop the comedy & jazz except for our own comedy & jazz performers who work in cabaret clubs. We should therefore put our efforts into cabaret, which is MAC’s face. The MAC BOD should never have allowed an unjust system that forced cabaret performers to pay to take part in a MAC Awards process while jazz & comedy performers did not. I am outraged by that inequity & that the MAC BOD would take advantage of its primarily cabaret mbrshp to help make up for the lack of dues from the other disciplines. Shame on them.
Co-presidents Scott Barbarino & Judy Barnett did not have a mtg w/the mbrshp at the beginning of their term that began 5 months ago. Before going ahead w/the MAC Awards, they should have arranged for such a mtg & they should not have changed the way the MAC Awards process was done unless they were willing to consult w/the mbrshp.
I also make note here of the tiny number of press who showed up. The press mbrs, who have been keenly observing the goings-on of the past number of years & helped to raise the alarm before the recent disastrous Awards Show, are the ones who cared enuf to show up. & what do they get for their trouble? A VP of MAC inaccurately opined that they were spinning their views. Is MAC courting the press or courting a melt-down?
In general, of the people who are on the advisory cte, I am aware of only 2 people showing up (Roy Sander and Peter Haas). I believe that those members of both the advisory cte & MAC BOD who attend a less than satisfactory percentage of meetings & MAC events should not serve, no matter how much they say they’d like their names on the MAC ltrhd. That’s only common sense.
Regarding the “Quorum,” I remind everyone that Robert’s Rules of Order allows that a quorum for a small organization such as MAC can be the number of people who would attend a mtg in bad weather. I believe that the number of people who are disgusted w/an organization & yet still make the effort to show up qualifies to make a quorum.
In conclusion, MAC is in deep doo-doo because of its BOD’s wrongheaded advice and acceptance of that advice. Since the BOD originally said their vote was “unanimous” to adopt this failed plan, they should all step down & establish a special election to elect new officers who would respect their mbrshp in a way that this BOD has not. We need a new BOD whose mbrs will seek out & listen to the will of the mbrshp. There are people who might be willing to serve on the BOD, but would not do so if they had to serve on a BOD with a substantial number of the current mbrs still on it. At the very least, several of the BOD mbrs have been on the BOD far too long. They have a long history of making bad decisions. They should have stepped down a long time ago. Certainly anyone on the BOD during the summer who ignored the call for a mtg to save the MAC Awards process should step down.
This BOD brought MAC & the MAC Awards to this low point by treating its mbrs w/disrespect. Their wrongheaded & unilateral decisions resulted in a huge loss of mbrshp & a great feeling of disenfranchisement. The MAC BOD thought it knew what the mbrshp wanted, but refused to actually ask. They did not know & they should have asked. All of us have suffered as a community from their unnecessary & avoidable mistakes.
Milla
CC of Julie Reyburn's Letter To MAC BOD
Updated On: 5/23/06 at 07:21 PM
#3re: MAC and 'To Be Or Not To Be'
Posted: 5/24/06 at 11:09amJulie is one smart cookie. I hope they listen and that there will be positive change in the near future.
"I don't really get the ending,all i can go with is when after several months,Judith saw Pat sang,and later she kissed him on the toilet,after that the story back to where Pat went down from the stage after he'd sung,and he went to the italian lady.I just don't get it,what Judith exatcly meant when he kissed Pat that she had seen,and did Pat end up together with The Italian Lady?Please help me,thank u very much!"
Quote from someone on IMDB in reference to a movie he/she didn't understand. Such grammar!
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