OT - MAC MEMBERS: WHAT YOU MISSED LAST NIGHT

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 9/23/03 at 4:17pm

For those of you who were unable to make the MAC meeting last night, important issues that affect you were discussed. Below is a memo I passed out to all in attendance & I spoke to these issues mentioned. I will post my thoughts in more detail later. If you have any comments on this memo I hope you will post below, or if you’d like to support me in winning back our right to elect the people who make all the MAC decisions, please contact me.

For 5 yrs I have made official requests for a MAC email list. However, since the Board has been unable to accomplish preparing this list for membership, one of the most efficient ways to get this memo to the MAC membership is by using this board since the MAC chat board won’t be ready til 10/1.

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I believe Cabaret is at an important crossroads. We have the right to expect our MAC Board to lead us in the best way possible so that we can successfully compete with other entertainment industries as a viable alternative.

After posting and emailing about tonight’s Annual Meeting, during a conversation with MAC Board Vice President Peter Haas, I was told that what I am doing is healthy for the organization and was asked to try to keep the meeting positive. While I understand the Board may want to keep the meeting positive, I feel it is more important to air out differences that could result in a change for the better rather than avoiding those differences.

I feel it is urgent for membership to accomplish the following:

1. Re-establish direct representation
2. Create Term Limits for Board Members
3. Increase the number of General Membership Meetings and
4. Establish the right for members to attend Board Meetings

It is my belief that since MAC is a paid-membership organization, that we, as paying members, should have the right to vote for the ENTIRE Board and make sure that they are directly responsible to the membership. If this is an organization of the people (in Cabaret), it should be run by the people (in Cabaret), for the people (in Cabaret).

Term Limits are important as a system of checks and balances. Without Term Limits, belief systems can remain dangerously unchallenged. Because the Board currently elects themselves on and off, any Board Member who disagrees with the majority opinion of the Board is easily voted-off. Well, that person voted-off might just be the Board Member who expresses some of the paid-membership’s beliefs and ideas, or who could put ideas forth that are focused on the future and not short-sighted.

Although I am in favor of being patient with what appears to be a certain number of new Board Members, perhaps I would feel less cut-out if I had participated directly in electing this Board. My issue is not whether these new Board Members would do a good job. The issue is the fact that the membership did not elect this Board. It was never fully explained to my satisfaction how “in the middle of the night”, while we weren’t looking, what I believe to be the 1995/1996 Board usurped our power. Up to this time, the paid membership elected the Board. In my humble opinion, it is not good enough that there are new people on the Board OR that they have handed us the crumbs of electing up to 3 Members-at-Large. We should have the right to elect the entire Board and change the Board, if we think a change is warranted.

In the recent past, I have heard the point raised that no one volunteers to work for MAC. Well, my response is “Why should I work ‘for’ the MAC Board, when I have no control over, or say in the process, and the people who do make the decisions aren’t beholden to me?” I believe that if we were not disenfranchised and the right to vote is restored to the paid-membership, then worthy and intelligent members of our community are ready, willing and able to pick up the mantel of service on the Board. As it stands now, Board Members elect themselves (with the exception of up to 3 Members-at-Large, as I was informed by MAC Board Vice President Peter Haas) and make this selection from like-minded associates which can lead to cronyism, an unwillingness to question each other, and the stagnation of ideas.

For example, last year at the Annual Membership Meeting, 2 committees were created and headed up by the MAC Board Secretary Audrey Lavine and at least 1 of them was never convened. I know this because at the meeting, I had volunteered and been accepted to work on the By-Laws Committee. After the Annual Meeting, I was not contacted. I contacted Audrey a few weeks later to find out when the first meeting would be. She let me know that the By-Laws Committee was “over-volunteered and well-staffed” and asked me to be on the “Policies and Procedures Manual” Committee instead, to which I agreed. Five months later, I reminded Audrey that the committee had not been convened and as far as I know the committee was never convened. While some might say failing to convene the committee was simply sloppy, I feel this was a breech of faith and it makes me question the sincerity of forming the committee in the first place. Did the By-Laws Committee ever meet? Who is a Board Member accountable to? Because the Member is elected and re-elected by fellow Board Members, the answer is not the paid-membership.

A board that is self-perpetuating and doesn’t answer to its membership is not likely to be forward-thinking. For instance, last year the topic was raised that some of the well-respected performers on the Advisory Board who have appeared on either Broadway and/or TV, should lobby programs such as Charlie Rose, David Letterman, Oprah, Larry King and daily publications for more Cabaret coverage. Instead, I read in a recent email from the MAC Board that there will be a “Cabaret Festival”. I believe that MAC was not set up to be a production company. What good is having a “Cabaret Festival” when the only people we will be performing for is ourselves! We need expanded media coverage in order to get an audience. I believe it’s wonderful to have the opportunity to perform, but let’s get the public’s attention, so the public will come. While it is exciting to anticipate another performance opportunity in the “Cabaret Festival”, remember that were there other people on the Board that YOU had elected, there may have been other, more “expansive” ideas to implement, that might have provided huge gains to Cabaret down the road.

I feel that instead of looking to produce more and more shows, the MAC organization should turn its eye to advocacy for our industry. Only when we succeed in this will we see real rewards. Imagine the number of man-hours it will take to complete the work for the “Cabaret Festival”, when those man-hours could have been put into something that the membership decided was more beneficial. IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, THIS IS VERY SHORT-TERM AND VERY SHORT-SIGHTED. I can understand that individual Board Members are eager to exercise their professional strengths in the avenues in which they have proven themselves to be highly qualified. However, there are other topics important to our membership, such as insurance coverage and Cabaret Laws, that have been brought up time and time again. Heretofore, the Board has not addressed these issues. We, the membership, don’t have appropriate or adequate influence on MAC’s decisions.

Please note that I am not recommending that those Board Members who have given their time and energy so generously over the many years not be allowed to remain involved. I recommend that those members who have served 4 or more years be invited to serve on the Advisory Board, where their knowledge and experience can be a great resource. But Term Limits are VITAL. Some members have been on the Board for more than a decade. Is this a position for life?

I want to make a motion today that we vote to hold a special meeting in November to amend the By-Laws so that membership elects an entire Board and send out a meeting notice to this affect. At that meeting, I propose members vote by show of hand, proxy and/or mail-in ballot to change the By-Laws so that the paid-membership elects the Board. I also propose that the election of the new Board be held at a meeting during the Christmas Party by show of hand, proxy and/or mail-in ballot.

Please let our voices be heard not just as singers, but as bona fide voters.