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Mentor - Volume 33, Issue 299, August, 2022
MentorThe Newsletter of Arisia, IncorporatedVolume 33, Issue 299, August, 2022 519 Somerville Ave #371, Somerville, MA 02143 + 1-917-7ARISIA (+1-917-727-4742) |
ContentsAbout the MeetingAugust Meeting Summary Announcements Treasurer’s Report Membership List Executive Board Committees Storage Keyholders Subscription and Dues Information Calendar |
About the Next Meeting
The next corporate meeting of Arisia, Inc. will be held on September 18th at 6:00 PM via Zoom, using the link that has been distributed over the corp-announce list for previous meetings. The quorum for the September corporate meeting is XXX, based on 51% of the average attendance of the last three meetings (June:16, July:16, August:)/3×0.51)=9.86 ).Please send all proxies for the September corporate meeting in advance by email to corp-proxies@arisia.org, and CC the proxy holder.
Meeting minutes for Corp meeting August 16th, 7:00 PM
Meeting called to order at 7:07pm
Attendees (XXX members) (quorum was 10: May:26, June:16, July:16)/3×0.51)=9.86
Nicholas “phi” Shectman
Nightwing Whitehead
Claudia Mastroianni
Jodie Lawhorne
EJ Barnes
Vivian Abraham
Lisa Hertel
Rick Kovalcik
Priscilla Ballou
Etana
Melissa Kaplan
Kelly Fabijanic
Wendy Abramo
Dan Toland
Ilene Tatroe
Dan Abraham
Alex Morgan
Mike Sprague
Allison Feldhusen
Inanna Arthen
Rachel Tanenhaus
Joseph Andelman
Sharon Sbarsky
Dr Karen Purcell
Henry Leong
Nick Brown
Jennifer Fitzsimmons-Gauger
Ken London
Mike Tatroe
David Silber
Lisa “Opus” Goldstein
Proxies
JB Segal to Allison Feldhusen
David Silber to Alex Morgan
Danny Miller to EJ Barnes
Jan Dumas to Nightwing Whitehead
Michelle Wexelblat to Karen Purcell
Alan Wexelblat to Vivian Abraham
Corrections to the minutes
We had some Mentors sent out, but they went to the corporate list instead of corp-announce, so not everyone has had a chance to review them. I can take corrections at this time but we can’t approve the minutes until they’ve gone to all of the members.
Eboard report
We approved two dues waivers.
We voted to renew our liability insurance, which is required by the hotel and by the storage landlord. Since there isn’t a corporate budget yet and the amount of $1142.08 is over $1000 actually paying for it requires a corporate vote. Passes without objections.
We voted to send two Incident Reports to corp:
We provided some advice and guidance to IRMC on a few remaining IRs.
(Here include Vivian’s report, which she will email after the meeting.) Thanks to Andy, eboard. Various closed reports. Upholding of past actions. Two new actions taken.
We’ll be voting on the corporate budget from the Arisia 2023 treasury report.
We are accepting nominations for conchair for A24 and A25.
President’s Report
MOVED to set the November meeting to Sunday, November 13 at 6pm via Zoom. Seconded. Passes “almost unanimously” (hat tip to NESFA).
The Massachusetts Cultural Council has begun opening grants for this cycle. I’ll be hosting a worksession this Saturday at noon, on this zoom link, to finish last year’s reports, start this year’s applications, write job descriptions for the con, or anything else anyone would like a buddy for. There is a possible increase in the amounts we can get.
I plan to run for reelection as President in September. If there is another compelling candidate for President but we lack candidates for other offices, I am available to run for Clerk, Treasurer, or Member at Large. Etana and Mike S are also rerunning.
Rachel thanks us for actually seeking funding to do the ADA things that ideally all non-profits would be doing. You’re welcome!
Vice President’s Report
None
Treasurer’s Report
Dues of $24.00 are due by September 1st if you wish to vote for officers in the September meeting. Please give your treasurer a birthday present of not waiting until August 31st to pay dues. While there is a grace period of until the New Business starts during the annual meeting, this makes voting hard and makes a lot of work for the officers.
Feedback from members: when paying by Paypal, a space to explain who the memberships are for would be a really good idea. If you set up a recurring payment, it’s on the anniversary of your first one.
Jan and phi are now the signers on the OneUnited accounts. We still need to finish migrating the Paypal account, as text-message confirmations are still going to Kris.
Clerk’s Report
None.
Member at Large Reports (if Needed)
None.
