[Imc] steering group note 7-22

[Sarah Kanouse]

IMC Steering Group Meeting--July 22, 2001

Present: Paul (facilitator), Danielle, Sascha, Mitra, Aaron, Ellen, Travis, Brian, Sarah (notetaker), Mark, Brent, Paul, Chris

Group Reports

Finance (Sascha)
Finances are going well.  Sascha needs someone to get trained on accounting really badly.  We need new founding funders and new members, as founding funders will begin to get phased out starting in three months.

 Encourage folks to become members--you can find membership enrollment forms in the binder marked "membership" on the staff desk.  Eveything to do is outlined there.  Also, only members may check out equipment--this encourages folks to become members.  We need to start enforcing this, but please do so in an understanding and sensitive way, considering that this is a change in practice.

Folks need to be encouraged to donate all or part of their tax refund check to the imc.  We need to make pledge cards for the fundraiser (please relay to print).

Print (Aaron)
Newspaper will come out this week.  Energy is lagging, so the print group will be working on long-term sustainability.

Is it possible to include something on the Genoa events in the newspaper? An insert or a separate sheet--otherwise it looks like we're not responsive to late-breaking news.  Could be expensive, may not be able to do all 5000.

Librarians (Ellen)
Too few people in librarians group--we need new recruits.  There are staffers doing work, but there have not been meetings to coordinate the work or plan.  There are technical writing students working on descriptions and promotional materials for the library and a library website forthcoming.  Ellen has become the default library head and needs more people--hopefully the school year will increase involvement.  It's been difficult to get everyone together for meetings.  There are 4 people involved actively and 2 more doing library work.   We need to recruit staff members to help catalog books and set up the front room.

Space constraints have prevented more books from being put on the shelves.  Ellen will come to the next space meeting to work on rearranging the front room to allow more space for the library.

Outreach (Brian)
No meeting this week.

Space (Sarah)
There will be an event here Tuesday night--LGBTQ rights.  

Space is getting cluttered.  Would someone be willing to host another yeard sale to actually get rid of IMC stuff? Can we take down the FTAA display and chrive it? Consensus was OK if it's OK with the creator--Becca.

Space will be rearranging furniture at the next meeting.

Tech (Zach)
Web design charrette was on Wednesday and another will be on aesthetics charrette on Friday--are all open to all interested parties.

The PC in the front room is down because it couldn't handle Linux--a new and improved one will appear shortly.

News (Danielle)
Brent and Pauline are producing tomorrow's show--headlines are needed.  Will have PSAs for Tuesday's event and Sunday's benefit concert.  Need another airshifter.

Old Business
Membership Meeting
Meeting this Tuesday at 6:30 to plan August 22, 7-9PM membership meeting.  Invitations text is ready and fairly short; will be sent out to main list for review or come to Tuesday meeting, which will be short.

Outreach and Finance need folks responsible for giving report to membership.  

Membership meeting is also a way to introduce people to the IMC--all meetings are open, so all are welcome and will be encouraged to join.

New Business
G8 Meeting
There was a vigil Saturday morning for Carlo Giuliani, who was killed on Friday.  Last night around midnight GMT the IMC was raided by police, as was the convergent center, where people were severly beaten.  Mainstream press reportage has almost completely ignored the raid of the IMC.  Should the IMC release any kind of statement about the raid of the Italian IMC or meet with the editor in chief of the News-Gazette and news director of WILL to discuss how the mainstream coverage has ignored this.   Paul Riismandel will write a statement and float it on the listserve for comments.  We should get it out by Tuesday morning.

Regarding a meeting with the news directors, we could try to start a discourse on the blindspots of the mainstream media and how indymedia can provide an alternate viewpoint.  Kim Kranich could be an important 'in' or ally if we invite her.  Danielle will talk to Kim and Peter to investigate how to proceed, but no one is stepping forward to head up the project yet.
Is a meeting with the head of these organizations worth the time, or is it better to talk to the reporters themselves?

Street Theater Festival
Proposal: IMC as sponsor of the August 4 Street Theater Festival (rain date August 5).  Event is 11 to 6.  Will get the IMC publicity and demonstrate the IMC's comittment to independent arts.  What we need are 4 volunteers to help the festival and one volunteer to staff an IMC membership recruitment table (can rotate through positions).  Jobs include: staffing IMC booth, including equipment demo and running games (4 booths).  Chris volunteered, and a call for volunteers went out on the main list.  Paul will volunteer 3-6 pm.  Mark E. and Danielle can also help out.  If you want to help, contact Sascha.

Appointment for one of our own
Danielle was appointed to the Cable Commission

Fundraiser
Amy Goodman is coming August 11 to the IMC for a fundraiser--working on details such as time.  Danielle will get in touch with the finance group to get support to put this on.

Grassroots Radio Conference
In Boulder, Co. last week for micropower and community radio stations, especially those shut out by Pacifica.  There is support for the IMC, but Urbana was the only IMC that showed up.  There is an archive of 5 minidisks for self-training and written materials on the Pacifica crisis n the front room.  Lots on interest in a regional conference and in doing fundraisers for the IMC--lots of high-profile people for fundraisers, maybe 4 x per year.

Actions: Save Pacifica Travel Team could come to IMC, "Barnraisings" for licensed low-power stations (IMC could do an audio training); also looking for national syndications (FSRN, Making Contact, etc).

Food Stealing Issue
We're losing money on our food sales, and it appears to be because people are stealing.  Several staff have witnessed people stealing food from the IMC.  Need to remind staff that they need to remind people to pay for food; need to put up signs to remind folks that the food is not free.  If you see someone steal and don't feel comfortable talking to them, tell Sascha.

Finance group needs to work out a new system, give a certain time to test the system, and then possibly stop selling food.

Facilitator
Possible new way of facilitator? Handing pen off to someone, or making a schedule to make sure facilitation actually rotates.  Schedule idea approved by consensus

Paul R. will facilitate next two meetings.



Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com