[Bookstoprisoners] conference update pre-meeting

[Suzanne Linder]

Hello all--

Because we have a long list of agenda items for our meeting on Saturday, I
thought I would give you a conference planning update via email.  There are
a couple things we need to talk about in person, but most of the information
I was going to share can be shared this way.

A lot of planning has gotten done over the summer and things are really
shaping up for the conference in the fall.  The conference website is up (
www.books2prisoners.org/conference) and 9 people have registered (currently
we have people from WA, WI, NYC, MA, IN, OH, and IL) and 20 people are on
the update list.  I actually think this number is pretty high for people to
have committed to coming to an event in November.  A BTP member in Madison
found an association for jail librarians that we forwarded our announcement
to and 2 of the people already registered for the conference are responsible
for multiple jail libraries in their county and state.

We are asking UCBTP members to register for the conference and pay the $20
registration fee.  This will allow us to have an accurate count of attendees
and since the money is all going towards food, we need to pay as well.
Maybe at the meeting we can talk about ways to help UCBTP members who want
to attend but can't afford the $20.

Stephen Hartnett has contacted Paul Wright of Prison Legal News and Buzz
Alexander of the Prison Creative Arts Project and they will be joining us
for the conference.  April and Noah's organization, AIR as well as the
campus BTP organization are going to apply for SORF funding to pay for part
of the speaker fees.  Stephen will pay the remaining fees from money left
over from the last prison arts festival.  April is going to head the
application process once school starts.  If SORF gives us money, the
conference needs to be free for U of I students.  How to do this is one of
the things we need to talk about on Saturday.

Barbara is the housing coordinator for the conference.  We have a survey
that people who want to host conference guests and a corresponding one for
guests.  She is about to send out a letter that asks people to volunteer
their houses and / or donate money for travel scholarships.  As a member of
the BTP list, keep an eye out for this letter.  She will be asking you to
forward it to people you think might be able to host guests.  Also, if you
are able to host guests, please fill out the survey at
www.books2prisoners.org/conference/housing

We have raised $600 for travel scholarships (and already have two
applications).  If you have ideas about who and where we should be asking
for money, please bring those to the meeting.  You can also donate at
www.books2prisoners.org/conference/donate.html

Jacqueline Hannah, a jail library volunteer and current manager of the
co-op, is helping me plan the food for the conference.  She has been working
with the current catering manager at Strawberry Fields to put together an
excellent deal for us.  The proposed menu is sandwich trays for lunch
(currently ham, turkey, hummus, californian, tuna, and medeve's grace),
fruit tray, and brownies.  Dinner menu is spinach, cheese, and vegan
lasagna, sliced bread and spreads, vegan and non-vegan antipasto salad,
organic green salad, and dessert bars.  It looks like the price for 50
people will be about $500.  If we have more people, the price will go up but
we are also collecting more money.  The catering will be paid for out of the
$20/person that we are collecting.  One of the things we need to talk about
at the meeting is April's question about serving meat.  I would like to make
a group decision about that and approve the approximately $500 that the
catering will cost.

The co-op is donating free-trade coffee, organic cream, sugar, cups and
stirrers for our coffee breaks.  They are also willing to sell other drinks
and locally pressed cider to us at cost.  Max is working to secure donations
from local business of snacks to serve during coffee breaks on Saturday.

Sarah Ross is going to organize a show of local prisoner art for Friday
night at the IMC.  We will also have a welcome reception to go along with
the art show.  Depending on how much of the left over prison arts festival
money needs to be spent on speakers, Stephen will contribute money to have
food from World Harvest at the reception on Friday night.  I would like to
ask BTP and IMC members to bring finger food and desserts to serve at the
reception.

One thing that we still need to figure out are people to play music and read
poetry on Saturday night.  Several members of the BTP group in Chicago are
in a band and would like to play.  We should think about who else we want to
ask to play (Desafinando?).  Carol Inskeep has said that she would be
willing to help organize the music on Saturday night.  Stephen is will to
ask Tiyemba Jess to read again (he read at the first slam jam).  Aaron
Ammons has read his poetry in the past.  Please bring ideas about the
Saturday night festivities to the meeting on Saturday.

Whew.  That was a long update.  If you are still reading, to sum up, the
things we need to talk about on Saturday are:

1. Ways to help UCBTP members who can't afford $20 registration
2. Make a decision about serving meat and approve $500 or so for catering
(currently we have 1 vegan, 2 veg, and 6 omnivores registered)
3. Ideas about how to make conference free for U of I students but still pay
for food
4. Ideas about where to solicit donations for travel scholarships
5. Ideas about the Saturday night festivities

Thanks,
Suzanne
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