Arisia 2023 Con Chair Report
Phi presented a slightly negative convention budget. There are a number of things we would like to add in which have been cut; hopefully we can do that if we get more memberships (or grants). Those things will be brought before the corporation as we get the money. The area budgets are largely what the areas requested, with three exceptions: the list at the bottom of the budget of cut items we would like to add back in; items entirely included in one area’s budget request that are now being split with another area; [I’ve blanked on the third thing].
One place we are saving money on is a new badge technology.
Changes: Ribbons should be amended to $1700 (+$200); Space Pilot should be under Hotel. We can probably delete photo booth; we don’t have anyone to run it and don’t own the backdrop (-$200). Family Friendly Guide should be under Youth Services; we decide to make it a stretch goal instead (-$100). A motion was made to incorporate all those changes in one amendment. Passes 20 (and counting) to 0.
We vote on the budget as a whole. It passes unanimously.
We need info on a virtual program cost, including high-speed internet ($1500/day); we also need someone to run it. We need to know about virtual ASAP. We will have a better idea of attendance and funds for the October 25th meeting and can go back to the Corporation for the wish list then. Sharon suggests a go/no-go date on the wish list.
We vote on the entire budget as amended. Passes unanimously. Many thanks to Phi and Kelly for all their work.
Committee Reports
CIC
Still haven’t seen a lease.
Grants
We have a grant before us for MICE, the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo. We’ve given them grants in the past. They’ve been on hiatus and are returning this year, with separate online and in-person components. Email discussion had tended towards “MICE is awesome, but our own financial situation is precarious enough that we shouldn’t fund this at this time,” which Vivian and then Rick reiterate. EJ notes the event is in a new location. Sharon would rather pick up a budget item from our wish list than fund this grant. Ilene asks, didn’t we agree that we ought to give out grant money a couple years ago while our situation was also precarious? Answer: yes, but 1) that was money we had already put in the grants fund as opposed to moving new money into the fund and 2) the advice was to keep following our general mission as if we were not about to go bankrupt–which is running the con and supporting other educational activities. Our first vote is should we give money at all, and then, if we do, we can discuss a dollar amount. Fails: 4 votes in favor, 21 against, so we don’t need to discuss an exact amount. Phi will organize private contributions to MICE.
IRMC
See the eboard report.
Old Business
None
New Business
Do we have a new lease? No, we have email communication but not in the form of a lease.
Announcements
September Corporate Meeting September 18th at 6:00 PM
Albacon - Sept 16 - 18 2022 www..albacon.org
Astronomicon - Nov 4 - 6 2022 http://www.astronomicon.info/
NESFA will stream parts of Worldcon, open to people generally, in the clubhouse, but limited attendance allowed, so please RSVP. 8pm Central time, Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend.
Meeting adjourned at 8:50 PM
Chat log:
19:01:21 From Melissa Kaplan she/her to Everyone:
Waking people in the middle of the night to ask about plan-o-rama
19:01:41 From Ilene Tatroe to Everyone:
Oh … that is what the dog is doing when he grumbles at Mike at 5AM.
19:02:38 From Inanna Arthen (they/them) to Everyone:
Is there a Slack channel for Corp?
19:02:50 From Ilene Tatroe to Everyone:
Mike Tatroe is here and listening so technically can be counted as corp.
19:04:07 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
No Slack channel for corp
19:04:16 From Rick Kovalcik (he/him/his) to Everyone:
THere is no Slack channel for Corp.
19:04:18 From Inanna Arthen (they/them) to Everyone:
Okay, thanks.
19:05:21 From dan abraham (he/him) to Everyone:
email was "[Arisia CA] August Arisia Corp mtg this Tuesday!" from Aug 16
19:05:39 From etana . to Everyone:
We do sometimes use Slack “general” to talk about corp mtgs
19:05:41 From Dr. Karen (she/her) to Everyone:
Many thanks to Lisa and Mike for posting the link
19:05:42 From Inanna Arthen (they/them) to Everyone:
I used a link from May
19:05:56 From Melissa Kaplan she/her to Everyone:
Nick Brown is listening here. His laptop is downloading zoom
19:06:56 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
Looks like everyone made it
19:07:51 From Claudia Mastroianni to Everyone:
I've added Nick Brown to the attendance list.
19:07:55 From Melissa Kaplan she/her to Everyone:
thanks!
19:12:19 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Nicholas "phi" Shectman (he/him)(Direct Message):
can you clear the yeses please?
19:13:41 From Melissa Kaplan she/her to Everyone:
that video game room was a busy place.
19:20:48 From Claudia Mastroianni to Everyone:
If anybody ducked out of the IRMC summary due to trigger warnings, we're done with the topic.
19:21:02 From Claudia Mastroianni to Everyone:
Please warn again if the topic comes up later in the meeting.
