Board

Hi folks,

It’s that time again – time for VPH’s Annual General Meeting! This is a meeting where we report back on the work that VPH does over the course of a year, nominate new directors to be stewards of the organization, and all of that awesome stuff.

The meeting will take place on Wednesday March 16, 2011 at 7:30pm at 1752 East 13th Avenue. (Main floor.)

So!

Here is the agenda:

AGM for VPH

1. Call to Order and Introductions

2. Approve Agenda

3. Approve AGM Minutes of March 7, 2010

4. Reports
- President’s Report (must be accepted/approved)
- Van Slam Report (not a voting item)
- WordPlay report (not a voting item)
- VIPF report (not a voting item)
- Treasurer’s Report and Financial Statements (must be accepted/approved)
- Nominations Committee Report (not a voting item)

5. Election of Directors

6. New Business

7. Adjournment

The Minutes for our last meeting areon the forum, and can be accessed at http://vancouverpoetryhouse.com/forum/smf/index.php/topic,1589.0.html. Please let me know if you have any questions, or would like to add anything to the agenda. I hope that you will be able to attend. PLEASE NOTE: in order to vote on voting items or in the elections, you must be a MEMBER IN GOOD STANDING of VPH. Membership costs $5 per year, and membership payments can be made anytime in advance of the AGM, including at the beginning of the meeting.

Thanks,
Lisa Slater
President, Vancouver Poetry House

The Vancouver Poetry House AGM will be held:

Sunday March 7
3-4 pm
Cafe Deux Soleils
2096 Commercial Drive

Agenda includes
-Financial, President’s and Program Reports
-Election of Officers
-New Business

Membership renewals are due at the AGM. Membership must be current to participate in the AGM and to vote. Membership fee is $5. Yes, you can buy memberships at the AGM itself.

Hope to see you there!

Vancouver Poetry House
Annual General Meeting
February 16, 2009

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Since our last AGM in March of 2008, Vancouver Poetry House has gone through a number of changes while continuing with our core programs.

Vancouver Poetry Slam had its first full year of new leadership and weekly slams. Participation at youth and alt slams as well as at regular slams has increased steadily. Additional significant accomplishments include the creation of a Van Slam Constitution and Honour Code, and the creation of a Rules Committee. The Slam has also received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. This has been used to fund performances by spoken word artists from across Canada at our slam.

Word Play Poetry in the Schools program continued to provide poetry workshops in local schools. After a brief rest period, the program has undergone a reorganization, involving more poets in direct outreach to schools.

In July, Poetry House participated in the Summer Dreams Reading Festival. In October, we hosted a workshop about sexual harassment and sex role stereotyping in the arts community.

The Vancouver Poetry House website was re-designed. Participation in site’s forum has steadily increased this year.

Current projects include: The presentation of the Salt Lines Tour in March, and Van Slam Finals Night – moving to the Rio Theatre.

Thank you to everyone who has done the work of Poetry House this year, volunteers, board members and participants in all of our activities. Thanks and best wishes to our outgoing Board members and welcome to those who will be joining us for the coming year.

Vancouver Poetry House
Annual General Meeting
February 16, 2009
Café Deux Soleils

MINUTES

1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 6:40pm with 9 members in attendance.

2. Welcome and Introductions

3. Agenda

4. Minutes of Annual General Meeting , March 19, 2008
Motion to approve the minutes of the last AGM of Poetry House.
M: Chris Gilpin S:Sean McGarragle Approved

5. Reports

President – See attached

Treasurer – Current Bank Balances (as of February 15, 2009)
General Account $5,457.00
Wordplay $1,606.51
VanSlam $8,956.65
VanSlam Youth $1,234.17
Membership $56.59
Total $17,310.92

The bank balance is $7,000 more than it was this time last year.

Motion to accept the Treasurer’s report as presented.
M: Warren Fulton S: Lisa Slater Approved

WordPlay
Workshops continue at local schools with good participation by poet facilitators and positive response from students and teachers.

Community Workshops
In July, we hosted a chapbook-making workshop at the Summer Dreams Festival of Literary Arts. In October we hosted a workshop about sex role stereotyping in the arts community.

Van Slam
This year, Vancouver Poetry Slam has developed its governance processes with the formalization of a Van Slam Constitution and Honour Code, and the election of a Rules Committee. Attendance by audience and participation by poets has increased significantly. Support is being provided to hosts and volunteers to help the shows run smoothly. A Canada Council for the Arts Grant is helping us to bring more feature artists to the slam from across Canada. A special focus has been placed on female feature poets.

6. Election of Officers

The following Directors finished their terms at this meeting. They are thanked for their work for Poetry House:

Chrystalene Buhler
Sue Cormier
Martin Fietkiewicz
Warren Dean Fulton
Randy Jacobs
Shannon Pidlubny
RadaR Poet

Nominations were opened. The following people were nominated and elected to two-year terms, expiring at the 2011 AGM:

Martin Fietkiewicz
Warren Dean Fulton
Randy Jacobs
RadaR Poet
Clint Wilson

7. New Business

Meeting Venue – The members present engaged in a short discussion of the venue for Directors’ Meetings. It was agreed that this would be dealt with at the next Director’s meeting.

8. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 7:10pm.

Our Annual General Meeting will take place:

Monday, February 16
6:30-7:30pm
Cafe Deux Soleils – 2096 Commercial Drive

All members are welcome to attend. To vote, you must renew your membership. Membership fee is $2.

Agenda:

Minutes of 2008 AGM
Reports
Elections

Nominations for membership on the Board of Directors are open. Contact President Sue McIntyre to nominate someone, or for information.

vanpohouse@yahoo.ca

These Directors have terms ending at our AGM on Feb 16:

Chrystalene Buhler
Sue Cormier
Martin Fietciewicz
Warren Dean Fulton
Randy Jacobs
Shannon Pidlubny
RadaR Poet

(some were elected at the AGM in March 2007. Some have been appointed by the Board since the AGM of March 2008, and so need to be elected at a General Meeting.)

The Directors whose terms will expire at the AGM in early 2010 are:

Trevor Groves
Sean McGarragle
Sue McIntyre
Lisa Slater

Since the last AGM, the following Board Members have resigned:
Angus Adair, Steve Duncan, Jim McKnight

Yes, VPH.com has upgraded once more. There’s much greater usability, extended functionality, and a lot more media content!

Over the next few days, I’ll be ironing out all the little bugs that are a normal transition to a new website. The Gallery page will return shortly, for instance. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me videochris@gmail.com

Your friendly webmaster,
Chris Gilpin

Vancouver Poetry House had a very successful financial year. You can see all the details in the 2007 Audited Financial Statements (just click the preceding phrase for the .pdf).

Poetry House Board members met on November 12, 2007 to discuss the future, and identify priorities for our organization. Here’s a list of what we’ve agreed to do, including names of the Directors who have stepped forward to take the lead for each initiative:

• Stewarding Van Slam Volunteer Leadership – Lisa Slater and Sean McGarragle
• Fundraising – Lisa Slater and Jim McKnight
• Board Members Skills Development – Trevor Groves and Lisa Slater
• Newsletter – Steve Duncan
• Supporting Youth Poets and the Youth Slam – Chrystalene Buhler and Lisa Slater
• Promoting Canadian Content at Van Slam – Sean McGarragle
• Building Regional Community – Lisa Slater
• Relationships with Other Organizations – Chrystalene Buhler
• Promoting Other Organizations’ Events – Steve Duncan
• Vancouver Poetry House Open House – Sean McGarragle
• Increasing Volunteer Involvement and Improving the Volunteer Experience – Sue McIntyre
• Promoting the Smooth Running of Van Slam – Sean McGarragle
• WordPlay Program – Chrystalene Buhler
• Community Workshops – Steve Duncan
• Website Development – Jim McKnight
• Vancouver International Poetry Festival – Lisa Slater and Sean McGarragle

All members of the board will contribute in one way or another to many of these areas. The names listed are those of Directors who have stepped forward to lead each one. We’ll be looking for people to get involved and help out. If one of these areas looks interesting to you, please get in touch via the Get Involved page, or if you know the person on this list, talk to him or her.

Poetry House is growing and taking shape. Thank you to all of our volunteer Directors for your vision and dedication, to the volunteers who support the organization, and to you, for your interest in Vancouver Poetry House.

Hello, everyone

This is the follow up to the Van Slam meeting from last Tuesday August 21st.

First off the next Van Slam Family meeting will be Tuesday September 18th to vote on a variety of issues. You can check out the links below for more information.

As of right now the meeting can be held at my work site once again at 7pm. The location is 700 West Georgia Street, Suite 2000. It’s in the TD Tower downtown. It’s on the corner of Georgia and Granville. It’s above Pacific Centre Mall. It’s a half block south of the Granville Street Skytrain station. The numbers 10 and 16 buses stop a block or two away in either direction on Seymour and or Howe Streets.

Below are .pdfs of the 2 slammaster job descriptions. Also below are links to .pdfs of the proposed Van Slam contract, and the voting sheet.

As it states in the voting sheet, no one as of right now has publicly stepped forward for either of the slammaster positions other than the 2 people currently holding those seats. If you are considering either position I think it would be great to have it announced ahead of time so the rest of us can think of who to vote for and why. Right now Spelt and Myself are the only ones in line for the positions we already hold.

And on that note I would also like to say, I am 100% interested in staying on as the Co Slammaster through the 2008 Van Slam Finals. The Van Slam Finals will be my last as Co Slammaster and main organizer. Someone else will need to step forward. If not in the next couple of weeks then for sure in May. It’s been a blast and I have had a ton of fun doing the job. I just have other goals and objectives I want to pursue and I want to pursue them fully. So, think about it between now and the 18th or now and May 5th.

And our playoffs will be April 7th and 21st for the Van Slam Semis. Monday May 5th will be the Van Slam Finals. Probably at the WISE Hall but that hasn’t been determined yet. We already have 1 feature for our playoffs. The KLUTE will feature on April 7th.

Thanks and see u on the 18th if not sooner.

Randy

Duties of the Vancouver Co-Slammaster
Duties of the Vancouver PSI Slammaster
Van Slam Poet Contract Draft
Van Slam Voting Sheet