In attendance were:
- All 8 board members (CANO, Guy, Matt, Eric, Shutterbug, Koda, April, and Brett)
- All 4 officers (CANO, president; Guy, vice president; Shutterbug, treasurer; Robert, secretary)
- Five Ignition members and three community members were also present, as well as two candidates for the board member position (Khadija and Kingpin)
For those of you who were too busy Tebowing on Sunday to attend, don’t forget to thank a board member!
Public Comments
Community art fair: James Whiddon submitted a budget request to the board for the Community Art fair Feb 18th and 19th at GuildWerks. Caroline represented James at the meeting and spoke on his behalf. After much discussion, the board voted to provide $100 to GuildWerks to hold the event if it is combined with the annual town hall meeting. James will decide whether to accept the money and combine the two events or hold his event separately from the town hall. The board also voted to provide $200 for Community Art Fair schwag to promote the arts at Apogaea.
Placement concerns: Michael Yancey spoke representing a group of longtime burners (Gypsy love bus, which has merged with the naughty bus) who are concerned about where they can camp in their RVs at Apogaea. This group wants to find a better way for RVs to coexist with Apo and they want to offer to help with the solution. There was a dedicated RV camping area last year but it was close to the sound camps and the sound was very disruptive.
Michael was assured that he and his group are welcome at Apogaea and the board will work with them to find a solution. Michael will communicate closely with placement (Kat Aszreeal) to figure out where his group can camp. Michael has experience with acoustics and offered to help the sound lead figure out the best placement for the sound camps to minimize the extent that sound reverberates through the event and to the neighbors. [Major props to Michael for taking the initiative to come to the board meeting and voice his concern, and to the board for listening respectfully, giving his opinions full consideration, and working with him to find a solution. This is what it’s all about, folks!]
Center Camp and Coffee: Flaming Art requested feedback on the last board meeting summary and on his communication with the community in general. He also mentioned that the last board meeting summary sparked a lot of discussion among the community about coffee at center camp. He suggested that if coffee may be sold we should invite community feedback first. Amelia Graycen (who was later ratified as Center Camp Infrastructure Lead) has not made any decisions on coffee but is aware of the conversation on the Facebook group and will seek feedback from the community.
New Business
Officer liability insurance policy: Eric reported that the insurance company wanted to raise the deductible to 5K before agreeing to the conflict of interest policy. Eric refused the deal; he will get our money back and find a new policy.
Communications team update: Koda announced that the new Apogaea website will go live before the next board meeting. The site will have new graphics and is hosted on a new server that is free for non-profit groups. Traffic on our website has been steadily increasing.
Effigy proposal review: Rev. Tommy Tommy Tommy presented the single effigy proposal received by the art grant committee. The committee liked the proposal, but the artist requested additional funding for space to build the piece. The board had previously discussed funding space to build the effigy but decided not to grant additional money. The artist was given the option of accepting the $3000 grant with no additional funds or turning down the grant.
Important update! The effigy grant was declined, so the effigy art grant cycle has reopened! Proposals are due by midnight, January 19th!
- Read about effigies.
- Read an interview with Apo effigy and temple builders.
- Read about the art grant and funding process.
Review org chart and ratify new leads: Open Ignition positions are: signs, waivers, parking daily leads (one more), and grant writer. Art will update the document listing open positions on the website as soon as he crawls out from under this pile of pending posts.
Election of New Board Member
There were two candidates for the open board position: Khadija and Kingpin. The candidates introduced themselves and there was an open question and answer period. Your faithful community liaison asked a bunch of questions before remembering that he has no vote :-/. The board retired to the next room and had a private discussion, after which there was a secret ballot to elect the newest board member.
And the winner is… Kingpin! Kingpin has been to two burns and wants to be more involved. He was a ranger last year at Apogaea and at Burning Man this year. He was very impressed with Apogaea and saw the board position as an opportunity to get involved. He works as a consultant, currently with a nonprofit. He says, “With the Burning Man cap, there is more attention on regionals and they are becoming more important. I want to see what we are doing now. It was a really neat experience last year and I was really impressed by how it captured the Burning Man experience.” Welcome aboard!
Khadija was immediately offered the position of Radical Inclusion Lead, for which she seems particularly suited. Khadija has been to Apogaea three times, and 2011 was her first Burning Man experience. She is an artist and graphic designer and wants to be involved with local burners. Since 2001, she has been involved in the Arab and Muslim community, ACLU, director for a Quaker organization, and counseled prisoners. Khadija says, “I feel like Apogaea and Burning Man had a majority of white people. I am trying to get the Arab American community involved. I would like to see more diversity in Apogaea. I don’t know how successful I will be but I am trying to spread the word.” Welcome to the team, Khadija!
Schwag Update [everybody loves schwag!]
April will be meeting with Jesse (volunteer schwag lead) soon to go over ideas. April and Jesse will make a list of possible schwag items before the next board meeting. Everybody who does a volunteer shift at the event will get a schwag item, and there may be multiple tiers with cooler stuff for those who work more.
Land contract: Eric is arranging a personal meeting with Bart to go over the contract. The sheriff has not responded to requests for a meeting. Eric will make the contract contingent on local law enforcement approval.
Budget approval: The board unanimously approved the 2012 budget as proposed by Shutterbug.
And finally, the news you have been waiting for:
Event date:
The dates for Apogaea 2012 are June 7th – 10th
(pending permits and contracts, but there is no reason to think it will be changed)
Ticket prices will not change!! [Because the board loves us <3]
Until next time, make more Flaming Art!