Happy Holidays to you all. This season has coming up quickly for me and balancing the duties of the office and my personal To Do list has been a challenge … hence the delay in getting this update out to you.

The Board of Directors met in mid-November.  I start with a reminder of this year’s goal to promote and increase the visibility and the year-round value of Institute membership in the performing arts and entertainment industry. Discussions and decisions made during the meeting should always reflect this.  

The Board approved the winners of the Oscar G. Brockett Golden Pen Award, the Herbert D. Greggs Awards, and the Architecture Awards and approved changes in the Bylaws regarding Regional Sections and Student Chapters. The changes appear in Section VIII of the Bylaws that can be found on the USITT website.

The Board will be working on a self-analysis of the current makeup of the Board of Directors, determining if the diversity among those elected reflects that of the membership. The results of this study along with the Board-approved job descriptions of Board positions along with the suggested minimum requirements to serve will be presented to the Nominations Committee. This information will serve as a tool for the next round of candidates to be placed on the ballot.

I am assigning a working group to review the current policy for Board, Commission, and Committee travel and what are the realistic outcomes for the Institute that will be expected from such spending.

It was reported that the USITT financials for the past year have been reviewed by our auditing firm. The Audit Committee will report its findings at the January meeting. There was an update on the Small Research Grants. The Committee who oversees this process is reviewing the criteria and re-opening the grants for submission requests. Details will be available on the website.

I attended LDI, representing USITT and was asked to participate in the presentation of the Pat MacKay Diversity in Design Scholarships. These scholarships were created in 2019 to honor the work of USITT  Fellow Pat MacKay, the founder of LDI. Given annually to those in underrepresented communities who show leadership in our industry, this year’s selection were three high school seniors: Deandra Bromfield, Darius Evans, and Alyssa Gil-Pujols. Along with their award, I also gifted each with a year’s membership to USITT. Congratulations to these three accomplished winners who are the future of our industry. We are proud of you.

The next Board meeting will be held virtually on January 16, 2024.

A safe and blessed holiday season to one and all 
Carolyn Satter
USITT President