44-3,p6

CHAIRMAN'S LETTER

By Perry Rubenfeld, IJA Chairman

With the Montreal festival now over, the reality of running the International Juggling Organization begins for another year.

Although the financial numbers are not available at the time of this writing, there is no doubt that the 45th lJA Festival was a success from the majority of the participants' point of view.

The list of people to thank for helping make the festival a success is far too long to include here. However, I would be negligent if I did not mention our festival coordinator, Ginny Rose. Her devotion to the IJA and the running of a "successful" festival (for both the participants and the IJA) should be an example to us all. Ginny is already working diligently on the Las Vegas mini-festival in January and next July's 46th lJA Festival in Fargo.

This year will see many changes in the internal running of the IJA. With costs increasing at a greater rate than our income, the Board of Directors has made some changes for the upcoming year which we hope will not only reduce the cost of running the IJA, but will make it a more efficiently run organization. Some of these changes include...

· Reducing the number of board members to seven from eleven. This reduction will save the organization money without costing it personnel. For a few years we have tried to give directorships to members who were not on the board. This year, our membership director and championship director will be former board members - Sandy Brown and Laura Green - and our new education director will be Robert Peck. After speaking to so many of you in Montreal, I know that we have a multitude of other talented individuals in our organization who could share their expertise in areas other than juggling with the IJA. If you have a skill that could assist us, please call me!

.Appointing a Chief Administrative Officer. In the past, the Board of Directors spent a great deal of time on decisions better left to the paid employees of the organization. With the appointment of a CAO, the day-to-day decisions of the organization and non-policy matters will be handled by our staff, allowing the board to concentrate on policy decisions and our number one priority this year - fund raising for the lJA.

. Reducing the number of conference calls from one per month to three per year. However, individual board members will be in contact with the chairman regularly and the chairman and the CAO will have regular reports to each other.

. Probably the most important change made this year will be merging the secretary and the treasurer positions into one. With this change, the process of membership and financial record-keeping for the lJA will be centralized, thereby reducing delays in sending information from one city to another and making the organization more efficient.

· With the new Board elected on Wednesday of festival week instead of the Friday, as in the past, the new Board was able to hold four meetings while still in Montreal (including one at 8 a.m. Saturday morning!). We all felt that this time to get to know new members and have face-to-face discussions was a poditive change for the Board, and the same process will be followed in Fargo.

As the year progresses, membership will be kept informed through articles such as this one, as well as through the Clubs & Affiliates Newsletter. Please don't forget to contact directors for any matter you would like to discuss. A list of their names and addresses is at the end of this article. If you are unsure of whom to contact, please feel free to call me and I will help you out.

I would like to thank all our members who made the trip to Montreal this past July. I hope that you will attend the 46th lJA Festival in Fargo, and the Las Vegas mini-fest (See page 10). Both promise to be extraordinary events that you should not miss.

In closing, let me assure you that as in the past year, my objective to keep the membership informed and be accountable to our members will be my primary goal this year. As was suggested at the Annual General Meeting, beginning with the Winter issue, there will be quarterly reports on the financial status of the lJA in Juggler's World for our membership to review.

Let me reiterate that if you have any area of expertise that will make the IJA a better organization, please share it with us. Your present Board of Directors is comprised of seven people who have committed themselves to serving the IJA and hopefully making it a better organization than in the past. We all would welcome with open arms any member who could make this year a success.

. Perry Rubenfeld; IJA Board Chairman; Winnipeg, Manitoba.

. Erin Briard; Minneapolis MN

. Rich Chamberlin; Kenmore, NY

. Art Jennings; San Antonia TX

· Jek Kelly; Omaha, NE

· Paul Kyprie; Ann Arbor, MI

· Steven Salberg; Dover, NJ