The City of LA has decided to close down Nine Cultural Centers (due to budget cuts) including the Barnsdall Art Park's Gallery Theater, home of lafcpug for the past 6 years. This means that the March 24 meeting of the lafcpug maybe the last one. At least until we find another venue. And finding another venue in LA as good and as affordable as the Gallery may prove impossible. So March 24 maybe the end of lafcpug as we know it. Unless we all act and come up with a solution.

The city of LA is broke. There is no money. So the reality, as it exists today, is our City Government must eliminate all agencies and programs they deem not necessary to the health and well being of the public.

So what is the answer?

I don't know. For right now, the answer is to write letters. Yeah, I know writing letters is a waste of time and doesn't work. Fine. It's a stop gap measure at best. But one letter is worth about 2000 people to these officials. They don't get a lot of letters anymore. People stopped writing a long time ago.

So for now go here and read the instructions. It will help.

[www.artsforla.org]

I will be down at City Hall Monday March 22 at 10AM in room 1060 to hopefully address this issue in front of our councilman.

After this I am hoping to mobilize the community into action. There has to be a more creative solution than simply shutting the doors and putting up a fence.

Michael Horton
-------------------

Ok. I'm shocked.

Graeme

sad news.
good luck with your campaign.

nick

Sad to hear. Hope things get sorted out soon.



www.strypesinpost.com

How big is a typical meeting, Mike? If it comes down to having to find another venue (which obviously I hope it doesn't) what kind of capacity will you need?

(Someday I swear I'll make it to a meeting myself. I just need to fight the Metro line that picks up on Capitol Hill and stops in East Hollywood.)

Maybe we could do an ad- "Pony needs a home"?



www.strypesinpost.com

Good luck Mike. Hoping on behalf of all the LAFCPUG members, no matter how far flung, that you can turn this somehow to our advantage. If theres anything the Malaysian chapter can do to help then please just let us know.
Best
Andy

Yea, Malaysia's a great place to chill too, with great food. There's Kambing soup (lamb shanks, with spices), absolutely delicious.





www.strypesinpost.com

The Gallery holds 299 people and a typical meeting attracts between 150-300 depending on agenda. Its an ideal venue for many reasons, one being affordability and the other being able to consistently give us the fourth Wednesday of the Month to meet.

There are a lot of spaces in LA but none like this. Or at least I've not found any like this. So if and probably when we need to start looking for another venue I will be looking for a space that will seat at least 200 people, located in a safe area, with ample parking and have audio and a screen for digital projection and the ability for presenters to run their demos from the stage. And a space that can give us a day of the month so we can meet on a consistent basis.

Hollywood is ideal due to its central location, but we will be looking Downtown and the west side and the Valley. It's my belief that people generally don't care about location as long as it is safe. They care about what's on the agenda.

lafcpug and DMA/LA currently have a projector and a portable A/V unit on loan to the Gallery. If the Gallery closes, we are forced to take that equipment out and move it and/or use it for the next place we find. See here on what we did to turn the Gallery into a digital Cinema. And note that we did this ourselves with no Government help or interference. A true grass roots enterprise.

[www.lafcpug.org]

The unfortunate thing here was I was recently in talks with a few companies about helping us upgrade the audio and projection equipment which is now 6 years old. Such bad timing.

We will do all we can to keep this place open. This is not just about lafcpug, its about kids and seniors and green space and the Arts. It's about how badly do we want the arts in our lives and what are we willing to do about it.

Even if you do not live in LA write a letter. It will be a stop gap measure at best but will give us time to hopefully find a solution.

This is happening all over the country so its not unique to Los Angeles. It's up to us, not our government. They are helpless and yes, hopeless.

Michael Horton
-------------------

Man, I was hoping to get to one of these meetings the next time I was in LA, which might be this June. Good luck in your search finding a new place.

Holy sh!t Mike...that is incredibly sad. I was hoping to see the theater once before I die.

Quote

our City Government must eliminate all agencies and programs they deem not necessary to the health and well being of the public.

The Arts are not necessary to the health and well being of the public? The hell they ain't!! MAN, this is so sad...but I am not at all shocked. The Composer I work with is from Sacramento and he left Cali quite a while ago because of the financial situation of running his own studio and what taxes were doing to his family. This is why folks warn me about moving to Cali...it is ALL going broke and they are cutting EVERYTHING (don't even get me started on homeschooling / Special Needs Children Services). Schwarzenegger needs to make more compelling "PLEEEEEEASE COME TO CALIFORNIA!!!" commercials...and fast.

