Dear ICC members and non members, I am reaching out to you on behalf of the Board to thank you for your continued support, to share the latest news at the Italian Cultural Center, and to inform you on the outcome of our latest Board meeting.

ICC news
· The Italian Film Festival closed a few weeks ago, and has been a great success thanks to the great dedication and passion of our many volunteers, led by our artistic Director Anna Bonavita. A few statistics: over 1,000 tickets sold, an estimated net $15,000 cash raised including a successful live action by Frank Vascellaro, some new members and over a hundred emails added to our list. The pre-opening night at MIA was a great success, and the new location for the Festival in St. Anthony Main proved to be a great way to reach out to new audiences. Well done to Anna Bonavita, our artistic director, and all the volunteers that have so generously given their time: thank you!

· We now have several events scheduled for the coming weeks: Make and Take Ravioli, Wine testing, Social dinner, Grammar workshop, Book reading, and many more! Look out for your favorite event in the next Bollettino or on our web site.

ICC board outcome
The board met in February, and discussed various items related to the future and direction of the ICC. As a result, we singled out three priorities for the next two years, some of which have immediate implications:
· Membership drive: growing and managing our membership base is a critical part of creating a sustaining organization; it allows a revenue stream that we can count on to fund our many activities and our small fixed costs. A membership committee will be created for this purpose, with the task of increasing awareness of the many benefits that we offer, improving the cost & benefits from becoming a member, and reviewing the overall policy. In order to address the high cost of managing renewals, the board has unanimously voted for an automatic renewal policy; this will also be announced in the next Bollettino to ensure awareness.

· Give back to our community: thanks to your support and to the many successful fundraising events that we have held over the year we are now in the position to return some of the funds to our community, fulfilling our mission to promote language and culture in our community. This will be in the form of a yearly scholarship. The executive committee is evaluating options and unless we reach a strong consensus on one option only, we will reach out to you, our members, to ask for an online vote.

· Improved support to the Italian School: the school is the pillar of our organization and the feedback that we continuously receive is of an unsurpassed quality in the Twin Cities and Minnesota. Yet there is little awareness in our community and no active marketing. A team will be created to better support the school in terms of marketing and recruiting as well as to expand our reach potentially through online and corporate classes.

We are always looking for volunteers: if you are interested in helping out in this effort please let us know!

Thank you all again for your time, support, and passion for Italy and Italian culture, and I look forward to seeing many of you at any of the many events scheduled for this Spring!

Vittorio Raimondi

President
Italian Cultural Center
528 Hennepin Avenue, Suite 502
Minneapolis, MN 55403 USA

www.theitalianculturalcenter.org