Event:2016/01/21 Delegates Meeting

Omni Delegates' Meeting - January 21st, 2016

Who's Here?

• Rachel - Global Womens Strike
• Matt - Sudo Room
• Maggie - Birdhouse
• Joel - TIL
• Emji - TIL + MPM
• Maryann - Chiapas Support
• Joe - FNB
• Ian - MPM
• Chloe - MPM
• robb - Sudo
• Spencer - The Mess
• Sang? - The Mess
• Renee - The Mess
• Jenny - sudo/wgs
• Marc - sudo/ccl

Meeting Roles

• Facilitator/s: rachel
• Explanation of hand signals: "deaf applause", "raised hand", "point of process", "direct response"(wildcard), etc.
• Stacktaker: Joel
• Timekeeper: Joe
• Notetaker/s: Emji + Matt
  • URL of this pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom
• Vibe Reader: Jenny
• Next weeks facilitator(s): Jenny

Delegates

• BAPS: inactive
• BH: active - Maggie
• BS: active - Thunder
• CCL: inactive until next mtg - Marc
• CSC: inactive - José
• FNB: active - Joe
• GWS: active - Rachel
• MPM: inactive until next mtg - Ian
• LL: active
• Sudo: active - Matt
• TIL: active - Joel
• Quorum: yes - 6/8 active collectives

Introductions

Introduce yourself: Name; Prefered Pronoun; Affiliation; Relationship to caffeine

Announcements

• Timeless, Infinite Light and SALTA (former omni member collective) are having an event with performances by writers and dancers at LOBOT! 1800 Campbell street Fri Jan 29th 8-10pm with dance party after
• Birdhouse - Open Engagement Conference Fri apr 29th all day. interdisciplinary / omni tours , get involved!
  • Usually held in other cities, this year it's in Oakland, mainly going to be at the Oakland Museum of California, but there is one day of fringe events, and BirdHouse is hosting one of such.
  • "Open Engagement" - http://openengagement.info/oakland-2016/

Working Group Report-Backs

Building & permits

Meetings: Mondays at 8pm

• This group needs help; https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/building
• Need donations of black paint (for exterior blue and ballroom black), drywall mud,

Commons

Meetings: Second and Fourth Thursdays at 7pm

Finance

Meetings: Every other Thursday at 7pm

• we will have feb rent paid!

• Not too much to report
• Same defecit
• Plan to take care of february rent with personal loan.
• Jenny sent out invoices this month
  • If you paid your feb invoice, that's great, if not -- do it.
• Finance + Fundraising are coming together to do the tax stuff, find ways to get grant money, and we're pretty optimistic?
• That's it.

Buy the Building

Meetings: Mondays at 5:00pm

• working on mortgage application, need help,
• progress on executive summary, talked with mortgage broker, more info by next week.
• if you have a million $ lying around let us know, that would be better than being in debt.
• mortgage broker is twin brother of Kiva, who is launching a new us website for micro-loans, interest free. they want to help us. let matt know. we will put together budget to get commercial kitchen and ballroom retrofitted to be able to bring in $, this will make our mortgage application strong. we could do a fundraising campaign at the same time to help pay off the loan sooner. proposal soon. fnb and phat beets is interested in helping with the kitchen, we need someone to project manage/bottomline for the ballroom. ICE MACHINE! ok

CCL proposal

Counter Culture Labs is getting a donation that includes a liquid handling robot (not sure exactly what the dimensions are yet but something like 5' by 5'). We would like some space in the basement for this robot. Possibly the corner on the right next to the couches near the entrance to the basement. Probably between 8' by 8' and 10' by 10'. We would build a transparant enclosure and any CCL member who has passed a basic safety quiz will have access. The robot is for automating biological experiments by moving small amounts of liquids (microliters) between different machines (incubators, centrifuges, PCR machine, etc).

• This is the robot (but ours is a bigger version): http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/content/kgo/images/cms/382983_1280x720.jpg

• temporarily put it in corner right of the stiars?
• how much rent?
• footprint: 5x5' with a few feet around it to work
• wouldn't significantly alter the use codes for the basement ('business use')
• rob: sublease space from mpm? pay omni?
• joe: tape out the space with masking tape
• maggie: how much sq ft is mpm vs rent , calculate based on that, 1/6 mpm = $100 / marc - that seems fair
• chloe: omni asked black hole for $400 for the whole space right of the stairs?