19:24:32 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
Nov 6th is Astronomicon and World fantasy
19:24:55 From Ilene Tatroe to Everyone:
11/4-6 is also RICC
19:25:00 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
6pm on 11/13?
19:27:47 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
Yay, more CART
19:27:54 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
also ASL
19:29:49 From Dr. Karen (she/her) to Nicholas "phi" Shectman (he/him)(Direct Message):
Thank you for running again, phi
19:34:13 From Jennifer (she/her) Fitzsimmons-Gauger to Everyone:
Yes, please. I'd really prefer to have corporate going to a different email address.
19:35:08 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
To change your email, let clerk@ know
19:35:15 From Inanna Arthen (they/them) to Everyone:
I think there's a place for recurring payments specifically
19:37:39 From etana . to Everyone:
I’ll be running
19:39:48 From Sharon (she/her) to Everyone:
The link to look at active subscriptions (within the Arisia PayPal account) is:
https://www.paypal.com/billing/subscriptions
19:42:37 From allisonf (she/her) to Everyone:
As a note, in 2021 there was a vote to move Space Pilot from TAS to Hotel, the budget item should probably be moved as well
19:44:30 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
Plan is for CS to not be in GAlleria at this time
19:45:39 From Nightwing Whitehead (she/her) to Everyone:
Hurrah for the move of CS!
19:54:43 From Dr. Karen (she/her) to Everyone:
Much greener too
19:56:11 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
Worth a try tho?
20:07:05 From Rick Kovalcik (he/him/his) to Everyone:
Hotel gave the Internet to Boskone for Free.
20:07:20 From Mike Tatroe to Everyone:
Who did you have to kill?
20:07:27 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
Albacon is a different animal but Jan can get you numbers later
20:07:33 From Rick Kovalcik (he/him/his) to Everyone:
They realized "COVID"
20:07:36 From Ilene Tatroe to Everyone:
Thanks. I'm thinking more in terms of Zoom or whatever.. That's what I'm interested in.
20:07:52 From Rick Kovalcik (he/him/his) to Everyone:
Albacon is also getting Internet for free as it was negoicated as part of the contract.
20:08:10 From Melissa Kaplan she/her to Everyone:
Maybe the hotel will realize COVID still exists.
20:08:13 From Ilene Tatroe to Everyone:
I have the same concern for Teen Lounge. I'm worried about safety in function space.
20:08:28 From Mike Tatroe to Everyone:
Well, it is what it is. We have to work with what we have.
20:08:59 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
There are small, out-of-the-way boards rooms
20:09:04 From Rick Kovalcik (he/him/his) to Everyone:
I think if you want to budget for Hybrid you should figure the per day cost of the registration link and try to put the Hybrid programming near Reg.
20:09:30 From Ilene Tatroe to Everyone:
But we can't be on the ground floor; too noisy in the Ballrooms.
20:09:51 From Rick Kovalcik (he/him/his) to Everyone:
I would also point out that DC3 did Hybrid programming using Zambia. As did Balticon.
20:10:16 From Rick Kovalcik (he/him/his) to Everyone:
I can put you in touch with Rodger Burns who was involved with both if you want to discuss how they did it.
20:10:16 From Sharon (she/her) to Everyone:
Boskone also got the attrition removed. But that (and the Internet) was "paid" for by noy getting comp rooms for sleeping rooms booked.
20:10:39 From Ilene Tatroe to Everyone:
Ditching Zambia is more because Zambia needs to go; the way Planorama handles hybrid is nice. It's not a show-stopper. (But it will make it more difficult.)
20:11:11 From Mike Tatroe to Everyone:
Well if someone can get the hotel to throw us some free Internet, that would be wonderful.
20:11:16 From Rick Kovalcik (he/him/his) to Everyone:
OK. Just giving you a resource if you need to use Zambia.
20:12:13 From Ilene Tatroe to Everyone:
Thank you.
20:15:35 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
Some things have flex. For example, we can reserve 2 trucks, and cancel one with a few days' notice
20:17:05 From Mike Tatroe to Everyone:
someone needs to define the scope. One room with AV equipment/Zoom/and Internet? Something else?
20:17:27 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
Without a champion it ain't happening anyway
20:17:44 From Claudia Mastroianni to Everyone:
No need to take up meeting time with this, but if anyone knows: I had gotten the impression teen lounge was in a generally known location--we gave them our party leftovers one year and they were on a party floor and so I went and knocked at the open door and asked if any teens wanted to come collect stuff from our suite.
20:17:57 From Claudia Mastroianni to Everyone:
Was that atypical?
20:17:58 From Ilene Tatroe to Everyone:
I am championing it, Lisa. I'm looking into scope.
