MINUTES

ASSOCIATION OF RHODE ISLAND ATHORS

Zoom

February 11, 2021

Call to Order 7:00 p.m.

PRESENT

Michael Squatritro, Debra Zannelli, Guy Natelli, Judith Glynn, Tabitha Lord, Wayne Barber, Robert Bentley, Jim Dyer, Deborah Katz,

Risa Nyman, Paul Caranci, Ray Wolf, Angelina Singer, Kevin Duarte, Richard Rezendes, Janet DeLeo, Alda Kaye, Douglas Levine,

Mark Bender, Heather Rigby, Brian Wilcox, Elizabeth Devlin, Norm DesMaris, Tim Baird, Francis Bena, P.K.Norton, Deborah

Tillinghast

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

— Motion to approve minutes

– Wayne, first

– Guy seconded

– Motion approved

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

• Membership

— 302 members as of January 13, 2021

— 105 paid members

— Membership open until January 31, 2021

Go Fund Me

— Money will be used for rebranding

— Judith Glynn will reactivate

– She is getting a go grant about $5,300

– She is getting together with the team from RISD job board, she will try to get in touch

– with New England Tech students and Don Hags- he designed web pages

– She would like to hear from anyone with ideas

– hope to have project completed in 3 or 4 months.

– Rob Bentley will be an integral part of website building

– Website needs to be more interactive

– Judith will react

. Guy suggests we use all our social media like Facebook and Linked in to direct people to the ARIA

website

. Mike announced new board member Angelina Singer

FINANCIAL UPDATE

• Treasurer’s Report (Guy)

— ARIA credit card has been suspended

– Any use of the debit card must be forwarded to Guy

— Amount in checking account will only cover month to month cost. General Savings and Go fund

me account are separate from checking

– checking account $11,696.00

– Savings $2096.00

– Go fund Me $5316.00, Includes money from Robert D. Gray Charitable trust

. Guy balanced all accounts as of December 31, 2020, a tax statement can now be prepared

– Guy will change our addresses for our vendors

– a 5013C acquired from Bank RI with no minimum balance required

REPORTS

• RI Expo Committee (Mike)

— Virtual event success but live event is a better format, everything worked fairly smoothly

— times were tight, registration was difficult for some. More work needs to be done. More training

Is needed.

— Expo next year will be a live event on December 11th from 10:30 – 4:30 A decision to change will be

made same time as this past year. If needed we will learn from what was done this year. Steve and

Dawn stepped down. Steve with help with headliners. Lee Brown and Vicky Corles stepped down

from the raffle. Theresa Zink stepped down from handling writers resource

— J. Glynn asked if the raffle was worth the effort. It brings in $1,200 – $1,600 and may not be worth

worthwhile.

— More people are need on the committee and to help with the work. Steve and Dawn have stepped

aside. Steve will help with guest speakers. Vickie and Lee are stepping down.

— Therese is stepping away from her work in the resource area where other groups join us.

– Look at this as an opportunity to become more involved

— Angelina suggested having musicians join us

— Virtual expo is not a book selling event

• ARIA Academy (Mike)

• –Tabitha sent out Constant Contact to teach

– to find out what people want to learn about

– asking for members who think they could teach

– open to non-ARIA members

– form will be coming out sometime in the next week

• Rebranding

– Rob working out particulars for the website with social media linking

– proposals by 3 businesses

– 3 people will vet – information at Board Meeting

• Lively Literati (Guy)

– still on hold

– Joanne in East Greenwich still wants to hold the event

– when it restarts, there are places who want to host the events. There is a possibility of having one

in Providence, looking to build a schedule and hopefully start up again in June

• ARIA Catalog (Rob)

— Catalogs have been sent to all RI books stores and libraries

– a future format is being thought of in the future

• Anthology (Martha)

– Opens March first The theme is green, same guidelines as before cut off is 5,000 words

• Monthly Meeting Guest Speakers (Mike)

— Mick suggests speakers from both inside and outside the organization

— Judith would like meetings to be both virtual and in person

– Rob says this is possible. He and Mike believe they can make this happen

– Kevin asked if non-members are welcome

– (Mike) they are welcome, Rob will post it everywhere he can to make information available

• YA (Young Adult) Leadership (Angelina)

— Angelina will start up an Instagram page, with a special logo

— Angelina is looking for assistance, Rob will help with set-up

— There is a possibility of having specialized events

— Mike is looking to bring more people into the organization, have possible sub groups with

Information broadcast to all members

— Guy will pass on any connections he has

— On hold until rebranding complete

PAST EVENTS

FORTHCOMING EVENT

• Crime submission Barrington Arts – getting information in June

• Terra Con ( an early version of RI Comic Con) is scheduled for June

• Tampa Bay is scheduled for June

• RI Comic Con is scheduled for November

• Boskone $25.00 virtual event

–Tabitha said it’s a big weekend for science and fiction fans

• Author signings – Wayne suggested setting up in parking lots for outdoor signings.

