CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY

A Committee Meeting was held on 14 October 2011 at 1 pm in the Faculty of Music Boardroom

Present

Executive Officers: Ned Booker (NB), Alan Bowman (AB), Chloe Davidson (CD), Jon Dumbrill (JD),  Caroline Goulder (CG), Maggie Heywood (MH),  Nia Llewellyn Jones (NLJ),  Rachel Thomas (RT), Sarah Yetman (SY) 

Co-opted members: Simon Fairclough (SF),Chris Lawrence (CL), Paul Nicholson (PN), Jo Whitehead (JW)

Simon Fairclough was in the Chair.  Christine Skeen took the minutes.

1.  Apologies were received from Richard Andrewes, Stephen Cleobury, Martin Ennis, Nick Shaw, John Willan.

2.  Minutes of the last meeting were approved after amendment to '3.a.(i) we need to learn to avoid showing a loss...'

3.  Welcome to the committee and overview of the year.  Everyone round the table introduced themselves.  The overview was covered by JW under Item 5.

4. Election of Chairman and co-opted members.  SF said that by June next year he would have been a member of CUMS for ten years, seven of those as Chairman. He suggested that this was probably an appropriate length of time and that the committee would need to consider during the course of the year the question of his successor.  MH took the Chair while those to be re-elected – SF, CL, PN, JW and in their absence Richard Andrewes and John Willan – left the room. CG proposed and SY seconded the re-election of RA, CL, PN, JW, JWi; CS proposed and CG seconded the re-election of SF; all agreed unanimously. The others returned to the room.

5.  Accounts update. In the absence of NS, JW went through the accounts.  We had made nearly £5k, losing nearly £12k on concerts, but making up for it on instrument hire; after taking account of instrument depreciation it was about break-even.  Replying to CL's question of why concerts were doing less well, JW said it was a combination of poorer ticket sales and increased expenses, a falling short on income. CG suggested one reason for poorer ticket sales for the Handel concert may have been because we used EAChO instead of CUMS I.  PN wondered whether instrument hire could be maximised, but SF said not without increased expenditure on manpower and other  university societies being charged more. 

6.  Status of the Society.  SF explained that there was a lot of ground to cover which could be divided into three parts; (a) the first meeting of Sir Keith Stuart's (KS) advisory committee; (b)discussions over the summer about CUMS' charitable status ; (c) JW's and SF's discussions with the Faculty.

(a) Having been turned around about ten years ago, CUMS had come a long way.  Now we needed to consolidate its position so its current work is continued for years to come. KS's committee identified areas requiring attention:

governance: people were needed to whom SF and JW (for example) were accountable

*charitable and legal status*: CUMS was currently an unincorporated members' club, thus vulnerable in liability and insurance issues

management and leadership: something needed to be in place as a safety net alongside the many volunteers

fundraising and marketing: both ongoing issues

KS's group was working through these points and had already covered * which was  important in view of the changed legislation regarding charitable status. A specific proposal would be outlined later in the meeting by JW. 

Another point arising from KS's meeting was CUMS' place within the university and how it compared with others, e.g. Oxford, who were launching a £25k music fund. Cambridge's advantage was that it was world-class, with plenty of venues, talent, the ability to attract professional orchestras and conductors, and the reputation to attract students. However there was a huge imbalance between the money invested in choral music and that in other musical genres, the latter being run on comparatively amateur lines. Different bodies of Cambridge music were run in a fragmented way, promoting their own interests, there was no one spokesperson to present it to the outside world, which did not help Cambridge music. KS's group identified this as a major issue. Likewise with fundraising; substantial donors had not been approached by the university as a whole, and it was unclear who might take on the role. It was also unclear who to approach for specific queries.  There was a lack of professional leadership.  This linked in with reliance on volunteers such as SF and JW; there was no infrastructure, including management, outside individuals' enthusiasm and commitment.  

 The vision was for all bodies to put their resources into one centre for use by all. The Development Director thought a new fund-raising campaign might be launched next year, and music could be part of it.  It was proposed that CUMS, with the CUMS Fund, should work with the Faculty and submit through them a proposal to the School of Arts & Humanities for a fundraising campaign for practical music as part of Cambridge's next major campaign.  The Faculty and CUMS working together formed a good nucleus and other organisations could be invited to join subsequently.  CUMS would probably have to make compromises. Replying to MH, SF said the CUMS Fund would stay with CUMS, at least for the time being. 

JW said that after discussions with the Faculty, particularly John Rink, the plan was to register  CUMS as a charitable company.  Ted Powell of Mills & Reeve (who had worked with colleges) had offered to help on a pro bono basis.  Because of a change in the law, the university could no longer have CUMS as an exempt charity.  CUMS could be recognised as a university society but unable to take advantage of gift aid without registering as an independent charity.  This could be achieved quite quickly in the short term by the CUMS Fund, and later be merged with CUMS once CUMS itself had been re-constituted.  JW would bring to the committee a new constitution for agreement and ask whether the membership needed to be consulted via an EGM.  Action: JW.   SF said in time CUMS would need a board of trustees of experienced people, which KS had offered to chair for maybe two years.  JW would keep in touch with the committee by email and asked that any comments or queries be emailed to him.  Action: all.

7.  AOB: NB asked about a new slogan for CUWO which was put to the vote and declined.  All the ensembles reported good first rehearsals.  There was talk of re-arranging some rehearsal nights for CUWO: NB would propose a new night for CUWO rehearsals at the next meeting, subject to consultation with George Unsworth re the availability of the concert hall.  Action: CD, AB, NB.  Replying to NB, CD said no more space was available at Freshers' Fair for a larger stall. It was proposed that each ensemble should register an independent stall next year and that we could link these together to make a larger one.

The meeting closed at 14.20