2010 Throw AGM Minutes

June 4 at 7:00pm - June 5 at 12:00am

2011 Rue Du Bullion, Montreal, QC

In attendance** (in alphabetical order):

Alessandra Naccarato, Head Coordinator

Andrea Debruijn, Slam Master
Deanna Smith, Collective Member
Elkahna Talbi
Hadi Adel a.k.a. Rough Draft
Jay Alexander-Brown (title needed)
Kate Leadbeater, Marketing Coordinator
Kym Dominique Ferguson
Malek Yalaoui, Collective Member
Said Azzaoui
Stephanie Gaidica, Special Events Coordinator
Brendan McLeod (needs to be confirmed)

**Not all names were noted in attendance. Please comment with your name and position
(if applicable) so that we can amend this document.

1. Opening Remarks & Welcome – The Appendices go BBCD because A was labeled B.

Alessandra provided the opening remarks. Thanked everyone for their presence.

2. AGM Objective & Procedure

This is a way for us to come together to make collective decisions. The AGM is to be the
central meeting that the collective galvanizes around and moves forward from. When
there is a motion, if the discussion leads the motion on the agenda to be irrelevant, we can
go back and change the initial motion. It was specified that everyone who is at the AGM
can vote.

3. Presentation of Canada Council Grant Application

Throw Mandate was read & it was stressed that different venues would be sought out, &
different types of spoken word forms would be used (slam & other formats). This could
involve video poetry, visual poetry, web-based poetry, bilingual features. Part of the
mandate is to move beyond the cadre of the Slam, though the collective wants to stay
within the realm of poetry/spoken word/performance.

June from Slam Jam collective member mentioned that they are doing a monthly open

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mic where they invite people from other poetry communities in Montreal. This could be a
way of further involving the Throw collective in bilingual events. *** This proposal was
deferred until a little later in the meeting. ***

Priority for the coming year – to improve interdisciplinary & multilingual outreach, so
the features will include several double bills, and there will be curated features. The
structure of the performances will also be nuanced.

Queen Ka asked if there is always a feature at the Throw performances. Alessandra

responded: Yes, it is, except for maybe at 1 or 2 crucial slams during the year, like semis
or finals.

4. Presentation of Accounts

Kate mentioned that Throw has not been keeping detailed financial accounts, but that
next year the accounts will be more detailed, and the statement of accounts will itself be
more sophisticated.

The cash float was deposited in the bank because there are no shows happening during
the summer, and it is over 500 dollars.
5 Adoption of Accounts

Kate moved that we adopt the statement of accounts. It was unanimously adopted.

6 Election of New Members

A) Slam Coordinator

Hilary was suggested. Apparently she is “pretty and fun” and knows the collective.

Alessandra motioned that Hilary be the new coordinator. Motion was unanimously
accepted.

B) Special Events Coordinator

This role can be shaped by the individual but it is about looking into the different types of
event that throw can coordinate.

Kate noted that the titles of the different coordinators can be modified, but the role is
basically just about “intervening into events” and throw is interested in doing about 1
special event per month.

Rough Draft, who runs Spit the Truth series said that he thinks there is a strong
relationship between the Special Events Coordinator and the Social Media Coordinator.

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There is a good opportunity for cross-organizing between himself and Throw. He is
connected well to venues, and mentioned that he is working with a new venue to called
Le Grillon by Papineau Metro. He also suggested having live painters at the event.

Kate noted that the Social Media coordinator has some overlap with the Special Events,
but that Social Media can be very time-consuming. There is certainly collaboration
between the two. She suggested that Rough Draft be the Social Media Coordinator with
a Special Events overlap.

Moe said that one person taking it on for the whole year might be difficult, and she said
that she is interested in doing one event, and that there could be guest curators.

Said asked about people featuring at other events, if every 2 months or so, people from
other communities could feature at collective special events, or people from the collective
could feature at other collective’s special events. Interface between communities.

Alessandra Proposed that Rough Draft be Special Events Coordinator, and that he plan
for guest curators in advance.

Deanna wanted to clarify Said’s point & added that the special event does not necessarily
mean that Throw is coordinating the event, finding venue, etc. It can be an existing event
that Throw is piggybacking on.

Quick discussion within the discussion: June said that he could help coordinating special
events, and Said said he can help with the gathering of information. Kate said he could
be candidate for another position – a general through collective member who comes to all
the meetings and contributes. Deanna said that Said could tweak the title of the position
to suit his needs.

Rough Draft was finally elected with a unanimous vote.

Alessandra suggested – if there is a role that you imagine yourself in, that you would like
to propose to the collective, that is not one of the specified roles, you can propose it and it
will be discussed.

C) Social Media Coordinator

Kate said she will not put herself forward for this. This is also called the “community
manager” in enterprises. She asked if anyone present or in absentia is interested in the
role.

Moe proposed that there be a bilingual person or 2 people, one English and one French.
Kate said she can provide coaching & support in this because she does it in her
professional life.

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Rough Draft said he could take care of the position in the absence of someone else.
Queen Ka said she could do it for the French community. Moe suggested having another
meeting to draft templates for these positions and for what goes on in the position.

Kate elaborated that social media is about free media to establish contact among
individuals, like Facebook, Twitter and Myspace. In social media you have to engage
with people and it’s a community involvement. It requires constant presence in small
bits. Marketing and media is more about going through traditional media and reaching
out that way, writing press releases and doing more elaborate tasks.

Social Media Coordinator is not filled and a meeting will be called to outline the tasks of
the Coordinator & attempt to elect one.

Kate motioned that we have a social media meeting where the tasks are elaborated
on. This was accepted unanimously.

