January 25, 2014 Meeting of the NJ/NY Costumers’ Guild (aka, the Sick Pups)

Hosted by Diane at Kendall Park, NJ

Meeting Minutes presented by Tina Connell

Attendees: Diane, Byron & Tina, Marcy, Rich & Stephanie, Kathy D., Susan T.

The meeting was called to disorder at 3:22, following the Making Dorset (thread) Buttons workshop. The workshop went pretty well, considering that none of us had made them before and we were working from printed directions.

Official Stuph:

Tina distributed copies of the 11/23/13 meeting minutes, which were approved, with one correction of a typo (Stratford).

Treasurer: Marcy reported that as of the end of December the treasury was at $389.63, but said that is no longer accurate due to several renewals received. Byron said the ICG is still confused regarding how many members are ICG members who are primary with the Pups. In part, this is because Marcy has been reporting names to the ICG who are not primary. In addition, not all Pups are ICG members. The founding of the Sick Pups group predates the founding of the ICG; we have never required members to have an ICG membership as well. Most chapters require ICG membership, which can lead to some confusion if those Pups who are not ICG members are also reported. After a brief discussion, Marcy was directed to only report to the ICG the names of those (ICG) members who are primary through the Pups. Marcy asked what to do about Dora, whose membership has lapsed. Byron said to contact her and ask what she wants to do about it. [N.b. The website already lists her as a former Pup.]

President’s Report: Byron said that the Costuming Arts and Sciences Fund has now been established. Byron and Jeannine are the present committee. Once they have finished drafting guidelines they will present them to the BoD for approval, then make an announcement to the costuming community. We’re seeking IRS approval as a private foundation so that U.S. grant recipients will not have to report this grant as taxable income. Decisions to fund grant applications will be made by a separate review panel, assuring separation of powers. This will probably happen over the next month. Two Pups are currently working on projects (Aurora and Lisa) that might be appropriate for applications.

The ICG is presently at 376 members, as of January 10. The largest chapter is still Silicon Web, followed by Minnesota. The smallest is Denver (2), and Utah is expiring again – hopefully, 4 members will renew. The Canadian chapter, Fiber Fantasy Artists, has 5 members. Susan asked if the slate of officers will remain the same. Byron responded that Phil Gust wants another terms, and it is likely that Aurora will succeed him. Carole Parker resigned from the newsletter, due to the press of duties for CC 33 and the Spokane WorldCon. The deadline for nominations for the Lifetime Achievement Award is March 1. Any ICG member may nominate someone, and the nominee does not have to be an ICG member. The Pups discussed several names, and Byron will be submitting the nominee we agreed upon to Philip Gust.

 

Activities and Con Reports:

Diane and family went to New Zealand and Australia during the year end holidays [hisses all around!]. Lots of LOTR stuff – Laura and Deanna dressed up as an elf and hobbit. The tour guide loved it and used them as props. Diane has lots of photos. They saw Mordor (a ski resort, with lots of rocks), and Mount Doom. The Horse Hall @ Edoras location was in the south, a 9 hour round trip bus trip from the cruise ship. Melbourne was hot (107̊) and Sidney was 82̊. Diane said that she will be leaving for England tomorrow, where she’ll see two plays, Fortune’s Fool and Mojo.

Kathy said that she had not been aware that the Postal Service was publishing Harry Potter stamps, until her sister gave her some. These are the first US ones which show living people.

Recent Cons:

The Last DarkoverCon: None of us who were present attended . Betsy Delaney will be running the masquerade (probably a masked Ball) at the 2014 ChessieCon, which replaces it.

Arisia: They completely sold out. There was no at-the-door registration after they hit their max of 3,500, except for Monday one-day memberships. Byron said that they had the quickest badge check-in he’s ever seen. OTOH, the badges were dark and hard to read, with a small font. Byron was on five program items, at all of which the audience actually outnumbered the panelists. The memorial panel for jan finder and Marty Gear was very well attended. The Spaz hall costume award ribbons were a big hit. Arisia has become very costume-conscious. We handed out lots of them - there were some really superior costumes being worn in the halls. Stephanie said that she gave one to a young fan dressed a a faun (?), and she reacted as though she had received an Oscar. Byron ran the Green Room (surprise!), and said that Michelle Weinstein had her hands full with workmanship judging - she got backed up because there were so many costumes which were presented to her for judging. Stephanie said that one lady in a wheelchair who appeared on stage had to be lifted on and off - it took four people to do so. This was Doc Karen’s last Arisia masquerade; she is moving to North Carolina. No replacement M/D has been named yet.

 

Upcoming Cons and Events:

Lunacon (3/14-16): Byron & Tina will not be able to attend. At about the time the masquerade starts, Byron’s plane will be landing in Glasgow (for a business trip). He was hoping that Abi would be at this meeting so he could talk to her. Diane said that she would try to help out with repairs, since Tina won’t be there.

Costume-Con 32 (4/25-28), in Toronto: Byron has his judges for the Historical Masquerade (Kevin Roche, Jacqui Ward & Toni Lay – 1 experienced, 2 new). We haven’t heard anything new about CC 33 since the last meeting.

Balticon: (5/23-26 - Memorial Day weekend): Diane will be going. Byron said “take along a Spazzy certificate” just in case.

Other upcoming cons:

LonCon 3 (WorldCon, London) (8/14-18): Kevin Roche is in charge of the costume program track. Giulia de Cesare is running the Masquerade; she is very experienced.

Philcon: Haven’t heard anything. There haven’t been any updates to their website in months.

AnimeNext: (6/6-8): Again at the NJ Convention Center in Somerset. Kathy said she may attend.

 

Old Business: Susan asked about where we should list the workshops on our website page(s). Byron said that the front page would be best, as it makes it more accessible to visitors to the website. Tina said that she will have photos from today’s workshop available soon. Susan said that some of our members don’t have very many photos on their member pages, such as Bruce Adams. Some of our members have none (Jaime, Adam). Byron was asked to get Daren’s address from Sandy & Pierre for Kathy.

Upcoming Meetings / Workshops:

March (3/29): Byron & Tina will be hosting, at the Hyatt House in Whippany NJ (just off of Rte. 10). The meeting activity will be brainstorming topics/activities for future meetings. One possible workshop mentioned was “How to scrounge for materials.”

May (5/31): Marcy will be hosting, at her apartment in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Hopefully some of our members who have been having difficulty in attending at our usual locations will be able to make it to that one.

July (7/19): Location and workshop to be announced.

Meeting was adjourned at 5:40 pm.