going forward from interim presentation

I proposed 4 directions:
1. paths of engagement at Vera
2. hosting dance events
3. making use of volunteers at AMP
4. all-ages music profitability

The two that resonated most were:
2. security, hosting dance events
ACTION: develop strategy for security management
- define something that can be scaled
- create something distributable
- through interviewing bouncers and professionals as well
CONSIDER: Adults going to events/venues merely get ids checked to prove they can be there, ie 21+. If they end up getting into a fight or what not, then its their problem. However, imagine the same thing, except instead of an adult, we have a 16 year old. Suddenly, the liability and blame if anything goes wrong is the responsibility of the venue.
ACTION: map differences and similarities of adult vs. youth relationship to venue(s)
- potential issues due to size
- differences in types, ie concerts vs. festivals
PROJECT POTENTIAL:
- models for how security issues arise due to various variables
- formalize categories


3. making use of volunteers at AMP

Case Study: The Capitol Hill Massacre

[wiki article here]

Who: 28-year-old Kyle Aaron Huff
What: shooting, killing six and wounding two
When: Saturday, March 25, 2006
Where: rave after party on Capitol Hill
Why: ?

Response:

The teen dance ordinance must be re-examined as our community takes a variety of necessary steps to better protect vulnerable teenagers and young adults.

[click here for editorial]

Counter-response:

"This is not about music, this is not about a party. This was about a guy who decided he was going to kill people and he had the firepower to do it," Nickels said.

[article here]


Take Aways:

• People are quick to blame the law and regulation, or lack thereof, regardless of evidence
• Once again, with the "vulnerable teenagers and young adults"... I discussed this topic in an earlier post.
  

Bit of History

The Teenage Dance Ordinate:

• 1985-2002
  
• Age limits: Underage dances (allowing those under 18 to attend) may only admit patrons age 15-20 unsupervised. Anyone younger would require a parent or guardian chaperone, anyone older would need to accompany a youth under 18.
• Security requirement: Two off-duty officers were required on premises, with one off-duty officer outside to patrol the area.
• Insurance: $1,000,000 in liability insurance;

Exemptions: Non-profits and schools were exempt from these restrictions.

Also, any event with dancing was considered a dance.

Justification:

Excluding adults from underage youth would create a "bubble of safety.

The "new" All Ages Dance Ordinate:
[click here for full text]

• replaced the Teenage Dance Ordinate
  
• a definition of a dance as an event where dancing is the primary activity intended
• allowing all-ages events to occur absent any alcohol served
• requiring only the requesting of off-duty officers at an event, to be granted by the Seattle Police Guild
• elimination of the $1 million insurance requiremen

Better? Yes. Good enough? Nope.

Quotes

Pink Death Zine interviews Greenhouse Music Hall

PDZ: Why is the underground so important to you?

Natron: Culturally speaking, it's the purest form of human creativity and perseverence. Once you start to grasp how far-reaching the 'underground' is and how many like-minded people there are out there doing really amazing things, ultimately similar things to what you are doing, you then realize just how important the underground scene is. It's like a comforting amoeba that's constantly being fed, and as a result things are always changing and fresh ideas are getting churned out in an almost cyclistic fashion. It's funny because as I type this, I hear an ad for the new John Mayer album playing on the TV in the background. There is a man that's coming from a world that is the exact polar opposite of what's happening in the DIY/underground scene right now here in America and around the world. Thinking about that, I can't help but wonder what kind of scene John Mayer came from.

Anyway, the DIY or 'underground' scene has pretty much changed my life, as well as changed my outlook on music, the industry, and so many other things. I believe that it's one of the most important things that we have in the world, culturally. I don't believe that the DIY approach to things will ever die, because it comes so natural to us. Humans will never lose their inate and instinctual thirst to create and construct. As long as we never lose that, the 'underground' will always live on.
Lastly, I truly believe that, in the end, it may just save us all.

When I first started doing this, it was simply for the love of music. Though it didn't take long for me to realize the positive impact we could have on the community, and I have always tried to make sure that we are constantly lifting up these amazing local institutions that are doing amazing things in the community, and really putting the spotlight on them. We are a CommUNITY, and the only way we are going to survive and get by is by taking care of each other.

House Of Zanzibar

Challenges of non-profits

1. Talent & Human Capital: a lot of the talent end up where the money is, and that is most definitely not at a non-profit.

2. Inadequate numbers of employees and volunteers

3. $

http://www.aicpa.org/Magazines+and+Newsletters/Newsletters/The+Practicing+CPA/September+2007/Challenges+Faced+by+Nonprofits.htm

Only because you treat them as such

Early in the last century an idea was popularized: teens were classified as “adolescents,” not as adults, as had previously been the case. As Dr. Robert Epstein has shown, in his convincing book, The Case Against Adolescence, the result of this infantilization has been almost wholly negative. We segmented teens away from adults, meaning their socialization into the adult world is delayed by years. This age compartmentalization continues until they graduate college, or graduate school. Often this results in physically mature adults acting emotionally like children much of the time. Since their socialization was continually in the hands of their peers they didn’t experience anything else.

In the past, many teens entered the workforce and quickly interacted with adults of all ages and ranks. Instead of being surrounded by their peers they were surrounded by experienced adults who were capable, through instruction and example, to show them how responsible, mature adults behave. It doesn’t take much reading of history to discover that teens of previous centuries, who accomplished great things, never realized they were supposed to act just like “big children.”
http://freestudents.blogspot.com/2009/04/assault-of-law-on-teenages-today.html

Even now, in college, we are definitely allowed to get away with things that we really should not...For example, I'm sure you've heard...

"It's not alcoholism until you're out of college."
"It's ok to be broke because you're a college student."

Can we stop treating perfectly capable human beings like little kids now? Thanks.

Another article here.