A long discussion ensued about which person should be the go-to person in case someone
(like a venue owner) wanted to approach the collective about doing an event. It was
decided that that go-to person should be the Head Coordinator, Alessandra.

D) Franglais Coordinator

Kate stressed that they must be bilingual. Deanna added that it is very important to have
a Francophone person to coordinate outreach to the French community in Quebec at
large, and to bridge the French and English poetry communities.

June was interested, but then people decided to outline the time commitment before
involving anyone. Kate asked whether June could be at meetings every 2 weeks for a
couple of hours. June said that he is free Sundays. \

Rough Draft said that he is experiencing the same dilemmas with his Spit the Truth series
– how to involve the French community. Kate suggested that Elizabeth Robert be
consulted. People said “Ooooh” but the excitement quickly died.

Kate made a motion that June be a collective member to bridge the Anglo & Franco
communities. Motion was accepted unanimously.

E) Treasurer

Stephanie suggested someone outside of the collective who can be objective about the
finances. Deanna agreed. Alessandra said that Victoria and Calgary hired outside
accountants to do their end of the year statements. Alessandra said that the person who is
clearest about what should happen in this department is Kate.

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Kate said she was fine about finding the volunteer treasurer. www.Arterre.qc.ca

Queen Ka proposed the above web site to help find volunteers. Stephanie iterated that
there are 3 signatories for the account and that a treasurer would need 2 signatories form
the collective present if he or she needed to take money out.

It was agreed that Kate be the person to find the volunteer treasurer.

F) Secretary

This discussion is to be left to the very end. Everyone was OK with this. Discussion
postponed to the end.

G) General Collective Member

Alessandra asked if there is anyone who wanted to join the collective as a general
member who isn’t one yet. Queen Ka and Said and June are joining the collective. And
Mika. Kate moved that we confirm the people for their positions and the proposed
General Members.

Alessandra suggested that Andrea be on the advisory board. Deanna seconded this.
Accepted.

7 Confirmation of Existing Members

A) Head Coordinator will be Alessandra.

B) Marketing & Media Coordinator will be Kate.
C) Youth Slam Coordinators will be Stephanie.

Moe Clark said she wants to do better communication with different individuals and
groups around the city who are doing youth outreach. Making a list about all of the
things that need to be achieved and then getting together in September. Alessandra also
said that she would be involved.

Queen KA is doing workshops with kids on the French side. Alessandra said there is no
role description for this position so that needs to be hashed out. Stephanie suggested a
meeting of the minds between herself, Alessandra, Queen Ka, and Moe to hash out some
ideas. Moe said that she wanted to be a co-coordinator for the youth position.

Confirmed that the youth slam coordinator be a co-position between Stephanie and
Moe.

8 Motions to be put to the AGM

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A) Moving the slam to Divan Orange.

They are offering the last night each Sunday. Divan Orange costs 75 dollars. It’s
inexpensive, in the right area, etc.

Andrea noted that at one slam they insisted to show the hockey game. Alessandra said
that they double booked the collective with a group that wanted to see the hockey game.
That aside, every other interaction was fine. This was a miscommunication. Alessandra
suggested a venue liaison who is bilingual. Queen Ka said she wanted to be that person.

Moe suggested that we talk with Ian because Words and Music is the 3rd Sunday of the
month.

Kate moves that we move it to Divan Orange, last Sunday of every month, and
knowing that we want Malek to be part of the meeting we accommodate her
scheduling. Accepted.

B) Hosting

Kate asks do we want to associate one person with the event or do we want to have
rotating hosts.

Alessandra adds that we can have main hosts, people who do one-offs, and others who do
some events.

Deanna wants to have one host for the sake of continuity.

Kate proposes that we have a kickoff meeting at the start of the year to discuss hosting.
Alessandra wants to discuss it now. Host is public figure of the organization.

Kate motions to have half one regular host, and half the slams hosted by the regular
host while the other half are dedicated to other hosts. And the whole issue is
discussed in September or earlier.

Alessandra says an important question is what is the role of hosts in the organization.

Motion seconded and accepted.

C) Admission Prices

Discussion about how sliding scales are tricky. Alessandra puts forward a motion to
suspend the discussion to another time.
Stephanie says that based on working the door, 10 bucks will be daunting, but 5 bucks is

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acceptable for people passing by on the street.

Moe suggests teaming up with QWF because QWF members get in for free.

Malek’s motion is for a 5-10 dollar sliding scale. Motion was accepted unanimously.

D) Financial Procedures

Kate wants stricter procedures because there is a lot of money coming through the
collective door (20 000 last year), and she wants to ensure that the money does not
vanish. Her motion is that any time someone wants to spend money, a purchase form has
to be filled out and two collective members in good standing need to be present to sign it.
Also, a budget needs to be devised and it needs to be approved at the meetings in
September. People can make purchases in the context of the budget. Signatories: A
treasurer has to be appointed, and the treasurer will be one of the signatories. See
Attached documents.

Motion advanced and accepted.

E) Expenses

Motion to re-examine expenses for the slam team based on what Throw has forecast, and
to bring their expenses in like with the Throw budget. Motion accepted.

Motion for a Cash Prize for winner (50 bucks) and free admission plus free beer for
slammers. Motion accepted.

9 Other business

Moe said that we need a stronger relationship with CKUT and radio presence, and with
the spoken word coordinator.

Rough Draft urged us to liaise with the Mirror hip hop columnist and with CJLO where
he knows some people.

Stefan Christoff was suggested as a person who could be approached to write about the
collective’s events.

Kate suggested that people liaise with CKUT in order to find out which shows are of
interest and which shows can be targeted for publicity.

Anonymous motion to quash the rest of the Other Business agenda. Accepted.

10 Closing Remarks

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Alessandra says “let’s party and thank you all for being here.” Kate agrees.

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