Dear NM FolkMADS Community,
As this year’s board president I want to personally thank each of you for your support of FolkMADS through your donations, membership, and attendance at our dances and camps. My gratitude extends to musicians, callers, sound folks, and volunteers who keep the gears moving smoothly. I’d like to dedicate this letter to sharing my appreciation of some of the people who serve our community.
Many of you think it is our board that puts on dances. In reality, it is our Albuquerque and Santa Fe dance committees that organize our dances, schedule bands and callers, and manage all sorts of “behind the scenes” logistics. I don’t want to downplay the value of our board. We handle finances, the legal machinery of running a non-profit organization, as well as a number of issues that affect all of us in the community. But, ultimately, without the volunteer efforts of the local committees, we wouldn’t have a dance.
Naming folks is always a risky business since there’s the risk of forgetting to name someone who deserves our gratitude. Actually, it’s a certainty that I will forget someone. My apologies in advance. If you’re at a Santa Fe dance please thank Cathy Turner, John Taperek, Katherine Bueler, Kelly Kellstedt, Robin Gurule, Shari Hirst, and Wyn Lewis for their service. I’d like to briefly single out caller and community-builder Katherine Bueler. Katherine is spearheading an effort through the Odd Fellows and in collaboration with FolkMADS and other local organizations to bring youth-oriented events to Santa Fe. Thank you, Katherine!
In Albuquerque, the folks who put on your dances are Clara Byom, Nancy and Bob Ford, Steve Mills, Bruce Thomson, Stacey Chan, and Holly Gilster. Clara and Bruce are musicians at some of our events as well as board members. Clara serves as our board Vice President. Nancy is treasurer as well as a long-time community member and organizer. Bob and Steve are also longtime members; they take care of sound. Stacey is a prior board member and handles the management of membership and dues. She also schedules bands and callers for Albuquerque. Holly is an actress and singer and an overall fun and multi-talented lady; Holly has been providing snacks at Albuquerque dances and she also leads events at our May camp. Speaking of camps…
Beyond our local dances, we have two weekend camps. Our large one, FolkMADness, runs during the Memorial Day weekend on the campus of NM Tech in Socorro. Lisa Bertelli, Nancy Ford, and Deb Brunt are the main organizers. Angela Welford runs the super fun raffle. We have a second camp, around Halloween, Boo Camp. That’s another great camp in the Jemez mountains. Ben Werner and Stacey Chan are running it this year. If you’ve never attended one of our contra weekends, join us!
Ben Werner, Stacey Chan and Deb Brunt serve all of us in an important communication role. Ben and Stacey manage and maintain our folkmads.org website and Deb keeps us informed of community happenings via the weekly events email.
Finally, I want to thank new board members. Lindsay Taylor appeared out of nowhere (actually from Denver) with many years of experience in the Contra and non-profit scene. Lindsay serves as secretary. With her experience in marketing and fundraising, she and our Vice President Clara Byom (also with experience in fundraising) are exploring ways to bridge the gap between our income and expenses.
Our second new board member, Robin Gurule, has been an active member of the Santa Fe community for many years, as a musician, dancer, and organizer. Robin brings her accounting background to the board to transition to treasurer, a role that Nancy Ford has held for a number of years.
If you run into one of these great service-minded folks please thank them for being an important part of what it takes to produce events we all enjoy.
Sincerely and with gratitude,
Sol Lederman
sol.lederman@gmail.com
2018 FolkMADS president