Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Thank you

Thank you to all those who made my Kickstarter campaign a success, for Pinoy: A 'merican Tale



Friday, April 1, 2011

Relevant Partnerships

First off, thank you for the four backers who helped achieve the 50+% funded goal!!

And although KickStarter uses backers, I already think of you as part of this show's community, partners in this project, and how that relationship changes when this fundraiser ends and we go into pre-production, is one I look forward to because not only do I want this to be the beginning, but I don't want seeing the play to be the only other time you have an opportunity to be involved and engaged.

With regard to partnerships in general? I believe they are a win-win, yet I don't think they happen as often as they should.  I'm not going to get into the weeds about what I mean by partnership, because the nature of it changes based on those involved, the goal, the time of day, and a number of other factors. I think the basis of it, that there is a relationship established that is not there on a regular basis, is something I wanted to incorporate into AWoL Productions (on FB)' work from the start.

As I mentioned, some of the resources for The Rave Scenes were community partners, which addressed larger operational issues with having a environmentally thoughtful process, as well as content specific partners, to the piece, which addressed policy and awareness.

This year is no different, and both were organizations which friends and co-workers mentioned, as an option to assist me and anyone in my family open to it. Now I have not formally approached them yet, and will probably email them sometime between this blog post and the successful finish of this campaign in a couple of weeks.

The first is one that the upper school pastor from my high school recommended. The alumni relationship and support is something that I appreciated, but never to this extent.  The pastor was actually someone I had never met, but just being a part of that St. Albans family was enough, and he gave me good advice and counsel, particularly the days and weeks following the tragic event.

One resource he gave me is the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing. Now even though, this came up as a means to deal with our tragedy, I also want to present this as a means to avoid the downhill emotional spiral that the loss of a loved one can bring.  In case you didn't know, in the papers, the loss of my grandfather has been brought up as something that my aunt never really dealt with. I won't go further, and I won't ask myself "what if".  Rather, this is more of a "what now".

I personally hadn't even heard of this organization, and hope to raise awareness and support for it so others don't wait until it's needed, but rather before it's too late. This might be one of the issues the play will address, but simply being aware of the support that's out there is just one step in being informed and maybe even being a step ahead of waiting too long to address and deal with something.

Which brings me to the second organization, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which a coworker brought to my attention.  Again, another one I had not heard of, but am glad I do now.  I would just recommend checking out their website, and seeing the resources they provide, as well as the policy work they are engaged with.

Should they agree to be partners, they will be mentioned in our program, and there will be a table again (like last year), with any materials they provide.  What they give in return, well that will be up to them.

Just to clarify, as I had mentioned the budget in my entry about commitment, funds from this KickStarter are to support and compensate the roughly 8-10 individuals that will be working on this piece, and no portion will be donated to these two organizations.  That's actually against the Guidelines.

However, a portion of box office revenue from the ticket sales of the actual show will still go to these or whichever two organizations end up being partners.  And the more support the working artists get from this campaign? Well let's just say that any revenue that can (again, not from this campaign, but from the show itself), will go to two good causes.  And this will be completely transparent, and available to the public.

Well, that's it. Thank you for being a part of what's been a very interesting and already rewarding round two, for me,

- JR Russ, Vision Director, A Way of Life Productions

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