Sunapee Community CoffeeHouse Needs Help

We’d love to see the Sunapee Community CoffeeHouse continue, won’t you help make it happen?

The Sunapee Community CoffeeHouse (started in 2004 and voted Best of NH Open Mics in 2005) needs your help to continue, as some of us are stepping down. Please get involved. This isn't a spectator sport, especially if you're a musician who's played at the CoffeeHouse - we’re asking that you consider giving back and to help keep the Coffeehouse going.  You don’t have to be a musician, to get involved, all are welcome.  Thanks to Robyn Macy and Dave Leathers who’ve indicated they’re going to step up and help in some way, this is great!

But we need more volunteers like you, to help keep live music alive in Sunapee!

Will you help? Pick one!

Poster coordination:
Get posters from Al Carruth, and along with others you’ve found to help, put some posters up around New London, Sunapee and Newport.

Poster People:

Be part of a team who occasionally puts up the monthly poster, maybe three times per year, depending on how many people step up.

EmCee Coordination:

Finding emcees and making them comfortable taking it on, which usually means being there their first night to remind them of details-(mentioning the sponsor, hanging the blue banner, knowing how to set up the lights, etc. )

Emcee’s/Hosts:
Emceeing is from about 6:15-9:30 on the designated evening, Involves welcoming the musician, setting up chairs, lights and stage curtain, Emceeing the evening and passing the hat.

Open Mic Co-Coordiation:

Help existing host Al Carruth by taking some of the Open Mic nights off his hands, maybe 1/3 to ½ of the Open Mics. Includes setting up chairs, lights and stage curtain, Emceeing the evening, and coordinating the sign-up sheet for the evening. If you’re a musician, you could open the evening with a song or two, or three, if there are still slots in the signup sheet.

Press Release Writing:
Cutting and pasting pics/text from musician's website, and occasionally sending out a feature article, (2-4 paragraphs) on the musicians, using our Press Release mailing list.

Booking Musicians:
Involves responding to random emails all through the year, referring them to the booking dates of March 1 for Fall and Oct. 1 for Winter/Spring, with each season filling in about 1 and 3 days, respectively, with full info on the website.  And then on those two dates spending 1-2 hours receiving, organizing and scheduling according to requested dates and first-come, first-served receipts of emails, and replying to the performers.  Then letting website person know for uploading onto the webpage.  Replying to miscellaneous emails from booked performers.

Checking account/Financial Coordination:
This is probably less than a half hour a month, average, when we're open during the performing year.  Receive statements in the mail and balance the checkbook.  Make deposits of open mic money and sponsorship money (handed to this person at the coffeehouse or mailed your home address) and keep track of what each deposit is for both on the deposit ticket and in the checkbook so you can answer folks questions about whether they paid for the sponsorship yet or not.  Write a check and mail it to the church for rent; once every two months, Keep the web folks informed of sponsorship credit, and when payment is received so it's accurate on the webpage, and so Al Carruth can access the info on the webpage when he creates the posters ahead of time each month.

Church Liaison: Keep in touch with the church rep, to make sure we know, ahead of time, when their rummage sales (Oct. and April) are, and blocking out Good Friday on the schedule ahead of time.   The representative from the church also answers any church-related questions re piano tuning, holiday specials, etc.


Website: This is covered Thanks to Robyn Macy  and Randy Richards
Electronic publicity. This is Covered thanks to Tom Daniels

Email Mailings and List: This is covered, thanks to Randy Richards

Although we have a fall 2012 schedule planned, if we don’t have enough support by the end of this June, the future of the Sunapee Community CoffeeHouse will be uncertain. We hear, “Oh we can’t let that venue go, it’s so worthwhile”. But now it’s time to act on that intention, or go it will.

Won’t you help? The community will thank you, and you'll get much more back than you put into it! Plus, you’ll have a say in how things go from here! Call us at 763-2668 or respond to this email to start getting involved. Feel free to post or forward this message.

Sincerely,

Current CoffeeHouse Volunteers

Martha Naylor

Al Carruth

Tom Fields

Robyn Macy

Al Peterson

Randy Richards

Sunapee Community CoffeeHouse
1-603-763-2668
info@sunapeecoffeehouse.org