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<p style="font-weight:normal"><i>Dear IMC members, friends, and supporters,</i></p>
</div><p style="font-weight:normal"><i>The Independent Media Center wishes you a happy New Year! </i>With the help of our supporters and over 1200 volunteers, the UCIMC continued to seed & grow projects to promote empowerment and expression through media and arts.</p>
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<p style="font-weight:normal">Please consider <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/r/" target="_blank"><b>renewing your membership</b></a> or making an <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/y/" target="_blank"><b>end of the year tax deductible donation</b></a> to support all IMC programs.</p>
<p style="font-weight:normal">Our <a href="http://ucimc.org" target="_blank">ucimc.org</a> website continues to be an <b>essential alternative news source</b>. For example, a video was leaked to our site of a Champaign <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/j/" target="_blank">police officer choking a young man in handcuffs</a> in the back of a squad car which has had 13,000 views. <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/t/" target="_blank">Donate</a> to ensure we can continue to provide a voice not heard in the mainstream news.</p>
<p style="font-weight:normal"><img src="http://i9.cmail2.com/ei/r/27/BAD/6E2/125420/indymedia-arts-lab.jpg" style="padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:8px;padding-right:8px;padding-left:8px;float:right;margin-left:8px" height="177" width="255">20 youth participated in our 3rd annual <b>Indy Media and Arts Lab</b>, an affordable summer camp for youth. The participants painted in the African tradition, designed instruments, drew comics, and built robots that jumped, moved, and danced to the delight of the viewers at the <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/i/" target="_blank">final show.</a></p>
<p style="font-weight:normal">Volunteers produced 1352 shows on <b>WFRU</b>, our community radio station, such as Radio Triple R, a “street scrapin' Chicano music and issues program.” The Urbana City Council praised the station as it unanimously passed a resolution to allow for new tower construction that will extend WRFU’s signal to cover a listening audience of 125,000 people. <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/d/" target="_blank">Donate to WRFU</a>.</p>
<p style="font-weight:normal"><img src="http://i7.cmail2.com/ei/r/27/BAD/6E2/125420/btp_prison_arts_fest_2011.jpg" style="padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:8px;padding-right:8px;padding-left:8px;float:left;margin-right:8px" height="196" width="250">This year, <b>Books to Prisoners </b>passed the 60,000 mark in numbers of free books volunteers shipped to Illinois prison inmates - representing a total benefit of $360,138 to taxpayers. We hosted a Prison Arts Festival with a film screening and art work from incarcerated men at the Danville Correctional Center as well as “A Day in Stateville,” a written and performed by former inmates. <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/h/" target="_blank">Donate to Books to Prisoners</a>. </p>
<p style="font-weight:normal">UCIMC’s <b>Makerspace</b> has exploded with interest in using computers and robotics to create creative works of art and media. We hosted a “Mini Maker Faire,” a family-friendly event to bring together the arts, engineering, and technology in the Do-It-Yourself spirit in our community. <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/k/" target="_blank">Donate to Makerspace</a>.</p>
<p style="font-weight:normal">The <b>public i</b> newspaper celebrated its ten year anniversary as an advertisement-free venue for community voices with the release of a new <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/u/" target="_blank">online searchable website</a> of every story published to date. The newspaper also organized a “<a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/o/" target="_blank">Poetry for the People Release Party & Open Mic Poetry Slam</a>” where many came to pay witness to spoken word as a source of strength, inspiration and joy in communities, especially among youth. <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/b/" target="_blank">
Donate to the public i</a>.</p>
<p style="font-weight:normal">Our <b>librarians</b> group organized a spectacular “Midwest Zine Fest,” a gathering of zine-makers, authors, speakers, and musicians. They also are building a new library in the IMC meeting room. <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/n/" target="_blank">Donate to the Librarians.</a></p>
<p style="font-weight:normal">The UCIMC <b>performance venue</b> hosted 44 major performances and 121 events and provided space to 15 community groups. One of our largest events was a Folk and Roots Festival showcasing local and national performers and peppering the center with three simultaneous jam sessions. We screened a number of films including “Riot Arts” and held several cultural festivals including ”African Diaspora Tradition Night.” <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/p/" target="_blank">Donate to the Shows venue</a>.</p>
<p style="font-weight:normal"><img src="http://i10.cmail2.com/ei/r/27/BAD/6E2/125420/oddgtrandr.jpg" style="padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:8px;padding-right:8px;padding-left:8px;float:right;margin-left:8px" height="245" width="200">Our <b>OddMusic</b> instrument free check-out library has grown to over 100 instruments! OddMusicians twice hosted “IMC Omnia” where artists converged for 24 hours of marathon
art-making culminating in a free, public showing; a five-day “Microtonal Design Unconference” which brought musicians from Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Tennessee to the IMC for a collaborative residency; and the first edition of "Xenharmonic Praxis Summer Camp," held in West Virginia. <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/x/" target="_blank">Donate to OddMusic</a>.</p>
<p style="font-weight:normal">The UCIMC serves as the only host state in east central Illinois for the State of Illinois <b>AmeriCorps</b> program. We have hosted 26 members to date who have taught media production to the community, coordinated shows at our venue, helped local artists get a show on our radio station, and sent books to prisoners, as well as supported community partners. Over the three years, our AmeriCorps program has provided $365,092 in benefit to our community. </p>
<p style="font-weight:normal">The UCIMC has <b>sponsored</b> over 40 projects, helping provide fiscal oversight and grants administration for artists and incubating new projects, such as the Bike Project which recently became its own 501c3. Congratulations <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/m/" target="_blank">Bike Project</a>!</p>
<p style="font-weight:normal">Again, please consider <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/c/" target="_blank"><b>renewing your membership</b></a> or making an <a href="http://urbana-champaignindependentmediacenter.cmail2.com/t/r/l/iiydtrd/pdljlurkr/q/" target="_blank"><b>end of the year donation</b></a> to increase access to media and arts in our community.</p>
<p style="font-weight:normal">Sincerely, </p>
<p style="font-weight:normal">Danielle Chynoweth<br>
Member, UCIMC Board of Directors<br style="clear:both;min-height:0;font-size:1px;line-height:0px">
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Mail a check payable to UCIMC at 202 S. Broadway Ave. #100, Urbana, IL, 61801</div><p></p>
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