Vancouver Poetry House
Annual General Meeting
February 16, 2009
Café Deux Soleils

MINUTES

1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 6:40pm with 9 members in attendance.

2. Welcome and Introductions

3. Agenda

4. Minutes of Annual General Meeting , March 19, 2008
Motion to approve the minutes of the last AGM of Poetry House.
M: Chris Gilpin S:Sean McGarragle Approved

5. Reports

President – See attached

Treasurer - Current Bank Balances (as of February 15, 2009)
General Account $5,457.00
Wordplay $1,606.51
VanSlam $8,956.65
VanSlam Youth $1,234.17
Membership $56.59
Total $17,310.92

The bank balance is $7,000 more than it was this time last year.

Motion to accept the Treasurer’s report as presented.
M: Warren Fulton S: Lisa Slater Approved

WordPlay
Workshops continue at local schools with good participation by poet facilitators and positive response from students and teachers.

Community Workshops
In July, we hosted a chapbook-making workshop at the Summer Dreams Festival of Literary Arts. In October we hosted a workshop about sex role stereotyping in the arts community.

Van Slam
This year, Vancouver Poetry Slam has developed its governance processes with the formalization of a Van Slam Constitution and Honour Code, and the election of a Rules Committee. Attendance by audience and participation by poets has increased significantly. Support is being provided to hosts and volunteers to help the shows run smoothly. A Canada Council for the Arts Grant is helping us to bring more feature artists to the slam from across Canada. A special focus has been placed on female feature poets.

6. Election of Officers

The following Directors finished their terms at this meeting. They are thanked for their work for Poetry House:

Chrystalene Buhler
Sue Cormier
Martin Fietkiewicz
Warren Dean Fulton
Randy Jacobs
Shannon Pidlubny
RadaR Poet

Nominations were opened. The following people were nominated and elected to two-year terms, expiring at the 2011 AGM:

Martin Fietkiewicz
Warren Dean Fulton
Randy Jacobs
RadaR Poet
Clint Wilson

7. New Business

Meeting Venue – The members present engaged in a short discussion of the venue for Directors’ Meetings. It was agreed that this would be dealt with at the next Director’s meeting.

8. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 7:10pm.