I am leaving Florida for the very same reasons...budget cuts (family related). We're not as notoriously broke as Cali is, but Florida is on it's way. EVERYONE knows that California is the state with the biggest financial problems.

On another note...

Sorry Strypes...IMHO, that is one of the most disgusting pictures I have seen in quite some time. Looks like intestine / brain soup...



If you posted a nice veggie dish along side of that one, it might appeal to the veggies in the group...

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

I'll be happy to volunteer my house for your meetings Mike. Of course, it is down here in San Diego but that would be a short drive(for me at least).

Seriously, I do hope you will be able to find another venue, maybe a local church or YMCA meeting place.
Steve

steve-sharksdelight

Michael,

Have you thought of using a school auditorium? May groups around here do that. Just a thought.

Richard Randolph

Hi Mike,

So sad, wish that there was something that I could do to help.

--ken

Michael, I used the link and sent an email to the Councilman.
Hope they see these messages by the time the Monday morning meeting starts.

It would be a shame to lose these meetings right here in the heart of "Hollywood".

This should be a rallying cry to support the LAFCPUG and DMA/LA.

The problem with schools or YMCAs or Churches etc. are that many of them require setting up of chairs and projection and screen and audio and although for the first couple months you have an enthusiastic group of volunteers helping, that quickly goes away and you are left dong it yourself. Plus these places usually have a lot of restrictions.

Folks who come to a lafcpug meet deserve a first class experience. They deserve a decent image on the screen with decent audio. Hard to get that in a lot of places. And I am not willing to compromise here until I exhaust all options. You all deserve that.

Michael Horton
-------------------

What about AFI? Their theatre/auditorium up at the top of their campus would probably work pretty decently? Granted I find the room a bit "boomy".

The location's not ideal, but what about the Eileen Norris theater at USC? I haven't been there in nearly twenty years, and I have no idea if it's available for events, but back in 1990 it was a darned cool facility. Seats like 300 or something.

What about a university lecture theatre? We use a couple of those over here from time to time. Not state of the art, but serviceable, and the seats are all intact.

Looking at one in Santa Monica

Michael Horton
-------------------

I wonder if the Braille institute down Vermont might have a theater / lecture room? Sounds weird but who knows?

------------------------
Dean

"When I see you floating down the gutter I'll give you a bottle of wine."
Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica.

Banks have great rooms with screens already set up. Offer them a deal where a number of LAFCPUG users open up bank accounts or transfer their accounts and they will give you the meeting room for free.

Another idea is to ask the city council to let you find profitable venues for the place. Tell them, "Let me manage it for six months."

Meet in City Hall ground floor corridor as a protest !

Mike, I think there MUST be a film school or training facility (Moviola?) ready and willing to deal. Bossypug meets regularly at a nonprofit center for the arts-- similar to gallery theatre, a little less comfortable-- but also Rule Broadcast, Boston's biggest rental house, which promotes regular learning labs each week and has the setup for moderate crowds-- also the New England Institute for the Arts, auditoriums at Emerson College, MIT and BU.

These possible solutions don't have the stability you've enjoyed for six years (damn!) but maybe the best solution is to go nomadic for a while till things shake out and Jerry Brown re-governs.

Ahem. I forgot my wink ;-)

- Loren

Today's FCP 7 keytip:
Cycle your timeline track size with Shift-T !

Your Final Cut Studio KeyGuide? Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

Knowing what the budget is would help, Mike ... ?

Harry.

We pay $700 per meeting at the gallery plus insurance. All good suggestions here. Thanks

Michael Horton
-------------------

Wow, the news seems so sudden. I fired off a letter in a vain attempt of slowing down the inevitable but hopefully you guys are able to find a location w/o having to miss a meeting.

If possible, something closer to the west side wold be sweet.


-Andrew

Yeah, what kills me is this one week notice. What I hope for is a few months reprieve so we can find a solution. Will know more after tomorrow when I go down to City Hall and plead my case.

Michael Horton
-------------------

Go with one or two others representing the group. All in Men in Black suits. Be prepared to wipe memories-- oh, wait, we're talking City Hall here.


- Loren

Today's FCP 7 keytip:
Cycle your timeline track size with Shift-T !

Your Final Cut Studio KeyGuide? Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

Quote

Yeah, what kills me is this one week notice.

That shows you what they think of the arts...they are an afterthought. So sad what this country is doing to the Arts...

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Mike:

No going back to the LA Film School? I take it not, but just asking because as a venue, it wasn't bad.

Dan