[Seattle-editorial] GENERAL MEETING NOTES FOR 12/16/03

[sheri at speakeasy.org]

hi,
here are the notes i took from our last big meeting.  please review and amend and add and read :)
see you all soon.
in solidarity,
sheri

IMC General Meeting December 16, 2003
Facilitated by Margo Adair and Bill Aal

The meeting was well attended by community members, including folks from ETS!, 911 Media Arts, SCAN, and older members and current members: Bill, Margo, Joyce, Walt, Syd, Lance, Jason, Benjamin, Susan, Devin, Jenny, Siv, Wendy, Joseph, Daniel, Brenna, Jeff, Karen, Bryce, Jill, Jonathan, Judy, Gentry, Sheri, Rick. 

Several decisions were made during the meeting:

1.	LIHI:	We agreed to immediately pay LIHI $7,000 toward our back rent (the Seattle IMC owes LIHI $14,206 for rent and utilities through 2003). We also to let them know we would like them to pursue finding a tenant asap and that we would pay our full debt owing. We are currently committed to pay rent through May 31, 2004. As soon as they find a tenant, we can move out and stop paying rent. It is not clear how long this might be because current vacancy rates in the Seattle downtown area is around 16%. . 

2.	FOLLOW UP MEETING:	We will meet again with Bill and Margo to follow up with this meeting on January 13, 2004..

3.	PROPOSALS:		Margo asked before the next meeting, people work in affinity groups to come up with proposals pertaining to where they would like to see the IMC go and concrete ideas for how to get there. 

SMALL GROUP BREAKOUT:  What’s needed now? How to move forward? 

We broke into small groups and spent some time on these questions and came up with several responses per group. These are not in any kind of prioritized list, just how they were put up on the whiteboards.

1.	Close space/make media.
2.	End villainization/implement conflict resolution policies.
3.	Locate bookkeeper immediately.
4.	Clarify structure, process and documentation.
5.	Wrap-up responsibly, hibernate for reawakening.
6.	Put IMC to sleep to allow for reimagining of media-making
7.	Seed another active space in Seattle for media-making
8.	6-months hiatus except for tech and editorial working.
9.	Move into an inexpensive space, immediately available.
10.	Improve practice and culture of membership.
11.	Look at new structures, boards and employees and other practices that work.
12.	Become a community resource “owned” by the community.
13.	Have an explicit agreement for process and committee review of financial record-keeping.
14.	Daylight and confront harmful rumours.
15.	Go to a coalition membership.
16.	Empower working groups for more autonomy.
17.	Live within our means.
18.	If we come up with new structures and to do’s, do them!

Some themes:

- some process/structural issues
- need for a hiatus/rest/sleep
-  stopping the “villainizing” of others – asking ourselves what won’t happen in the future and what it would look like to have constructive communication.

Small Group Recommendations for encouraging more positive communication within the IMC:
·	Members or allies are not accused of things publicly without asking them personally about things before hand (this goes for internal email lists as well as columns in local papers)
·	Have a clear process for where to go with your concerns (implement and use our conflict resolution policy)
·	No more mean spirited language (even though this can be defined differently from person to person; so need to come up with some standards we all agree on).

Facilitator’s comments:

·	We should hold each other accountable and we should help each other do that; it’s a collective responsibility.
·	Accusations are not the same as conflict.  Conflicts are normal and can be places of creative fusion; we will have differences of opinion.
·	Create an atmosphere of trust – people are trying their best; people may do something that pisses me off, but I may go on and think why they said what they said.
·	We need to develop more of a spirit of cooperation.
·	These things are enshrined in our governing documents but just agreeing to it doesn’t mean we’ll always do it.  When someone is operating in a way that is not constructive, you can say something.

Closing down the current space gracefully

We all agreed that because of our ongoing financial situation (not bringing in enough money to pay rent each month and not having enough collective energy behind a current fundraising plan), we need to move out of the 1415 Third Avenue space in a graceful way.  We define graceful by paying what we owe and being responsible to our landlords.  There was a show of hands of people who wanted to help move out when it comes to that.  About 2/3rds of the people raised their hands saying they would help.  

Bill asked people if they were willing to commit some energy to getting the IMC through this tough spot.  This is a collective responsibility, not just for a handful of people.  We must all pay what we owe based on the lease we signed with LIHI several years ago.  

We discussed having a work party and people agreeing to take on certain tasks.

Decision-making Process

For the interim, we will use our interim spokescouncil and invite others to join that process.  We need to be able to make decisions.  It was decided by all the people present that what felt most comfortable for the moment was to not make any decisions until the January 13, 2004 meeting.  If decisions need to be made before then, they would be announced to the IMC-Seattle list so there is transparency.  

Next Meeting January 13, 2004

The next big meeting will be 1/13 and will have two main parts:  (1) discussion around the various proposals for moving forward and how, taking a break/hiatus or putting the IMC to sleep; and (2) conflict resolution.  

Some questions that were posed by the facilitators:

1.  What would have to happen to be really inspired to move forward?
2.  What needs to be done to create more trust?
3.  What’s getting in the way of moving forward?
4.  What conflicts need to be resolved to move forward – individual ones and group ones?  
5.  What differences are there between viable conflicts and interpersonal differences?

Business to be Dealt with

Annual report – needs to be signed and paid for by 12/31/03.  Devin, Walt and Rick will take this on.  Sheri will cut a check.

Pay LIHI – and let them know that we want to make good on our obligations and we ask that they begin to find a suitable tenant to move in as soon as possible.  We will be responsible for the rent each month until that happens.

Space Options

Joyce gave a report on various space options that are very cheap or possibly free.  One is a large space that we could use for events and screenings for the next 12 months.  Joyce has a larger report that she has shared in smaller general meetings and would like to present these various options at the next meeting 1/13/04, but she can’t attend that.  Hopefully someone who has been working on this aspect of moving forward will have a report to share.

Communicating

We were encouraged to take a break from using the lists for a while and also not to rely on email but to use the phone J

Peace everyone,

Sheri
The unofficial note taker