Burlington Writers Workshop Leadership Team Meeting Minutes, 7/16/23*
*Approved: 8/13/2023
Key action items bolded and underlined.
Meeting convened at 6:34 PM
Attendees: Janet Mckeehan-Medina (Co-Chair), Katie Lazarus (Co-Chair), Dick Matheson (Treasurer), Millie Eidson (Secretary), Sam Fenner (Managing Director), Jon Fenner (Comms Team), Julie Hay (Board member), Jane Nevins (Board member, Fundraising)
Sam
- Book sale of stored books leftover from Starksboro Library for the Green Mountain Book Festival? Donate them.
- CLA
- Good participation in 2023 launch in person and online
- We still have about 800 MSRs and CLAs stored from previous years
- Of 2023 CLA edition, most sold
- Hotel VT would like our books in their rooms; they’re good at showcasing Vermont Products
- Have a big sticker on them, or a paper bag, to invite donations. It would be good to make stickers internally on own computer printer—cheaper and easier to do. Inside front cover—any way to have it stick up to have it show? Could be difficult. Donate 2013-2018 editions. Do it with Hotel VT first as a pilot to determine how much work it will take to pull it off. QR code can include tracking for the source of the donations.
- Some extra non-BWW books stored with CLAs and MSRs. Donate to Goodwill or Resource Center.
- Contest Format
- Outlined format fine.
- Is there a risk of cannibalizing readers to judge the contests, so they’re not available for CLA or MSR?
- More volunteer readers have come forward than are needed for MSR, so could be available to read and judge contests. Sam will look for readers before starting the contest, beginning with short story. Evaluate how it worked before starting another. Aim for August start.
- 4 genres: could run 3x a year. We’re not printing the work of the winners so quicker turnaround for review and awards.
- Winners’ work will be posted on website, and will give them one of previous BWW books as a prize; helps to cross-promote MSR and CLA.
- Readers can’t submit their own work to the same contest for which they read submissions.
- Content advisory
- Add option for members not to attend any part of a workshop that may be offensive or triggering.
- Add general advisory for EventBrite workshop pages. Option: “This work is intended for an adult audience, and may contain language, characters, themes, and content that are offensive or triggering to some readers.” Approved.
- Challenging to know what might upset someone else. Use common sense for ones more likely.
- Is there a list to checkoff, like used for movie ratings?
- Participants could determine, when reading a piece, if they personally need to stop and no longer read.
- No intent to censor what’s written. Important that BWW is an open organization that encourages delving into deep, complex, challenging subjects.
- Book Trigger Warnings:List of Trigger Warnings – Book Trigger Warnings provides a long list. Include this link on the workshop pages after the general information, with a suggestion that authors consider adding, as a courtesy to others, something to the top of their piece if any of these issues are included. Sam can develop proposed wording for this part.
- Write an article about this issue on the website, invite comments.
- EventBrite
- Corrupted links, removed passwords and didn’t work, so people couldn’t get into workshops; straightened out now.
- Some formatting issues of hosts not doing things the same way.
- Half of our hosts are still not checking people in. Helps provide statistics on participation.
- Poetry path
- Panels were posted before Intervale flooding.
- Will check soon to see if they’re still there, and determine when to announce the path is available.
- Establish a website location for approved policies.
Sam and Janet
- Ethics committee update: 3 members
- Code of conduct from another workshop, will review to draft our own
Jane Nevins
- Funding Group meeting in July
- Operating grant was a lot of work; still awaiting word if awarded.
- End-of-year campaigns being considered.
Adjourned: 7:30 PM Date for next LT meeting: August 16, 2023.
