MAMA, Inc. is seeking a new member to join the Board of Directors, one who has marketing skills and experience.

The Board of Directors meets once a month at present, with extra meetings sometimes called during the heat of the battle.

If you feel you have these skills and can commit to helping the music community in Madison, please contact Roy Elkins at roy@broadjam.com or at 608.271-3633.

Several individuals have come forward to take on key roles in the organization of the annual awards show. As you can imagine, the production and planning of this event requires significant effort, consuming  a lot of time and often creating a lot of stress. The rewards of seeing the show take place are always worth the effort, as these individuals are about to experience.

Natalie Hinkley will take on a new role as Video Director. This role involves coordinating the entire video aspect of the awards show, which gets more complex each year. Natalie brings a ton of experience with her as the owner of her own business Hinckley Video and Design. Natalie also plays in the local band Damidol.

Donny Neufuss will continue as Video Producer. He is the man behind the award presentation segments and sequencing the show. Donny has held this post for the last several years. This is an extremely complex part of the overall production and Donny is a dedicated and talented creator and editor. The Madison music community owes him a debt of gratitude for his continued service to the MAMAs.

Sarah Berry, a new Board of Directors member, has taken the role of Music Director. This is another crucial role taking the performers from contract to award show performance to after-party appearance and can be quite demanding. Sarah takes over for Katy Tomlinson, who did a stellar job last year and earned the Meritorious Achivement Award.

Rick Tvedt also maintains his role as Executive Director fo the award show.

Given the state of the current economy and the continuing difficulty in finding large sponsors, the MAMAs have developed a new strategy in their funding efforts. This year will be somewhat of a testing ground for this new approach and hopes are high for 2011 to make necessary refinements and find more sponsors.

Broadjam, Inc. was the first to step up, sponsoring the album category. What this means is the each eligible album can be entered into one genre for the 2010 MAMAs. Artists may still choose to enter their album into other genres where the standard registration fee applies.

Good-n-Loud Music has also stepped up, sponsoring the Instrumentalist and Youth categories. This means that each eligible artist can enter themselves into an Instrumentalist or Youth category at no charge.

The Instrumentalist category was expanded in 2009. There used to be one overall Instrumentalist of the Year Award. Last year it was changed to include Guitarist, Bassist, Drummer/Percussionist, Keyboardist, String, Brass, Woodwind and Specialty Instrumentalist of the Year Awards. (Male Vocalist, Female Vocalist and Ensemble Vocalists remain separate categories.)

The Youth Categories include Youth Vocalist, Youth Ensemble and Youth Instrumentalist. These categories are for those under 18 or still in high school.

It should be noted that the MAMA membership is still required before any submissions can be made. This requires a $5 donation to the MAMAs’ charitable fund. Those funds are not comingled with general operating funds.

Local Sounds will also be sponsoring the People’s Choice Awards. Since these awards are write-in categories, there is no registration fee. Local Sounds will pick up the cost to manufacture these awards, saving the MAMAs several hundred dollars.

MAMA, Inc. received its second grant from the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission this month. The Commission has awarded the MAMAs $1,500 for use in its 2010 campaign to put musical instruments in kids’ hands and to help fund youth music programs.

The DCCA Commission had over fifty applicants to consider in allocating their available funds for this cycle of granting.

MAMA, Inc. is extremely grateful to the DCCA Commission for their generosity.