Event:2015/07/11 Commons Working Group

Omni Commons Working Group July 11, 2015 Event Rentals Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BXxNRMsfXNS93sUfToc_0iUwktK31EBUpnh6hVFwiVM/edit#gid=511524887

Attendees

• Ben, remote-jenny, Laura, Noemie, yar, Barrett

Pending Events

• Rehearsals for GENERATION OF DREAMS - never got back to me, deleting
• Heart of Community Dinner: Living Sustainably Together in Oakland - DZ is PP
• Rehearsal for Story of Gina - Sarah is PP
• Feminist Brunch - yar is PP, update? They're excited needs instructions on how to use the sound system. Will do it with Matt after the meeting. Will record.
• Fundraiser for Legal Fees - Noemie is PP, update?
• Solidarity Cafe: Help Malcolm Stay Afloat - not offering omni any cash, planning to serve alcohol, amplified sound and 50+ people. This may be a good one to practice saying "NO, sorry, we don't have the capacity for these kind of events if they're not offering omni anything in return" We cant get an ABC permit until the ballroom fire sign off. Yar would be willing to PP.
• Restorative Yoga with Props and Massage - Jenny emailed 7/6, hasn't heard back
• DxE Meetups - weekly sat morning direct action animal liberation meetups, would need to give them an access card. Offering $20+. PP? Matt Senate
• Youth Pickle Co Fundraiser and Celebration of Lorena - Phat Beets, needs PP or should we just talk with Max about best practices? Max is willing to be a point person for the two pickle events. We should follow up with him on what it means for him to be a point person. Matt will follow up with him.
• Ligure Club Meeting - Laura will gather more information.
• Takun Takun (“move -move”/”Shake it “in Farsi) Persian DJ Dance Party Fundraiser - Noemie is PP
• Benefit for the Free Speech Stage in People’s Park 9/28. Ben and/or Anka? Noemie will ask Anka.
• Lyn Hejinian - Stephen is PP, happening next spring
• Dragon - added omni and john to his insurance
• Big lender wants to do an event with bread and puppet at the Omni. They will fill out the form, and want to do it in October. Matt Laura and Noemie are interested in helping. It will probably be private and ticket based. Sounds great.

Discussion

• Mara's event last night - a good number of empty beer bottles and a cool

er full of booze was found; a number of people were drinking on the sidewalk. Thinking we should put a hold on parties and shows until we're in a better place wrt permits and public perception, thoughts?

• Digital Detox coverage - Jenny and Dragon offered to be there day of last week, anyone else interested? would be good to have an omni crew. Need sound tech. Will offer Sean L, Matt, Liz.
• Barrett joined the finance working group and was asked to be a bridge between finance wg and commons wg so finance can follow up on the money after events. Could he have a login to occupy? - yay! done, Jenny sent him a username and password. Thanks!
  • As soon as you have confirmation that an event is happening, inform Barrett and let him know how much the organizers owe so he can put out an invoice. There will be one invoice for the deposit and one for the event.
  • See how to record events that aren't charged. To keep track of events and how much they would be paid. Some events we're not charging for but we have a cleaning deposit.
  • Yar has a lingering objection of interactions in the building
  • Matt: We have to report to the IRS. We can put it on the sudo room calendar.

Rose and Thorns about our practices as a cwg

• Matt, rose: magical, it's beautiful thing that we didn't let the cooptation happen. Could have been only private sex parties controlled by few. We would have made more money. There was a period of time when folks were seeing this as an opportunity to change the structure the way they want. Thorn: it's come at the cost of a lot of suffering. Folks on the working group trying to hold it down and doing this extra labor. Lot of miscommunications. Lot of expectations. Some omni people don't understand how important it is to take care of their own events. Bad practices, good practices gone awry.
• Yar: some of this content went over my head. passing for now
• Barrett: happy to be part of this. Delicate task to make this standardized.
• Ben: Rose, you are all amazing. Making something beautiful exist. Really happy to be a part of it. Thorn: punctunality. Those meetings should start at 1pm.
• Jenny: apologized for being late. I don't want to use the format. I think our biggest issue is not saying no more often to events that are going to be a ton of labor for little in return. Offer to people who offer to have events to join the wg. Another big issue is keeping track of the contracts, deposits... On the technical side we can improve the system. If anyone else is interested in talking about flow. A more automated process for the contracts being filled out through the submissions so we can electronically follow up. See if we can create a viable booking system that can be used for other groups. Putting a hold on shows that will create boozy atmospheres outside.
• Noemie: Enjoys working with awesome people in this group, good way to contribute. Felt somewhat exploited at events she's been a point person for. Wants to document things better to create precedents... better to have a buddy, wants to be a buddy for new people. Wants to continue the conversation next week with others who couldn't make it today. what's our criteria for saying no?
• Yar: My experience is when you're trying to organize something, the fact that venues want money influences the kind of organizing you do. Want Omni to enable different kinds of organizing that aren't about money, enable people to have free events. People who just want to have events will smell money on us and attempt to have them for free. Ideally we'd be an available space people can use to do the things they want to do, no one demanding you pay the rent for them

Brainstorm

Problems

• Overload / overwork
  • Punctuality -->
  • Dropped Balls
  • Resentment
  • Tension
• Volume of events
• Legal / bureaucratic issues
  • Insurance
• Cultural Expectations
  • What kind of events do we want to have?
  • Making 40% of expenses up w/ events

Solutions

• Mentorship
• Improve documentation
  • Zine for new volunteers
  • "So you wanna have an event at Omni?" one-pager
    • Issues we're facing
    • Cultural expectations
  • Fees / pricing
  • A/V walkthrough
• Sober events for now
  • Less cleanup
  • Less city inspection risk
  • Improves public perception
  • More aligned with our aims
• Research other venues' models and policies
• Articulate variation of roles and responsibilities
  • Paid event production collective?
  • Paid maintenance collective?
• $ - Focus on just a few large events/month

Prepare next week's session:

• Followup on discussion of how to improve commons wg practices, particularly from those who weren't present the meeting prior
• Check-in on thing people volunteered to work on
  • A/V walkthrough (Noemie)
  • Research on other venues (Ben)
  • One-pager of having events here (Jenny)
  • Sober events for now (Matt)

Action Items

• Ask Sean L to host a sound training (Jenny) - Sean L will not respond to messages, will try email.
• Call Disco Room neighbors to see when would be a good time to test sound (Jenny) - still need to connect to neighbors. Event held in basement
• Upgrade website to show photos of the different spaces and 'pitch' them better (Jenny)
• Research other venues' models (eg http://mccatheater.com/facility-rentals/ ) (jenny/niki)