Program, Spiritual Life Committees are in their Peak Planning Time for 2020

The Program Committee is particularly under pressure since they must have a complete schedule of concerts and events in place before they can submit a grant request to the Wyoming County Council on the Arts. Without the completed plan in place, it is impossible to submit a request, and there is also a fall deadline for such requests. Julie Hoffner does this programmatic grant requesting and works with her committee to resource, contact, negotiate, schedule, and contract each group and each individual presenter. Once scheduled, the grant paper work can be completed and submitted. Contracting begins after the beginning of the new year. The committee won't know the amount of the grant until the ACWC has its award night when checks are publicly presented in the early Spring.

While the Spiritual Life Committee is not permitted to receive public grants for religious purposes, plans for guest speakers must be in play in early fall to avoid the holidays. Any unfinished business in regards to the scheduling must be completed by mid-February in order to make the first of several deadlines for the coming season's various advertising and mailing deadlines. One of the first deadlines involves the individual mailing that the Institute sends out once a year with the tax bills. Missing this deadline affects the success of the season since some residents only look for this source of information. Other area groups carry the SLI schedules if we meet their deadlines for publishing. Facilitator Doug Wilson is serving to pull the new 2020 season together with the help of SLI's largest Spiritual Life committee to date, making the task easier than when a singular chaplain was tasked with it all.