This is how we conduct our meetings. Gathered around a small computer and looking amazed at what Lesley is pointing to.Present: Jen, Haerin, Janice, Lesley. Regrets: Justine
From our meeting on Thursday, Sept. 28, we discussed the following:
Deadlines- Artist registration will begin Wednesday, Oct. 3 and ends Fri., Nov. 3.
- This gives us 2 full weeks to prepare for the presentation and set-up of the artwork for Sat. Nov. 18, the day of the concert and auction
- Online bidding? A possibility, but if it were to occur, online bidding would start on Friday, Nov. 3 and go on until 12:00 p.m. on November, 18.
- The auction will officially end 20 minutes after the end of the concert
- Buyers will have 2 weeks to pay for their artwork, by cash or cheque
Website- Jen and Thien met the other day to discuss the silent art auction website
- Lots of ideas for showcasing the artwork to be auctioned, but questions in terms of whether we'll be able to pull it off on time
- Current blogger.com blog not adequate for all of the things we'd like to put on a website; e.g. it's not good to have the blog and the artwork up for auction posted in the same blog--it's difficult to separate the two things out using blogger.com
- Decided to set up a website on the torntomeds domain since Thien has access to TorontoMeds
- Launch date of the new auction website: Wednesday, October 3rd
- New website URL: http://torontomeds.com/etauction and will have prominent links to the offical EarthTones website (http://icarus.med.utoronto.ca/ihp/earthtones) with description of the concert
- Important that people realize that the auction is secondary to the concert, which is the main event
Artist Recruitment- Jen and Justine will be in charge of artist recruitment. Justine will focus on recruiting artwork from our classmates in 0T9 and 1T0, along with other people within the Faculty of Medicine (e.g. Biomedical Communications students)
Artwork Drop-Off & Registration- Lesley is in charge of artwork drop-off, artist registration and artwork pick-up (for purchased pieces and for those that went unsold). Essentially, her role is important prior to the event and for two weeks after the event. Buyers will have 2 weeks after November 18 (the day of the auction) to pick up and pay for their winning bid.
- Buyers can pay by cash or cheque. If they pay by cash, they can take home their purchased artwork the night of the auction. If they pay by cheque, they will need to pick up their purchased artwork at a later date at a location to be determined, after the cheque has been deposited.
- If someone is in North York, we can offer them the chance to drop off their artwork with any one of our classmates who live in North York. The same goes for those who live in Scarborough and other parts of Toronto outside of downtown. Just another option for decreasing barriers for those who can donate artwork.
Questions:
1) Who to write cheques out to? 2) Where can we safely store artwork for ~1 month?Installation Team- Janice and Haerin are in charge of the installation team. The installation team is in charge of setting up the artwork for Nov. 18. The bulk of their work will occur on the day of the event.
- Discussion of using portable walls for painting and drawings to be hung up; a table to be used for 3D items that cannot be hung up.
- Since Convocation Hall's main hallway is unique and presents interesting set-up challenges, perhaps signage to let people know that there is artwork extending throughout the narrow hallway.
- Janice and Haerin will have to recruit many people to help with physical work of setting up the pieces
- Janice and Haerin will have to coordinate with Lesley re. the item numbers so that bids will correspond the correct artwork
Questions:
1) Where to get portable walls? 2) Are they in a presentable condition? If not, use fabric to cover them? If fabric is needed, where will the money for this come from? 3) Coordinate table of auction wares with refreshment table...who is in charge of refreshment table? 4) Two screens were used last year to show photos of children...perhaps photos of the artwork could be made into a PowerPoint presentation and shown at certain intervals during the concert? Who is in charge of the PowerPoint presentations?Thank You for Artists Donating- Issue of compensating those who donate artwork; last year, no compensation in any form
- Compensation in some form is a standard practice for those donating artwork for an auction, whether it is for charity fundraising or not for charity
- Distinction between artists who do art as their profession, or are in school to do this as their profession, (i.e. outside of the U of T medicine community and those who depend on money from selling their artwork as their primary source of income, or hope to use their artwork as their main source of income) and those who donate pieces they do in their spare time (i.e. our classmates who are part of the U of T meds community)
- Some professional artists asked if there would be any compensation or splitting of the profits to cover their costs
- We liked the idea of offering free concert admission to those not connected to EarthTones in any way as a way of saying thank you
- We did not feel comfortable with splitting profits since we expect the average bid to be ~$30 (last year's figure) and bids in this range may not adequately compensate artists for the cost of the work, OR, there may not be any funds left over to go towards our three charities
- The distinction between professional artists and those students and faculty part of the Faculty of Medicine is important, since we feel that the free admission should only be granted to those who have no connection to EarthTones whatsoever and are not involved with putting on the show.
- Thus, our classmates who donate artwork would still have to pay for admission, especially since it is the 0T9 and 1T0 classes who are producing the show and should set the example and demonstrate that raising as much money as possible for Feed the Children, the Kampot HIV Village in Cambodia and the Panzi Hospital in the DR of Congo is our main goal.
Question:
1) Is this proposal of free admission a possibility for non-U of T meds students donating artwork, i.e. those who have no prior connection to EarthTones and who use profits from their artwork as their main source of income?Upcoming Meetings (Wed. Oct. 1)- An e-mail was sent out to the 0T9 and 1T0 social ListServs on Tuesday, Sept. 26
- With the recent 0T9 exam and the upcoming 1T0 exam, perhaps we should send out the email again?
- Purpose of the Oct. 1 meeting is for those who want to help to meet us (Jen, Haerin, Lesley, Janice, Justine), ask questions and for the team leaders to recruit people for their respective tasks.
Miscellaneous- Established that we're working with no budget. So far, no foreseeable costs, but if there are inevitable costs, where will the money come from?
- Promotional materials can be given out during Nuit Blanche, Sat. Sept. 30
- We hope that there will be 1T0 team leaders to help out Lesley, Janice, Haerin and Justine with their respective tasks
