West End Arts Update: August 2008

Are you looking for info about West End Arts events? Check out our West End Arts Scene site!

Do you want to be part of the scene? Read on!

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Lots of fun being had by West End Arts! Our inaugural show was a spectacular success, we've celebrated our accomplishments, and we're busy planning future events!

If you missed our last general meeting, check out minutes below and contact us to get involved in workgroups: westendarts(at)fortroadfederation(dot)org. (That's a new e-mail address!)

NEXT MEETING:
Monday, September 8, 2008, 7pm
The Pilney Building, 1032 West Seventh Street at Randolph
(Note the date. We typically meet the first week of the month, but since Sept. 1 is Labor Day, we're meeting on Sept. 8 instead.)
Discussions: Updates from Iron Pour & Live Performance & Pilney Space workgroups; Update from the WEA Guidelines group; Formation of a Grantwriting group; and more. Got a discussion topic? Please e-mail us: westendarts (at) gmail (dot) com.

Note tentative dates for future meetings.
FUTURE MEETINGS:
October, 2008
November, 2008
December, 2008
January, 2008
February, 2008

West End Arts General Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, August 6

Important: If you're interested in joining any of the workgroups described below, please e-mail westendarts(at)fortroadfederation(dot)org!
* Iron Pour (Coordinator: Kle)
* Live Performance Showcase (Coordinator: Jason)
* Event Planning and Production Guide (Coordinator: Nance)
* Pilney Gallery Events (Coordinator: Nance)
* Grant-writing (Coordinator: TBD)

Art at the Pilney Space (Nance)
* The Boones (owners of the Pilney) loved having art in their ground floor space, and are interested displaying art long-term.
* They are open to groups of 2 or 3 artists at a time showcasing their work on a month-to-month basis.
* Space would be shared with tenants who meet in the space occasionally.
* There would be limited public viewing time with volunteer gallery sitters and by appointment with artists.
* Artists would be in charge of their own promotion and marketing.
* Afternoon tea-party style opening would be okay
* Installation should be spare and well-thought-out, to well-represent the West End Arts group.
* Chris open to using the space for acoustic music or spoken word but emphasis would be visual arts.
Workgroup Coordinator: TBD
Workgroup Members: Nance, Tom, Stuart, Roxi, David, Kim, Janine (cc: Chris Boone)
Next Meeting: TBD

Future Events
I. Iron pour (Kle Thune)
* What's an iron pour? Donated iron is melted down in furnaces, and poured into sand or tile molds that are brought by artists/community members who sign up in advance. Template molds and safety instructions are distributed in advance. About 20 molds could be cast. The event is open to the public and is quite a spectacle.
* Kle is collaborating with an established group that has run iron pours in community settings already. They have all they need in terms of putting on the event: equipment, insurance, etc. They just need a space and people to show up and participate.
* The owner of the Schmidt Brewery site has agreed to provide space for the event.
* Tentative date: Weekend of Oct. 10, Friday through Sunday
* Kle is interested in partnering with WEA for the event, and would like our help mostly with advertising and promotion. We would make this event an arty happening for the West End.
Workgroup Coordinator: Kle
Workgroup Members: Tom, Jason, Marty
Next Meeting: TBD

II. Live performance showcase (Jason)
* Tentative date: January, 1 to 3 nights
* KFAI simulcast a possibility
* Strong interest and support for holding the event at SOKOL Hall
Workgroup Coordinator: Jason
Workgroup Members: Larry, Roxi, Joe, Rachel
Next Meeting: TBD

III. Upcoming events at SOKOL Hall (Joe)
Joe distributed flyers with info about future events at SOKOL.
For details, see http://www.sokolmn.org/upcoming.shtml.
Also:
Nov. 1: Mystery Theatre Dinner
Nov. 15: West End Harvest Dance

Recommendations from Scene-and-be-Seen Debriefing (Nance)
After the raging success of the Scene-and-be-Seen show, some members of the group suggest we document some processes and procedures for planning events. Such as:
* How to do mass mailings
* How to handle donations
* How to create an event plan
* How to organize a production crew
* ... and more.
This would be an attempt to record the things we learned from producing the visual arts show, and provide future planning and production crews some guidelines to follow.
Ideally, anyone should be able to come to WEA with an idea, and we'd provide them processes and procedures to follow, so that they can run with it.
The workgroup will meet offline to hammer out a working document, and they'll bring it back to the group and it will evolve over time.
Workgroup Coordinator: Nance
Workgroup Members: Jason, Rachel, Joe, Mary, Roxi (as time permits), Stuart, Kle, Rene, Paulette
Tentative meeting: Aug. 18, Mad Hatter's, 7pm

Arts Coordinator Role (Nance)
* We talked about having an "Arts Coordinator" who will be a point person for the group.
* This person would set meeting times and places.
* This person would be the first point of contact for people interested in getting involved, and she or he would be able to point that person in the right direction.
* This person would need to be kept in the loop in terms of everything going on.
* This person would not be a decision-maker or referee or tie-breaker.
* Mary Esch agreed to try out the position. Hooray Mary!

Grant-Writing (Joe)
Joe knows his grants. (He gave a long list of grants he's written and received.)
Nance suggests we form a grant-writing group to seek out grant-makers and put together applications.
Workgroup Coordinator: TBD in September
Workgroup Members: Kle, Stuart, Nance, Kim
Tentative meeting date: TBD in September

Reminder: Potluck on Sunday!