Theatrefest is just around the proverbial corner! It’s time to complete that registration and renew your membership. The sooner, the better. Why? For those members who renew their membership and register by November 1, those names will be entered into a drawing and two lucky TETA members will each win a three-night stay at Theatrefest ’15! What a great incentive to register now! But free hotel rooms are not why you should really attend.
The current Board of Directors understands that there have been members who have not been able to attend or have been reluctant to attend in the past few years because of the turmoil that was surrounding the organization and the non-transparency of where funds were being spent. For many of you that pay your way to Theatrefest, you had no confirmation of where your well-earned dollars were going. For those whose school district paid for your attendance, your administration had every right to be concerned about how tax-payer dollars were being allocated. Everyone was right to be concerned.
As most of you will remember, a group of TETA members started the Transparency Movement around this time last year. Our main goal was to recapture YOUR organization, make it a transparent one and return it to its prominence of the past. In our early discussions of how we were going to set our plans in motion, many ideas were pondered on how best to achieve and acquire the support we needed to return TETA to a properly working, non-profit entity. Ultimately, with the assistance of legal counsel and a trained parliamentarian, TTM and some members of the board were able to put together a plan that was implemented and did accomplish a change in the leadership and administration of the Association.
Now, those dark days of non-transparency are in the past! The current BoD wants to assure each of you and your administrators that Theatrefest is back on track and is focused on the educator in all of us. When you attend this year’s conference and the opening day convocation/business meeting, you will know exactly how the monies that have been invested in TETA are being spent. Rachel Mattox, our illustrious treasurer, along with the assistance of a professional book keeper has had to create a working budget with nothing more than cancelled checks and bank statements. With that, the board is currently working on the budget for 2015. I couldn’t be more proud of what Ms. Mattox has accomplished in safeguarding our finances and making them work for our membership.
So here we are today, diligently working to make the re-birth of TETA a glorious one – a transparent one, an organization that belongs to its members and isn’t manipulated into a one-man horse and pony show.
Theatrefest ’15 promises workshops and training sessions that are focused on making all of us better teachers, directors and artists. Our main goal is focused on you, which ultimately affects your students! What better reasons to attend? So be assured, TETA is back! You attendance will ultimately prove to be beneficial to you and your school. So gather your colleagues, share a hotel room and join us in Houston in 2015!
Keep an eye out for articles from various board members and committee chairs. They’ve so many wonderful things to share. On Wednesday, October 8, an email blast was sent out from TETA Communications Director, Darve Smith, explaining our new on-line registration system for renewing your membership and paying for your convention registration. If you did not receive that email, please do the following:
1. check your spam folder
2. check the TheatreFest Friends facebook page
3. check with your colleagues to see if they received it
4. contact us at communications@tetatx.com
Please feel free to share this information of this article with your administration. Let them know that all is well with TETA and should anyone have any questions, do not hesitate to contact any of our board members whose email addresses can be found at www.tetatx.com. We are here to answer any question you may have and to serve you.
Travis Poe
TETA Board of Directors
President-Elect
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