There is Nothing New
Posted by: Michael Lee on: July 16, 2009
I’ve been doing a little bit of research over the past couple of years, and I see some examples of other organizations that are “like” what we are doing here. Some are in other fan communities, others in art communities, others may be in religious communities, and others are in the non-profit space generally.
This sort of activity isn’t even entirely unprecedented within the Twin Cities fannish community, even if the scale is bigger than before. The Gordon R. Dickson Memorial Scholarship Fund has been running for several years, and is probably the closest example in our community. The Minnesota Fan Alliance also ran for several years in the late 1990s, but that has been dormant for several years, and the scope of our plans here are much larger than calendar co-ordination.
- Massachusetts Convention Fandom, Inc.
- Southern California Institute for Fan Interests, Inc.
- Mindbridge
- Intermedia Arts
- mnartists.org
- Twin Cities Maker
- Minnesota Council of Churches
- Minnesota Council of Nonprofits
- Metropolitan Regional Arts Board
- United Way
One of the things that fan groups (at least in my experience) tend to mainly look to other fan groups and so they say something “can’t be done” when other groups do things like this all the time. I am not exempt in that particular form of tunnel vision and want to cast my net wider.
What other groups are you aware of that are “similar” to what we are looking at putting together here? We’re looking at groups that aren’t just focused on one event; organizations that are coalitions of other groups.
11 Responses to "There is Nothing New"
July 16, 2009 at 12:50 pm
This is a bit of a side question. I’ve been to Intermedia Arts tons of times. It’s a great space. I think it’s a good model to look at for the league. However, I’ve never been there for an art event. I’ve always been there because a technical or venture capital group has rented the space.
Is the line we draw the line between who uses the space for free and who pay rent to use the space? Or is rental something to avoid?
July 16, 2009 at 9:23 pm
I’ve seen a theatrical show or two at Intermedia Arts.
I believe that we would want to allow rentals.
July 16, 2009 at 3:26 pm
I’d say that rental should remain on the table as part of possible funding models.
Also, there’s a center for the literary arts in Minneapolis, Open Book, ( http://www.openbookmn.org/ ), which comes from the efforts of three different groups.
July 17, 2009 at 8:17 am
There are a lot of community spaces that use rental as a revenue source. I think that it is entirely possible local “geek” performers would be interested in such a space if it worked as a performance venue (I represent two of them).
How about Klingon weddings?
Obviously the line would need to be clearly drawn as to what constitues a “member” activity and would would constitue an activity that required rent, but I think that this idea would most certainly include both.
July 17, 2009 at 5:14 pm
It seems like the rent scale on spaces has more to do on if the rental is for a fellow non-prof, person, or commercial. The non-profits essentially getting the space at “cost” and commercial clients being a profit center (in particular compared to what a hotel would charge.)
July 27, 2009 at 2:29 pm
In fact that aspect, summed up on the web page as “To promote accord in Twin Cities fandom by having a project that various fan clubs and individual fans can work on together” is one of the main reasons I decided to work with the Gordon R. Dickson Memorial Scholarship Fund. Community building is also something I tried to strive for when I was doing the MnStf hotline. Even my convention listing page was somewhat motivated by the idea that having people, and especially convention runners, know about the conventions that were going on in the area was something that could help build community.
August 19, 2009 at 11:12 am
MCFI isn’t an organization-of-organizations; it’s just another face of the social group underlying NESFA. I suspect the same can be said for SCIFI. A better model for the org-of-orgs is something like the Carl Brandon Society.
August 19, 2009 at 4:35 pm
That would be The Carl Brandon Society for anyone interested. Wonderful!
August 19, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I appreciate the information, especially the reference to the Carl Brandon Society! I jumped to that earlier conclusion about MCFI with the following sentence: “MCFI’s membership is drawn from most of the convention-running groups in the Boston area, with members involved in Arisia, Boskone, Readercon, and MASSFILC.”
Jon Olsen
Michael Lee
Lex Larson
uberhill
stuckintraffik
July 16, 2009 at 10:05 am
This isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, but I’ve been meaning to ask you* if you’ve ever read “Who Are You People?” (Shari Caudron. It’s avalable on -yech- Amazon). It’s about various types of “fan” groups. Barbie collectors, Pigeon racers, Furries, etc. I think there’s a pretty remote possibility that you’d find any examples of what you’re looking for, but it’s a good read.
_____
*Actually, I meant to ask Jon, but this might be something everbody involved would enjoy.