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LEONARDO/ISAST BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
March 25, 2008 at the downtown offices of San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
MINUTES
Board Present: Beverly Reiser, Meredith Tromble, Jeff Babcock, Darlene Tong, Sonya Rapoport, John Hearst, Steve Wilson, Christian Simm, Tami Spector, Greg Harper
Staff Present: Pam Grant-Ryan, Pat Bentson, Kathleen Quillian
Guests: Joel Slayton, Amy Ione
Absent: Roger Malina, Michael Grey
Meeting start time: 6:10pm (Jeff Babcock chaired the meeting.)
1. