• Intern Labor Rights Street Outreach tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!
• Alt Econ
•  Outreach Opportunity

Agenda Items –

Intern Labor Rights Street Outreach tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!

Alt Econ

•  –    put resource guide online.
• –       new enthusiastic member
• –       Redoing spring alt econ event at cabinet
• –       Streamlining it, new event in the fall
• –       Cathy interested in bottom-lining it. AS interested in making a booklet.

Rest of the discussion is loose.

Outreach Opportunity

Eric on Brian Leher; this week is going to be Brooke Gladstone –

Thursday

Kaitlin meeting at 7

Interference Archive, Montreal Student Strike materials will be shown

Friday

Rad Art meets 2 p.m.

Sunday

Debt meets, growing and positive

Benjamin from IWW meets every first Sunday at LIC

700 buttons coming! Occu-copy!

Agenda Items

– A&L newsletter: GO PLUMMER!

August 25 A&L Labor Day

Alternative Economy: Toolbox (from Spring event) booklet

– Radical Art

Brainstorming  and lots of new materials

Debt Quilt- people would bring their own fabric and squares, and through the act of sewing talk about debt, and create something socially. We also talked about the farce of trying to pay off A&L’s collective debt.

How to open up the conversation to be part of social exchange. It is a contract between people. Politicizing the debt energy. There was conversation around what is it that we want people to do.

If we do the fundraising- we don’t want to pay off the banks. How do we address that issue.

POI- in debt strike meetings, people are saying that debt strike is down the road. Right now people are trying to just outreach. What it means on personal/effective level.

Read Village Voice article about Student Debt. It would be interesting to contact writer to try and find people who have worked to recruit debtors. Reach out to workers who are responsible for advocating for the debt condition. University professors are responsible as well.

AS- but what about solutions? There is a debt supporters group.

Debtor’s Ball

Debt Pool

 Collective Labor Group

Proposal :Labor Conditions in the Cultural Industry

AB – would like new workers group for solidarity art workers group. Union group conversation left in January. Want to bring convo back

AS- feels in an unstated way this convo is already happening. There has been some resistance which is fine . I agree a focused subgroup would be ok.

MP- is this a subgroup? If so I think this is a good idea

BR- like idea name should be considered

MB- maybe solidarity or sustainability rather than union

AB- what got me thinking was this is working class background and how so-called middle class arts is exploited in ways. We need to bridge and include voices from manual labors service workers etc.

AS- some people refused art worker buttons and wanted to Reject label

ANT- when would meet?

AB- would not be weekly just starting convo now

Moving to email list rules

MP- streamline proposal. Community guidelines and who gets to join group. If you are working on something and/or attending meetings you can and will be on the list. This is a working list.

AB- do they need to come to set meeting numbers?

MP- added on as-needed basis

MB- maybe meetings rather than one meeting and as needed

ANT- notes and discussion should continue to be posted on main AL list this is a work list.

MB- if there is an issue where someone feels they should be on list should discuss at meeting

AB- let’s make sure this is in minutes

ANT- it’s on rise up

MP- striking meeting changing to meetings

PC- maybe strike guidelines language for now and shift to guideline proposal?

MP- maybe backdate meetings for eligibility for first joking back to after labor day

Passes

AB- talk about implementation?

MB- will be wiling to set up first pass at adding people

BR- we should ask everyone who has been involved in projects recently before just adding them

MB- I will add people

ANT- everyone expanded to be able to add someone

Community guidelines

ANT- also don’t discuss connections people have to projects?

MB- isn’t this already covered in #5 or can we add that to #5

AB- moving to pseudonym helps a lot with this. Could this address the problem on an individual level?

AS- maybe a line about be considerate?

MP- how about respect

BR- Respect people’s desire for anonymity when working on projects.

AB- what about when someone goes rogue

AS- In guidelines

**Proposal passed**

Agenda again

E- started basic spreadsheet. 3 tabs bookkeeping inventory and balance sheet based on intern labor group items. We have new budget info and now need to start making this transparent and up to date BR- we are at a point where we need to address this and some up with system and budgeting especially as we are having big projects coming up. Lots of people have offered donations we need to have system in place if so

PC- working on setting up small local bank and PayPal acct for al. Put 100 of own money for now.

AB- we should consider budget in all proposals

MB- PayPal name should be generic. We should figure that out

E- we should come with expenses when we propose

AB- estimates are tough

E- point is have a record

PC- estimate then at the end real cost and receipts

BR- we need flexibility because estimates are hard. For example thought 200 buttons would be enough we needed 10000. Slush fund?

AB- propose everyone accountable for what they spend with paperwork and receipts

Efa debt conversation 

3/4 hour time slot invitation for A&l

Do we want to do this?

How to work on this ?

Keep this simple.  And not worry too much about it. We were asked to contribute something visually.

Not sure why A&l are asked to do something.

Laurel would have organized this if she was in New York.

Rat appears. 

A&l being curated in the event beware of relational aesthetics, taming down the event.

Teach-in brainstorming

AS- broke teach-in ideas into categories of types of art workersOne or two events out of these to coincide with oct 19th birthday of arts and labor. Framing is what would revolution look like for each of these groups of people. Second part would be what does community and solidarity mean for each group

AB- would be cool to have panel discussion with people in art service positions talking about their experiences. We want it to be on their terms and make sure it is not exploitive.

BR- lots of art workers define themselves in terms of type of workers they are ( handlers, installers etc) for example Martha would like to work on presentation about critics and it would be great to give handlers a platform for a workshop as some examples

AB- what about presentations specifically for students. Nobody talks on art School About what it is like to be an art worker when they get out

AS- career day would be a series of presentations all on one day. Maybe a subversive element? Career development day?

Eve- don’t know the answer but topic of art worker who does not think of themselves as labor because they see themselves as superstar artists to be rather than workers. Impediment to solidarity. This is important to bring into discussions.

Freeform Discussion:

Why we came to the art world? Though that world is super conservative in reality.

Bougie liberals are the enemy.

The subversiveness can happen naturally, such as wage or occupy lunch.

Confrontation, Focus on solution

Speaking out is important! And it’s easy for us to forget that you once were lonely, and take the structure for granted. So providing chances for other to speak out.

Maybe at the end of the thing, a big speak out, and a big party!!!!! Debtors ball.

Experimental form…

Have the place that is hosting considered thoroughly/thoughtfully….