Meeting Notes - 11/9/11 - READ! important changes

[Ramsey Beyer]

In attendance: cris, xavier, bonnie, rachel, rachel's friend, todd, cole, nathan, sam, stuart, mouthwash, me

We started out with the few orders of business we had on the agenda:

Name - The vote came out with Chicago Radical Arts and Music as a winner over Wild Onion Arts. The vote was 14 vs. 7. However, discussion continued over the use of the word "radical" and the loaded connotation it carries. There were a couple strong dissenters, so we decided to throw out the name and try to think of something new. We wanted to have a name decided by Monday so we could start operating shows under this name. We ultimately decided that the name of our collective does not need to be the name of our physical space. We decided to operate as the "Diy Chi Collective" while booking shows without a space. That gives us plenty of time to think of a name for our space, and also would allow us to eventually book other events outside of our space from time to time, or move physical spaces, and still represent as an entity. 

Mission Statement: Needs to be clarified and re-written emphasizing that we are entity operating without a space, but with the goal of having a space in the future. Stuart wrote the original draft. Stuart, Cris and Cris' partner volunteered to solidify a second draft this weekend and present it to the group by Monday. 

Meeting Day: We'd like to reassess the night of the week that we have meetings to see if we can try to make it accessible to more people. Cole will be sending out an e-mail asking everyone to submit their availabilities, then will report back with what day/time most people are available for meetings.

Fundraisers: We talked about a holiday fundraiser drive idea. We'll make Christmas cards to send out to friends/family saying something like: "All I want for Christmas is a $20 donation in my name to the DIY Chi Collective." By sending out a physical object, it legitimizes the request for a donation. Rachel volunteered to draw a card and Sam will help her with formatting for printing. The card will be designed by Dec. 1 so we can all grab a bunch and send them to family.

Operation: Now that we have a model for operation, the group needs to be made private so we can share contact information like phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Right now anyone on the internet can join and read these e-mails. We will still post general content and meeting notes to this list serve. If you wish to stay informed but not actively involved, remaining on this listserve is enough. 

If you would like to be more actively involved, still follow the long discussions, and take a role in the events booking collective, you'll need to join a "Members Only" list serve. Anyone can and should join this group!! This is not just for people who have been able to make it to meetings. 

 
If you would like to join the new group, please go to:
http://groups.google.com/group/diychicollective

The new collective email is
diychico...@gmail.com
Feel free to give out to bands, artists, etc. as a contact email for
the collective.

Operations: Cris set up a calendar, resource database, and member contact list. Once you join the private group, all of these things will be shared with you. Matt Walsh (from here on out referred to as Mouthwash) will be the calendar master. If you have a show you want to book, send the info to him and he'll add it to the Collective Calendar. Then it'll be on everyone's radar so we can all figure out how to help with it. Add info to the resource database. This could be any contacts you have for houses, PA/speakers, local draw bands, etc! Add your own contact info to the member list so we all know how to get in touch with one another.

Transparency: We talked about taking a small cut of money from every show we do so we can be consistently throwing money toward our larger goal of getting a space. Even if we take just ten bucks from every show that can manage it, that's something and it will keep us focused on the long-term as well. With this idea, transparency is key. We'll be up front with anyone we work with about taking a bit of money, and we'll make sure it's okay with any bands we work with as well. We like the idea of listing money reports for every show we do, breaking down exactly how money was doled out.

Events coming up: there are a few events coming up that we'd like to work on. A toys for tots show at the Albion House and a few shows at the Juicer. If you're setting up a show, consider setting it up through the collective.

Talk to EVERYONE! the more houses we have on board, throwing ten bucks our way from each show, the more kids we have working together on things and supporting each others endeavors, the more likely it is that we'll reach an eventual goal of getting a space rather than just burning out.