• Proposal: To temporarily store a robot within a 10' x 10' square at the bottom of the basement staircase, on the righthand side, adjacent to the plumbing access hole. Then, to install the robot in a more permanent location in the basement (TBD). Consensus on this on Feb 3rd.

MPM Proposal to Move out of Omni by Feb 29th, 2016 :-(

This Sunday, MPM collectively decided that we will move out of Omni by the end of February. There are multiple reasons for this decision: we have been struggling to make the rent + utilites/fees, no one was willing to sign the sublease, and many of the core-organizers are feeling too burnt-out / exhausted to keep the project going at its current capacity. Collective members expressed both sadness and relief at this decision. Our hope is that we can leave on good terms, with minimal impact to the Omni community. Please take a look at the proposal below:

• MPM will move out of our space by Feb 29th, 2016 and will no longer be a collective member of Omni
• We will pay Omni the amount that we currently owe ($1,459) by Feb 29th, but will not be able to pay the upcoming rent or utilities/fees for the month of February
• We will use this time period (now through the end of February) to coordinate moving our equipment out of Omni and to raise the amount we owe and have scheduled a fundraiser for Feb 20th to help raise the money for this

Discussion

• Ian: Nothing anyone in the omni did - it was a project that came out of the momentum of omni starting. it's been about a year now and we never quite got enough momentum to continue.
• Emji: two classic bay area problems - money, and people doing too much. we could make rent but utilities cost pushed us over the edge. people hosting open hours every week for a small number of people were feeling tired and burnt out.
• Rent Roll -- attempted to rectify based on what groups are paying for, create a pro-rated utilies contribution: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O8nDyJsiMzCanXFyllUUrjG5ergodGnJVkWljew6-eA/edit?usp=sharing
• Having a liquidation sale on Feb 21st

• email materialprintmachine@gmail.com if you have any questions
• matt will be abstaining, because it wasn't run by sudo room - but is generally in support
• ian - if any collective needs to take more time to respond to this, that seems fine
• next meeting is on the 3rd

PROPOSAL: it is appropriate to consider today the 30 days notice, and will do consensus process around this on the Feb 3rd

Yes - TIL, GWS, FNB, MPM, BS, BH NO - nope Abstain - SUDO, CSG

• • • Passes***

ADA Bathroom

TIL has a question about accessibility.

Hosting an event on Feb 20th on disability issues - what needs to happen to finish the bathroom?

• grab bars need to be installed
• light switch needs to be installed
• holes in the wall need to be drywalled
• talk to yar and joe for hel[

response from yar

Yar is adding this response from the future. Please don't call it "ADA" - it's meant to be a wheelchair accessible bathroom and has nothing to do with the 1990 US law called ADA. Those steps above are misleading. Side grab bar is already installed. Rear grab bar CANNOT be installed until wall is closed up, which is a major job, and closing up the walls is ALSO waiting on getting the electrical work done for the lightswitch. The lightswitch is step #1. Also, toilet paper dispenser must be installed precisely according to our CASp report.

Mess Sketch Comedy Troupe Application

1. Mission Statement

THE MESS is a theatre troupe and collective of writers, dancers, singers, actors, and mischiefmakers who are out to do comedy that is a reflection of the Bay Area’s diverse culture.

2. Origin and Group History

THE MESS is a sketch comedy troupe based in California's East Bay with writers, dancers, singers, actors, and mischief makers from all over the globe. In Fall 2011, Renée LeVesque and a group of theatre folks began hosting a weekly pirate radio show on Radio Valencia in San Francisco. What they quickly discovered is that doing live action theatre was their real passion. They began asking the question, what if instead of trying to convince a big theatre to do a show we liked, we just did our own show with people whose work we enjoyed? What if we cast people who were not only great actors, but willing to take risks and perform parts they normally wouldn’t get cast for? What if we created a room for comedy writers that was welcoming, where they could collaborate on scripts rather than compete for stage time? The group rented space for trade at Chez Poulet, a warehouse in San Francisco’s mission district. They rehearsed, pooled their resources, and on Valentine’s Day 2012 put on their very first show at Stage Werx SF.

As of 2015, the group has moved to the East Bay, expanded its troupe to include over 30 performers, directors, writers, and designers. Each show is a collective effort with each member contributing to the performance from its creation to final bow. Everyone works, everyone participates, everyone has a seat at the comedy table with a focus on performances that celebrate the Bay Area’s diversity, and create immersive comedic experiences with a lean toward the theatrical.

