Dear Art Talkers,
Pessimism doesn’t pay. 11:00 Saturday was pretty gloomy at the British Counsel. It was raining cats and dogs as a dozen or so soggy veterans arranged far more chairs than would be necessary.
Or so we thought. But people just kept coming! In the end we had both a full house and a full agenda. We went past our budgeted time, of course, but for the best of reasons. The conspiricy of rain, final exams, and Spring fever could not overcome the spirit of this group! Great speeches, challenging table topics, and a well articulated plea from co-founder Yulia Osova to stick to our roots and talk about art.
After the meeting we adjourned to the Coffee Theatre (Gregory Skovorody St 5 – remember that address) where we held elections for officers of the July 2008-June 2009 year. It was a success on several levels. About half of our 32 members could be there. The coffee and chocolate were excellent. And, we accomplished our mission of electing a slate of dedicated officers for the upcoming year.
Tatiana Knyazeva is our incoming President. She has been Treasurer for the past year. Olga Pogorelova succeeds Maria Kapustyan as VP Education. Olga has been working extensively with Maria on our program over the past few months, including some wonderful dramatic presentations. Maria herself is moving to the position of VP Membership. Other incoming officers will be Yuriy Karabach, Treasurer; Valentina Karabayeva, Sergeant at Arms; Irina Rymar, Secretary; and Graham Seibert, VP Public Relations.
As we enjoyed having the basement of the Coffee Theater to ourselves for elections, the thought occured to one of our better minds that it would be an ideal place for meetings, this summer when the British Counsel is closed. Why not? Our officers concluded the deal on the spot, and that is where we will be. It will be even better. They will let us in before 11:00, and they serve coffee and tea. Bring some griven 
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Look forward to seeing you there next week.
Your incoming PR guy,
Graham
