Board Minutes September 8, 2026
Southern Highland Craft Guild
Board Meeting
September 8, 2026
Present: Tamela Wells, Amy Brandenburg, Tom Bailey, Katherine Caldwell, Rodney Leftwich, Robert Milnes, Connie Brown, Lee Entrekin, Mary Nichols, Mark Traub
Agenda:
Approve Agenda
Milnes/Traub. Unanimous
Announcements:
Robert Milnes announced that he and Karen are now planning to move to Charlotte in December. Tamela noted we would need to find someone to fill his term. Mary is finishing a term. Tamela would like to stay on the board but not as president next year. Amy and Connie are in the final year of their first terms. Mary is serving to complete Blair White’s term, though she is eligible, she will unlikely run again (she has previously served two terms on the board). Robert, as a current board member, may be able to stay on as an Associate member to complete his term. We should get a list of suggestions to give to the Nominating Committee. Nominating Committee will need to be strengthened to the five members required by the board. Right now, the Nominating Committee should be made up of previous Board members. One possible change would be to have the chair of the committee be a current board member. Mark would volunteer to be the committee chair, if we make a change to the rules.
This would seem to require two changes to the Handbook (to allow Associate Members to complete term in current office and to allow a current Board Member to serve as Chair of a Committee).
Executive Director’s report:
The deal on the Biltmore building has fallen through. On the 60th day of the due diligence period, the buyer withdrew. The building will need to be listed for sale. Tom has asked three companies for proposals and has three proposals. Whitney Commercial, Dewey Properties and Beverly Hanks. Tom would recommend Beverly Hanks because of their marketing potential. The range of offering proposals were $1,395,000 to $1,800,000. Beverly Hanks, Tom’s favored proposal, is the $1.8m suggestion, with a probable selling point of $1.6 to $1.7m.
Tom discussed work left to be done on the building and Connie provided photos of the current conditions.
The Board voted to approve the offering price of $1,795,000 and work with Beverly Hanks.
Staff hiring: Tom has now hired a social media manager, two days a week. Tiffany Payne, who is a new member of the Guild who got a perfect score from the review. She and Millie work well together. Caren is also helping Millie. Savannah Smith, the Guild receptionist Thursday through Sunday, is helping Laura.
Motion to accept: Traub/Brandeburg. Unanimous
Committee Reports
Annual Meeting:
Committee Report received. Nancy Graham is now president of the Orchid Society so must reduce duties with the Committee. New members are going to be very helpful. New suggestions for meals have been recommended. Speaker for the annual meeting has been selected, the new Archivist from the Center for Craft, Anita Mechler.
Collections:
Mary Nichols stepped up to the Board, so Karen Noggle has replaced her on the committee. Mary is the board rep for Collections.
Education:
Review of Suggested Handbook Text for Education Centers submitted by Teresa Brittain. Recommendation from the Board was to remove the phrase “provided by the Guild at no charge” concerning Guild provided tags for student work. Tagging is important, but the proposal needs clarification. If resubmitted, the proposed revisions should be accompanied by current Handbook citations to show proposed changes and rationale.
Emerging Artist program. Tamela noted that current costs of the program include $5000 to Mountain BizWorks plus staff time ($20,000) (Caren) to support emerging artists, currently ten a year, proposed to be eight for 2027. The Mountain BizWorks cost is up from $3000 last year. Current members could participate in the classes at half price, but this raises the cost and the Guild would pay additional fees. In discussing the program, we should recognize the actual cost and return. How many people join the Guild as a result of the program? We have given the Emerging Artists half price booth fee for exhibiting in the fairs. If the numbers actually joining the guild is very small, what is our purpose and benefit? One suggestion is that a commitment to apply to and join the Guild within a time frame should be included. Board will review the Emerging Artist program at the December meeting. Note: Some of the work of the Emerging Artist program is duplicated by the Guild’s mentoring/application workshop.
Education Committee and chair should be congratulated on the amount and variety of work accomplished.
Fair:
Committee Report received along with a proposal to change the dates of the Summer Fair. The proposal is to change the dates to April 7-11 or June 15-20 (available dates for the convention center). Anytime you change the dates, changes the show.
Connie noted the Quilt Guild held a three-day fair in October. Moving to July saw attendance go up 25%. (3000 to 4000).
The Board recognizes that April is a busy time for the Guild with the Annual meeting, board elections and annual dues. June is a better tourist month, so we will present the Guild membership with a survey. We need to know that the days selected are available for multiple years. Tom will check. Once we know, we should let the Fair Committee know that we will be sending a survey to the membership. The Board is considering a change in the four-day July Fair to a three-day June Fair.
Another suggestion is combining the two pop-up fair days to May, on Memorial Day weekend (May 29), and cutting out the June pop-up.
Once the survey results are back, the Board will have a ZOOM meeting to go over results and finalize a decision about the July 2027 Fair.
Heritage:
Leftwich reported that the Cherokee community was very happy with their participation in the summer fair. They will not be doing the October Fair because of commitments to the Cherokee Fall Festival but would like to come back next July. The funding provided to demonstrators was also received very well. Thanks to Rodney Leftwich for reaching out to Qualla! Connie noted that when they have Heritage weekend at the Center her husband can help with lunch breaks because they will be there for the event!
Membership:
Three new members on the committee are helping! They had a ZOOM meeting with Wren from the Fair Committee. They are asking Millie to add the member’s name and website to photos of examples of work in the Fair brochure. Social gatherings coming up including the Tunnel Studios Open House this week, and the New Member Orientation October 1, (Thursday) and the holiday gathering Dec. 13.
Finance:
No report.
Standards:
Membership on the committee is by Board invitation, so we should note on the annual meeting committee sign-ups, that the individuals showing interest are not necessarily going to be members, unlike other committees which are sign-up based.
Object jury – fifteen people made it through this fall. Teresa is keeping track of new members who have gone through the application workshops.
An issue came up concerning members who moved from one media to another. The Handbook states that a member showing more than 20% of the work being shown must jury through other media. The Standards Committee has asked if they have the option on a case-by-case basis to consult with the artist, and add a new category to their designated field, or to change the single category they entered with or without having to go through an object jury. Tamela stated they go through the object jury to add a second (or more) category to their membership following the Handbook.
Committee reports approved on motion by Brown, second by Milnes
Old business:
Suggested Board Member Handbook:
We will be adding new information to the Board Handbook, many of which were recommended by Teresa Brittain. Tom and Tamela will work on a format for new information such as financial documents and committee memberships.
Connie proposed that “All committee terms begin August 1st. Committee chairs should contact new members within 60 days of their appointment.” Approved. This changes the previous Handbook guideline that appointments start January 1.
Susi Gott Seguret- Allanstand Cabin: The Board agreed that we do not have a way of purchasing the cabin. We would like to use the cabin as part of a documentary, if that would be alright.
The documentary about the Guild is underway. There is an ad hoc documentary committee formed to help it occur. The first session started on Frances Goodrich, narrated by Janet Wiseman.
Remind committee chairs again that requests to staff members should go through Tom.
Other business:
Tamela is recommending Sheila Kay Adams for an Honorary Membership. She is a ballad singer and central to preserving Appalachian folk ways.
Her husband was a Guild member, he made dulcimers.
ADJOURN
Move to adjourn Leftwich/Entrekin. Approved.