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After singing the national anthems Keith Olson offered the invocation and then Mary Pettit served as our song leader. There was a Rotary Minute Plus Quiz based on the September Rotary, and all three questions regarding new Rotary International President Francesco Arezzo were answered correctly! Deb Maertens indicated she was looking for one more host family for our exchange student, hopefully with children in the household so Laly can have that experience as well. President Ryan reminded us of the evening picnic with the Sunrise Club on September 24th at the Rotary shelter in Broadway Park. A volunteer sign-up sheet for working at the community garden on September 11th for Lake Region Takes Root was again passed around. Keith called to our attention a fundraising letter that Riverside Fergus Falls Lions sent out. To finish the announcements, Kathy Austvold told us our chef, Rikki, is now also responsible for daycare meals all year long and is looking for volunteer help on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 11:30 to 12:30. The question was asked if our club would had enough people willing to help out so we could commit to one of those days, so if you are in that category let Kathy know; otherwise, we will continue to volunteer on an individual basis. David Johnson put in a plug for the Lake Region Threshers Show that runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday to lead off our brags. Hal Leland paid in for, as he described it, missing a lot of meetings recently. Wally Cole thanked Mary for starting our singing with the song R-O-T-A-R-Y as that tied into a brag he wanted to make about a grandson in Cold Springs that they saw perform in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee production the prior week; he also bragged about a 2½ hour tour of the Prospect House in Battle Lake on Labor Day. This writer bragged about another wonderful trip to the Minnesota State Fair. Steve Austvold said a person that was staying in their cabin asked him what Rotary is and Deb contributed a dollar for that too. Mary introduced our program from A Center for the Arts, Michael Ranscht, the new Executive Director, accompanied by Edmund Bujalski, a member (as is Mary) and recording secretary of the board (from North Carolina). Michael was formerly the executive director of University Relations/Communications at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he managed the communications and publications of the university and coordinated the crisis communications response team. He also spent more than 15 years managing the Fine Arts Center and coordinated the Arts Administration and State Management degree programs and taught in those areas. He is a current member of the Minnesota Presenters Network and an emeritus member of the same association for Wisconsin, consortiums of arts professionals from the upper Midwest. Michael holds an undergraduate degree in English and Theatre and a master's degree in arts administration. He has experience as a strategic communications director, news reporter, university teacher and academic advisor, actor, director, set and lighting designer, stage manager, production manager, and arts administrator. He has been a member of several non-profit boards. Michael came to Fergus Falls in May and reported the very day he was speaking to is his wife found something in the community without using GPS, so they were getting acclimated. The Center supports and is part of the community. While maintaining its financial stability, Michael said we will see some expanding and new programs and described several initiatives that are being implemented. They include: 1) Sunday cinemas, featuring family friendly movies from October to March; 2) PB & J, a youth singing group for third through eighth graders, directed by Amy Nordlund and focusing on pop, Broadway and jazz music; 3) a winter theater production where the students will create the piece; 4) a $25,000 fundraising campaign to replace the state curtains; they have an average useful life of 12 to 13 years and ours are over 20 years old. So far, about 14% of the necessary funds have been raised and 100% of the staff have made a monetary commitment to the drive. They are also looking at a possible ticket insurance program. Edmund talked to us about a Gold and Silver Raffle currently being conducted to benefit the Center, with raffle tickets available at $20 a piece or $80 for a book of five. There will be seven prices of valuable coins given to the lucky winners, with the grand prize worth $3,350, the second and third prizes worth $450 each, fourth and fifth worth $200 and sixth and seventh worth $175. The drawing will be held Sunday, November 8th and one need not be present to win. Michael finished off the presentation with a plug for some upcoming programs such as the Civic Orchestra, the theater organ concerts, and the Fergus Falls School of Dance. He announced that Razzle Dazzle will happen again, this time with the theme, "What's in a Name?" For further and current information check out www.fergusarts.org. |