— poetry having a renaissance right now

— Wayne will work on this

• West Greenwich waiting to hear from us

• Providence is still waiting for the green light

• Authors Hours (Wayne) WNRI

— doing a podcast after the interview

— Wayne’s beginning an Authors Hour Bookstore.com

— let him know if he can sell your books via email WayneWNRI@Yahoo.com

• Burriville Festival (Wayne)

— September 18th and 19th

— accepting vendors and up to eight authors

— Woonsocket planning to go ahead with its Fall Festival

— Exeter Fall Festival (Deb) awaiting COVID restrictions lessening

— Mike said he believes things will open up and we should prepare our inventories

NEEDS, REFERRALS & OPEN FORUM

• Next Meeting Thursday, February 11, 2021

• Kevin suggested a mentorship program

• Janet suggested more information available about ARIA itself ARIA 101

• Guy suggested having a presence on Linked In

— Rob will set up

• Janet suggested making more education available for members

— Debra Zannelli thinks this is an excellent idea

• Rob is working with authors for book formatting

–RKBwrites.com

• Angelina is working as a freelance editor information is listed on website in information on author

services

— if you have services you’d like listed, send information to Rob

ADJOURN

. Motion to adjourn

– Guy first

– Kevin seconded

– motion approved

ARIA BOARD MEETING MINUTES

Meeting start time 8:00 pm

Zoom Meeting

December 5, 2020

• Call to Order

– – Meeting called to order by Mike Squatrito at 7:08

– – All members present except Debra Zannelli who joined a few minutes later

• Approval of Minutes

– – September 01, 2020

– – Paul moved to approve minutes, motion seconded by Guy Natelli carried

unanimously.

• Membership Update:

– – Mike reported 289 current members, down from last year at this time

(340) We did not experience the Expo due to COVID.

• Financial Update:

– – Guy reported a balance of $12, 258.90 in checking and $2,816.81

in savings Guy proposed moving excess funds into the savings account

as it earns interest.

– – Paul noted that we must have sperate accounting for funds received

through Go Fund Me, which at present should be the total amount in the

savings account, because those funds are restricted.

• Old Business:

– – Elections and Transition

– – Mike noted the transition is complete. A new member of the board will be

elected at this meeting.

– – Marketing Plan:

– Steve Porter had contacted a company to do ARIA marketing but it was

put on hold due to COVID. It will be readdressed at the January 2021

meeting. Mike will update as information is available. Steve will ask

Judith Glynn to become part of the planning group as it was her idea.

– – Cable TV Space:

– Paul noted that we were advised of a television spot but it was put

on hold due to the pandemic. Amy Deluca, who agreed to host the

cable TV show will need to confirm her continued involvement. Paul

has not spoken to her in almost a year. He will follow up in January

– – Expo

– Mike reported that all expo plans are in place. All ARIA members need

to promote it

– Guy requested revisiting how to advertise the Expo. Mike agreed to

get the information out to its members via emails and ARIA news-letters

with a discussion on how to better advertise individual events

– Mike reported that ARIA was contacted by Rhodes regarding next year’s

expo needing to be cut short. A half an hour earlier end time, 4:30 with a

saving of $500.00 has been agreed to.

– Guy asked what Rhodes charges are, cost of the expo approximately

$7000

– Also 2021 Expo will be held on the second weekend after Thanksgiving

rather than the first. Next year’s date is December 11th.

– – Catalog

– Rob Bently will distribute the catalog after the Expo

– There will be a discussion on the actual benefits of the catalog

– – Anthology

– Mike reported that the anthology is complete but there has been no

opportunity to sell it

– A discussion around coming up with incentives to promote members

marketing and explore ways to make selling it sales tax free

• New Business

– -After much discussion, Angela Singer was elected to the open board seat

– – Guy made a motion to acquire a post office box at the North Kingstown Post

Office and a safety deposit box at the North Kingstown Bank RI

– – Debra Zannelli seconded

– – Motion carried

– – Tabitha offered to be the extra key holder in case of emergencies

• Next Meeting:

– – Next general membership meeting postponed until January.

• Adjourn:

– – Motion to adjourn unanimous

– – Seconded unanimous

– – Motion approved

Addendum to Meeting

P.O. Box and Safety Deposit Box Procured

New Address

PO Box 333

North Kingstown, RI 02852-0333