Co-Cycle! Outdoor Co-operative Expo

Join us in welcoming back fourteen cyclists from Hampshire College who set out on an ambitious 3,600+ mile cross-country journey from San Francisco, CA to Amherst, MA, to celebrate cooperatives and the co-operative movement.

See the flyer: Cocycle welcome back poster

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We have a location!

During our July 19th meeting the initiating committee reviewed what meeting places were available, and found, that most places were already reserved for the year. However, the only location, that is able to host two hundred people (our goal as for the size) in Amherst, still had a single opening – right on the date we would like to hold our All Things Community event, October 13th. Considering this being a highly unique state of things, we decided to jump on it.

Through Wendi’s heroic show of force, we have successfully made our reservation. As Wendi says:

“Good news! I dropped off all the paper work to Amherst Middle School on Chestnut Street – we are all set for October 13th. Event from 12:30-5:30…we have the building from 11:30-6:30. Whew…can’t believe the hurdles to make that happen. One day event liability insurance is in place and proof of coverage was dropped off today with the check and ‘Facilities Request Form’.
So, we’re committed now!”


Here are the financial facts:

Venue: Amherst Regional Middle School. October 13th – Event 12:30-5:30.
We are there (I’m estimating) 11:00-6. Custodian must be there 1/2 hour before and after we are there.

Cost: Custodian 10:30-6:30 – 8 hrs. @ $35. = $280.
Auditorium 11-6 p.m.-7 hrs. @ $35. = $245.
Administrative Fee = $60.
Total Venue Cost = $585.

Mandatory ‘Special Event’ liability Insurance = $270.
required by the school. I spent quite a bit of
time finding the cheapest policy to meet our
needs.

Event Cost plus about $50. misc. $905.
materials and supplies:

All what has been necessary is paid for by Wendi and Gabor. On the Aug 2nd meeting more members donated money to help the process, and we also have some money saved from previous events, donations.

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We have a name!

The initiating group decided on a name for our big event planned for October 13th 2012:

All Things Community: Celebrating Amherst In Transition

Of the 7 responses received, 3 picked as their #1 choice, & 1 picked as their #2 choice.

In 2nd ‘place’ was: “Amherst Celebrates! The Community We Are” 3 picked it for their 2nd choice.


The process:
Last night at our meeting we recognized the priority of choosing a name for our event on October 13th.
This is what we decided:

1) I am providing all names previously suggested in a list here

2) Feel free to send in new name suggestions on this e-mail thread

3) If you don’t like a name, would be helpful to share why

4) By July 2nd respond with your top three rank: 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice.

5) A name for this event will be decided – throught this e-mail thread – by our next meeting, which is July 5th. The most ‘votes’ in 1st choice rank will be the name chosen.

Here is the list of names for our event previously suggested: (hope I ‘caught’ them all-apologies if I missed any)

Celebrate Amherst:Our Strengths & Opportunities
Celebrate Amherst:Our Strenghts & Possibilities
Amherst Celebrates! The Community We Are
Celebrate Amherst in Transition
All Things Community: Celebrating Amherst in Transition
All Things Local: Celebrate Amherst in Transition
Unleashig Amhersts Sustainable Future
Sowing the Future of Amherst
Celebrating Resilient Amherst: Past, Present & Future
It’s All Downhill from Here, But With a Bike!
‘Sowing the Seed’ Event
The Launch
Amherst Creativity & Community
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

submitted by Wendi

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Half-day schedule for the event

Emily reworked the schedule for the Great Celebration:

Condensed Timeline for the Great Celebration Event

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Event outline by Rick

Transition Amherst welcomes you to

All Things Local
Celebrating Amherst in Transition

Saturday, September 29, 2012, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Venue: To be announced

AGENDA

8:30 am Assemble, register, name tags, handouts, tabling, organization-wall
9:10 Song: “Joy to the World in Transition” (RM & BJ) (words overleaf)
9:15 Welcome (BB)
9:20 Flash-back––multimedia glimpses of past glory
9:30 Flash-current––present-day community-building organizations here today
9:40 Flash-forward––Tina Clarke, U.S. Transition Trainer
“Re-imagining Our Future––Transitioning to Community Resilience”
9:50 Discussion, Q&A
10:00 Participatory Thinking: “The World Café.” (BB) Gather at tables to discuss:
• concerns about our community resilience “when the lights go out”
• needs––what’s lacking and what do we need to build true community?
• resources––what do we have and what can we create/build together?
11:00 Sharing and posting of table-murals
11:30 Reflection/discussion with John Gerber (or look-back-from-2100-C.E.
exercise)
12 Noon Lunch

