Jason spoke to the owners of the Pilney building and they're very open to the idea of participating in our show. Someone will be renting the downstairs space over the summer, but only in the evenings, and if the renter is amenable to the idea, we could use the space during the afternoon and on the weekends. Jason is checking back with the Pilney owners on Thursday for an update.
The steering committee will create a written proposal for the Pilney owners that outlines our tentative plans.
Show dates: Saturday July 12 through Saturday August 2
Opening reception: Saturday July 12, 6pm-10pm
Open to the public: Thursday-Saturday, 1-5pm
Staffing: Volunteers during reception and public viewing hours
Miscellaneous: Movable walls on loan from Dave Thune, lighting for back walls, donation jar
We are most enthused about this space: its large windows easily viewed from the sidewalk & street, its manageable size.
When the show is all done, the Pilney owners might even be interested in leaving some art hanging on the walls, and rotating pieces over time. They like the idea of displaying art.
Update on other venues, just for everyone's info:
- Brewery: The Cohen's suspect that Kreitzer will not be interested. Misgivings about liability are likely.
- St. Francis/St. James; Monroe; Four Seasons: Nance met with the Community Ed. person and all these schools are interested in partnering with us. We share that interest but don't feel that a school would be a good venue for our inaugural show. Post-show, we should follow up with these schools and initiate contact with Arts H.S., Visual Arts school, and Performing Arts school downtown.
- As a sidenote, lot of people at the West 7th Business Association approached Nance and told her how excited they are about WEA! At the Fort Road Federation annual meeting, Rachel spoke with representatives from the Sholom Home and Mississippi Market, both of whom were hip to the idea of working with us on something.
Next Steering Committee Meeting: Monday, May 12, Chez Gorski, 7pm (details to be e-mailed)
We'll nail down particulars such as:
- Template of waiver for artists to complete (Jason will look for a template online.) ("While reasonable care is taken to protect the art, neither West End Arts, nor the Fort Road Federation, nor the owners of the Pilney Building are liable for damage to or theft of the artworks you provide ...").
- Insurance issues. Joe says we probably have liability coverage through the Federation; Nance says Pilney surely does and it's also pretty inexpensive to purchase such insurance for a one-time event.
- Call for artists, selection criteria (if any)
- Plan to have a list of pieces for sale and contact info for artists (no commissions for us, but donations gladly accepted)
- Pick-up/drop-off times and locations for selected pieces, and installation dates
- Lineup of talent (A few musical performances, a spoken word artist or two, taking up 5-20 minute blocks during the course of the evening--hand-selected by steering committee rather than as part of the call for artists? All TBD.)
II. Other WEA Updates and Input
- Nance confirmed that we have non-profit bulk mailing rate through the Federation. We have to provide the money, is all. Nance will follow up with Betty.
- Nance has the budget proposal all ready to go. She may add a few details about our tentative plans for the show, now that they're shaping up. She's passing it along to Betty to get printed on Fort Road Federation letterhead.
- WEA logo: David Rich wonders if it would be helpful to incorporate W7 into the logo, so people would have an immediate sense of the place we're coming from (i.e., West 7th Street). The general consensus seems to be we'll stick with what we have now, since Jason took the initiative and everyone's pretty happy with the design. We've sort of tied ourselves to the "West End Arts" handle, but nothing's written in stone and additional logo designs are certainly welcome! :)
III. Partnering with SOKOL for Harvest Dance in October
Joe is attending a SOKOL board meeting on Thursday and they'll be discussing their events calendar and scheduling the Harvest Dance. Would WEA be interested in coordinating with SOKOL on this fundraising event? Discussion ensues.
Pros:
- It would get WEA's name out there to the community.
- It'll be fun to get ourselves out there in a party atmosphere.
- We'd get a share of the proceeds.
- We could take advantage of the opportunity to promote ourselves as supporters of performing arts (not just visual arts), by coordinating live music for the event (for example). We would also be expected to volunteer as ticket sellers, concession workers, etc.
- Joe assures us it's not that much work.
- We're a new group with no track record and hesitate to commit to an event just yet.
- Depending on how involved we get (e.g., putting out a call for musicians, selecting performers, etc.), it could be a lot of work. Will we all be burnt out from the show, will we be able to rustle up enough volunteers? We feel uncertain.
- We have no money to contribute for publicity, supplies, etc. We don't want to commit to SOKOL and then end up letting them down because we have nothing solid to contribute.
- We're not sure how closely this ties in with our mission.
Some artists in the community are less interested in planning events and more interested in just hanging out, like at a mixer once a quarter or something. We plan to have a business meeting next month, followed by a hang-out session/potluck.
Maxine will publish a meeting announcement in the Community Reporter calendar, and it'll mention the social hour as open to visual, performing, and literary artists.
V. Community Reporter interviews with artists
Maxine is interested in publishing interviews with local artists, ideally every month. If an artist will be showing work in the near future or participating in our show specifically, that would be an ideal candidate for an interview. Nance nominates Jason as interviewee number 1. Jason accepts.
VI. When next we meet ...
General Meeting
When: Wednesday, June 4. 7-8pm, business; 8-9pm social hour/potluck.
Where: SOKOL (tentatively)
* Notify Maxine if we change meeting time or location so she can update the Community Report calendar announcement.
Steering Committee
When: Monday, May 12, 7pm
Where: Chez Gorski
Details to be e-mailed.
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