The Conservatorium's plans have been assisted by significant savings in recurring costs. The Conservatorium is hard at work creating extra income streams from self-generated income, as well as from community assistance grants for programs and for capital improvement.

Staffing & Administrative. Having just adjusted to loss of 1 staff member, we were faced with the loss (for health reasons) of our regular part-time volunteer, Christine Brown. Chris provided a three days a week coverage of the 'front' office and a welcoming face to students, tutors and 'walk-in' enquiries.

She is greatly missed and we wish her "good health" for the future – Well done and thank you Christine for all your help and assistance, it was greatly appreciated The end result for staffing from Christine's departure was that our staffing levels are now reduced to three part-time: the Finance Officer, our Southern Area schools Program Officer and myself the General Manager.

However we have just acquired two hours/week volunteer assistance for office tasks and we are now looking for two or three administration volunteers and a couple of general purpose assistants. (If you are interested (and/or know someone who might be) then how about giving us a call on 6583 9199.)

Our Campus – As part of our plans to increase hall income (specifically to offset the costs of operating the campus facility) it was determined to make our hall facility not only a teaching / rehearsing venue, but also a low cost community performance hall and, as well, a drop-in venue. To this end (as those of you who have recently visited or rehearsed in the campus facility at 56 Hollingworth St Port Macquarie have noticed) we now have a fresh-ground-coffee-making-machine ($3.00/cup – great for drop-ins.)

To give the hall a different feel we have added cloth drapery in the ceiling and on the north wall of the hall. "Fairy" lighting is to come. A work in progress. Over the coming year or so, depending on our financial position and our ability to access community based grant programs, we have other plans to achieve positive changes. These include the completion of tasks started in 2018 in conjunction with our Landlord (Scouts Australia) to upgrade toilet facilities; replace the existing (rusted) roof and associated works; the fitting of solar panels and a storage battery; also provision of external general storage space with façade and site works.

Some of our more expansive plans include the re-configuration of our venue's interior to provide a hall space that can allow the hall and tutorial spaces to be used simultaneously. Architect concept plans are available to view.

The Conservatorium has continued with the historical division of CMNC's 'footprint' with Taree/Forster (Mid North Coast Council) as a primary area for in-school tuition and Port Macquarie Hastings as an area focused on community based activity. An exception has been Kempsey, where we are working to support the establishment of a wind instrument tutor in the area. In the south, at St Joseph's Taree, program maintenance has been a challenge and the music program has waned a little.

We are endeavouring to recover this situation. We look forward to the establishment of a new Taree – based community ensemble by working in conjunction with an existing community group from Taree. In Port (initially) we will establish a new community performance venue (at our campus) and we expect to have one professional music theatre group exploit the facility for music theatre performance.

We expect to re-form a new iteration of Hastings Theatre Co. Further to this we plan to offer our own CMNC units' originated evenings of entertainment, from Bingo & performances with local bands and dancers, along with Murder Nights and Theatre restaurant.

In summary; we will continue to work to promote local and outside entertainment groups and performers in order to become the place to grow Music and the Performing Arts. Student Management – This has been a significant issue and we are introducing a new student management program. We intend to operate extensively as an on-line manager of our students, staff & venue.

When fully implemented booking, scheduling & payments are planned to be available on-line through a secure service at our website. The system will be established to provide remote access across all our activities form joining a harp workshop, to booking and paying for a performance ticket, or perhaps enroling as a student with a CMNC tutor.

This development will roll-out through 2019/20. In conjunction with the new student records programme we are shifting our overall accounting to MYOB. (Anyone experienced in setting up or operating MYOB from 'point zero' please contact us at 6583 9199.) This should complete our shift from overtaxed free software or generic programs to professional software.

The Annual General Meeting for 2018 will be held on Thursday, December 20th at 6:30pm at 56 Hollingworth St Port Macquarie. This AGM will NOT involve Board member elections. No Board elections are required as the last elections were held on April 28th, 2017 under direction from the NSW Department of Education and, according to our constitution, (section 14.1.b) Board members are elected for a period of two years.

Given that the Board was elected on April 28th 2017, the next Board election must take place after the two year period has elapsed.

Membership of CMNC : Existing financial Members may expect to be invoiced for taking up 2019 Financial Membership. Fee of $10 for 2019 year. (You are eligible to attend the Dec 20th AGM.) People who wish to join the association (this is not part of your tuition or administration fees) are asked to contact us by email or walk-in for an Application to Join. For a new member the fee is $12. ($2 for the Joining Fee & $10 Annual Financial Membership Fee.)

A big 'Thank you' to all of you for your support as the Board and the Staff have transitioned from a Regional Conservatorium Grants Program participant to a fully independent regional conservatorium. Our time and our effort is now all for you.

Website : https://www.cmnc.org.au/

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