1:00 pm Song: “Why Can’t We Be Friends (in Transition)?” (RM & BJ) (words
overleaf)
1:10 Introduction to “The Open-Space Marketplace” to build working groups
(BB)
1:20 Marketplace #1 to get acquainted, choose focus, projects,
2:20 Break Time
2:40 Marketplace #2 (you may switch groups)
to review, discover what each can contribute, follow-up plan
3:40 Sharing, “What will we each do next?” (PB)
4:00 Adjourn. Post-meeting music, dancing, and schmoozing
5:00 Clean up

“Whether you’re concerned about the future or aspire to greater community connection
let’s come together with neighbors to build a more vibrant and resilient Amherst”

Venue Coordinator: Publicity Coordinator: Tabling Coordinator:
Registration: Snacks Coordinator: Electronics Coordinator
Lunch Coordinator: Music Coordinator: Outreach Coordinator
Master/Mistress of Ceremonies Supplies Coordinator Handouts Coordinator
Budget Coordinator

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Great Unleashing

This page shows information about what preparations we take on our Great Unleashing event (or Planting the Seed).

———————————
Great Unleashing Subcommittee

February 23rd

John, Rick, Betsy, Bernard, Patty

-Chatted with Tina over the phone for a bit, she will be coming to one of our meetings soon.

-The goal of this meeting is to develop a framework to strategize the great unleashing

-Outreach is a priority. We need to get our name out there

-We spent some time discussing Bernard’s proposal that we should have monthly events between now and the GU. He suggests 3 types of monthly events based on his previous experience in New Haven:

-Movie

-Skill sharing (set schedule)

-Walk (getting to know your bioregion)

If we did this, we would need to locate a venue. John will check out Unitarian space (Green sanctuary: Ann Perkins) and library. Betsy will check with the first congregational church

Some ideas: Watch the film: The economics of happiness, organize some sort of tour of CSAs? There may be a solar installation in the old landfill. We could plan a site visit with the sustainability people? We could do different walks: Historical, herbal, forest edibles.

Outreach is a big thing:

We need to do awareness raising, movement building, etc to have a successful unleashing.

We need to reach three types of people (in preparation for GU):

1. Like-minded organizations

-Talk with the leaders of groups (Schmoozing)

(including Town/University outreach: maybe this could become a working group on its own)

-Cosponsoring events (Movies, walks, etc) invite them to lead it

-Diversity outreach? Latino, African American, disadvantaged

We already have a list of groups that we can use.

2. Like-minded people (The choir)

-Monthly events

-Transition list

-Individual connection

-Growth group

3. General public: Nice if they come but they might not be a focus of our work: Student outreach? Farmer’s market, Hand out flyer, tabling, banner? Media coverage? Letters to the editor, E-mail lists, flyers, newspaper, etc.

(outreach to families, younger children?, common school, Hitchcock center, Waldorf school?). Rick wants to help create flyers for leaving information when we go out.

-Amherst sustainability festival presence: April 21st (Maybe a film that night or a speaker… getting the sustainability coordinator more involved? Maybe she can do a little presentation about sustainability plans in Amherst).

This type of reach is a build up for the actual day, but we will need publicity for the event as we get closer to the date: Flyers, press releases, valley free radio shows, etc.

Identify the venue for GU: (Gabrielle, Ophelia-?-) A public school may be a good idea. A place with separate rooms for break out sessions, and big gymnasium for bigger talks, etc.

Potential dates? What are the other events that happen in town during that time?

September 16/23/30 Saturday/Sunday?

Logistics: The day of: (Wedding planner role). Lots of stuff in this category as well. We need to divide this in some way that makes sense. Tables, chairs, food, technology, set up, clean-up. Child-care (on-site: one room- college students), Registration desk, Big board, etc. Printing signs for the break out rooms. Food: Maybe ask for donations from a vendor, ask them to come and sell their stuff.

Deciding on an MC (someone to hold the space, but also a spokesperson).

Entertainment! (sub-committee): Identify some sort of musical entertainment for the end of the evening.

Reporting the day of or day after?

Rick wrote a song for the event and we practiced a bit.

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