3. How would you participate in and contribute to the Omni?

THE MESS would like to be the house performance troupe at The Omni Commons. To us that would mean participating in open houses, community outreach and any other collective activity that The Omni hosts. We would also have representatives participate in improving/repairing the Ballroom Space, the Disco Room, and helping to maintain the other common spaces. THE MESS would also host workshops, classes, and performances at The Omni to increase interest and appreciation for the space itself and for the collectives that call the Omni home.

4. How does your collective support itself financially? What would you be able to afford in rent?

THE MESS sells tickets to each show at the rate of $15 plus (sliding scale). Our ticket sales average 40-60 people per performance. We plan to use ticket sale revenue to help the Omni with its expenses. A tpresent, we can afford $300 per month total plus a share of the common expenses such as utilities. If we are able to increase programing in 2016 (shows, workshops, etc.), we would be able to discuss contributing more.

5. What are your space needs, especially for dedicated (locked or not shared) space?

Ideally, we would like to steward, share and help improve and maintain the Disco Room. Essentially, our typical needs are average 3 to 4 nights a week in the evenings from approximately 6PM to 10PM.

In addition, we would volunteer to help coordinate the calendar for other events that the Collective, Delegates and Commons wish to hold in the Disco room. Improvements, we would like to build include a locked cabinet (approx. 8 feet x 8 feet) in the Disco Room to store equipment, props, and costumes.

Any other improvements we can help assist to support the Omni in renting out the space to other groups in the community.

6. Statement of Solidarity

We, The Mess agree and are committed to the Omni Collective’s shared political vision of more equitable communing of resources and meeting human needs over private interests or corporate profit. If accepted as a member collective, we promise to adhere to the Collectives’ solidarity and anti-capitalist political perspective. The Mess has always and will continue to practice openness, diversity and community through the arts and in general practice.

7. Additional Information https://www.facebook.com/EastBayMess/?fref=ts http://sketchmess.com

mess.sketch@gmail.com Renée LeVesque - Rabble Rouser - rmlevesque@gmail.com - Cell: 951.533.0508 Spencer Bainbridge - Head Writer Sang S. Kim - Production Manager

Discussion

• Joe: How many performances, where they are, writing, etc
  • Hoping to perform the last weekend in March, on a Friday/Saturday, and set up a few days before that in the ballroom, then rehearsals before that over the course of 3 weeks. Tend to be in the evenings (7-10pm) on weekdays and flexible on weekends. Writing process already taking place; we're happy to bring it in. Hope to be in the Disco Room - we're loud as balls and don't want to disturb anyone - but flexible on location as well (ballroom, basement).
    • Marc: Lots of sound bleeding from the Disco Room into sudo/ccl
    • Thunder: We're below that space - bottom part of the floor is really loud for Birdhouse, the stage is fine
      • Will only be using the stage. We rented out the DR back in Nov for a full week.
• Matt: Can you share your calendar with us?
• Mess: a show every 3 months (4x/year), on that third month, rehearsal every evening for 3 weeks, the last week (hell week) is must be every evening on the stage 7-10, and then a performance at the end of the month.
  • Can you share your calendar with us?
    • A show every 3 months, on the third month there's evening rehearsal, and a performance at the end of the month.
  • How many times per year do they need to use the disco room for 7-nights per week for 3 weeks?
    • 4 times per year
    • Never /have/ to be in the disco room, can always move
    • For stage, need a solid week use for stage, no ability. 1 week 4 times a year.
  • Are they open to help to steward / retrofit the disco room, but also to make it usable for other renters / acts in the future, especially weekends?
• help steward the disco room: drywall/soundproofing, and fix the flooring
• We typically do 2-3 shows, pulling in 60 people a night at $10-15
• 4 full weeks out of each year in the ballroom
• Can pay $500/month total including utilities -- proposal says $300
• Matt: Think we should defer the decision on this to the Commons Working Group
• Jenny: We have event requests for March 5, 19 and 26, but April 1-2 is free!
  • That seems appropriate

Consensus:

• Yes - TIL, FNB, CSG, BS, BH, GWS
• No -
• Abstains - SUDO, MPM

• • • Passes*** The Mess is now a Member Collective!!!

End of Meeting

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