20:19:23 From Mike Sprague (he/him) to Everyone:
Maybe a nightly pizza drop from hotel for Teen Lounge?
20:19:52 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
Nobody should be unmasked in con space.
20:20:24 From Mike Sprague (he/him) to Everyone:
People will be unmasked in Con Suite space when eating though? As per our directive?
20:20:51 From Ilene Tatroe to Everyone:
Agreed, Mike. And I think we need to think about this with Teen Lounge. Food is absolutely important for them.
20:20:54 From Rick Kovalcik (he/him/his) to Everyone:
What do you think we own? Swag?
20:21:05 From alex to Everyone:
If I have nit-picking comments on the budget, should I raise my hand here and take up meeting time, or email to the corp list?
20:21:33 From David Silber (he him) to Everyone:
I'm about to head out. Does anyone have questions/issues for me before I go?
20:23:54 From Rick Kovalcik (he/him/his) to Everyone:
I have concerns about how we are going to do this with one logistics truck. But it is what it is.
20:24:08 From Rick Kovalcik (he/him/his) to Everyone:
So moved
20:32:43 From Inanna Arthen (they/them) to Everyone:
Sorry, got distracted :-(
20:33:01 From Inanna Arthen (they/them) to Everyone:
Thank you!!!
20:33:43 From Nick Brown to Everyone:
I hear there are support groups for people with spreadsheet addiction
20:33:52 From Nick Brown to Everyone:
People tend to really excel in them
20:34:16 From E. J. Barnes to Everyone:
:-)
20:34:17 From Inanna Arthen (they/them) to Everyone:
I love spreadsheets...
20:34:19 From Ilene Tatroe to Everyone:
No, Nick. Go sit in a cell and think about what you just did there.
20:34:20 From Vivian Abraham to Everyone:
the queue is Rick, and then me
20:34:20 From Melissa Kaplan she/her to Everyone:
😃
20:34:38 From Rick Kovalcik (he/him/his) to Everyone:
My comment is top level so it should come after the Grant Discussion.
20:34:44 From Vivian Abraham to Everyone:
got it
20:34:58 From Vivian Abraham to Everyone:
then it is me, and then E.J.
20:35:12 From Sharon (she/her) to Everyone:
I like spreadsheets, even google sheets
20:35:15 From Rick Kovalcik (he/him/his) to Everyone:
Although maybe I should speak to this too ... :)
20:35:28 From E. J. Barnes to Everyone:
https://www.micexpo.org/
20:36:55 From Kelly to Everyone:
I have to drop. Have a good night all!
20:37:17 From etana . to Everyone:
I agree
20:38:43 From Rick Kovalcik (he/him/his) to Everyone:
There are many years in the past when we gave NO grants.
20:38:45 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
Historically, we've been erratic on doling out grants
20:39:11 From Rachel Tanenhaus (she/her/hers) to Everyone:
I'm so glad that conversation actually happened and I didn't hallucinate it. I wasn't sure.
20:39:14 From Mike Sprague (he/him) to Everyone:
Historically people have been erratic about applying for them.
20:39:32 From Ilene Tatroe to Everyone:
Rachel .. maybe it's a shared hallucination?
20:39:48 From Rachel Tanenhaus (she/her/hers) to Everyone:
I've been involved in weirder things.
20:40:24 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
Historically, we are also reluctant to give multiple grants to the same entity. It's happened, but not often
20:41:53 From Melissa Kaplan she/her to Everyone:
I gotta head out. I'll check the minutes later.
20:44:48 From Jennifer (she/her) Fitzsimmons-Gauger to Everyone:
My internet keeps cutting out. And then zoom plays the audio on fast forward until I catch up, which is just weird.
20:45:13 From etana . to Everyone:
That is super weird, Jennifer!
20:45:23 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
If you have an issue with the poll you can send a chat to Phi
20:45:52 From Jennifer (she/her) Fitzsimmons-Gauger to Everyone:
The poll managed to come through ok
20:46:15 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
People can go to MICE and give money directly
20:46:24 From E. J. Barnes to Everyone:
Indeed!
20:47:44 From etana . to Everyone:
Arisia 2023 ConCom 8/25 at 7:30p
20:50:10 From etana . to Everyone:
Should we have flyers for world con or something?
20:50:36 From Sharon (she/her) to Everyone:
There is a donate button on https://www.micexpo.org/
20:50:37 From Lisa Hertel (she/they) to Everyone:
It will if I get copy
20:50:53 From Jennifer (she/her) Fitzsimmons-Gauger to Everyone:
Ok, that's the third time I've dropped in 10 mins. Giving up. See you all next month.
20:51:12 From etana . to Everyone:
Thanks Phi! Thanks everyone!