[Imc-finance] st louis response to finance list

[Sascha Meinrath]

Summary:  Support for IMC St. Louis proposal from the Urbana-Champaign 
IMC.

***

Hi all,

The Urbana-Champaign IMC supports the loan to IMC St. Louis for the
purchase of media equipment.  This proposal sets a very good precedent for
building resources in Indymedia, maintaining funding in our Global
accounts, supporting Indymedia initiatives, and creating a sustainable
financial structure.

While it is relatively easier within the Global North to raise funding for
projects (generally speaking), it is a mistake to assume that this applies
equally across _all_ projects.  IMC St. Louis has been an active
contributor to growing the IMC Network and supporting media activism.  
IMC St. Louis has been at the epicenter of community empowerment work in
their area (and was even raided by the police during the recent
Bio-Devestation conference).  Their funding has been stretched quite
thinly yet they have never asked for support from Global Indymedia before.  

It would be helpful to see a proposed payment plan for the funding, but 
this would be an easy way to utilize Global Indymedia funding to leverage 
additional Indymedia production and distribution, while not permanently 
lessening the funding available to the Network.

For these reasons the UCIMC supports the St. Louis IMC proposal and would 
like the IMC-Finance list to reconsider funding this loan.

--Sascha Meinrath
Urbana-Champaign IMC



On Mon, 15 Sep 2003, liz ~ wrote:

> here is the St. Louis IMC collective's response to the finance list regarding our
> request for funds:
> 
> A clarification of the situation in St Louis:
> 
> We no longer have access to a free projector, so it is not possible for us to
> continue video screenings and raise the money to buy our own projector.
> 
> We are currently investigating other organization which can provide a small loan of
> this nature, but none have worked out so far.
> 
> Right now the indymedia fund has $$20,796.85 in it and it is earning nothing in
> interest.  Because we propose to pay the money back at 6% interest, we feel that our
> proposal is not diverting resources away from the global south, but actually adding
> to the resources available for all Indymedias.
> 
> Also, building the infrastructure in St Louis to screen videos provides a venue for
> raising awareness about issues in the global south here in the U.S.... for example
> representatives from IMC Argentina travelling to St Louis to screen videos and have
> a dialogue with the audience.
> 
> IMC St Louis is eager to move beyond being a web-based resource.  We envision using
> our physical space at CAMP (http://www.stlcamp.org) to host media production and
> awareness workshops, as well as providing an outlet for various media and messages. 
> Video screenings are an easy and
> accessible way to intereact with our community and add legitimacy to our project in
> the eyes of the public given the recent police raids that took place at the World
> Agricultural Forum in May (see our features,
> http://www.stlimc.org).
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> 
> 
> 
>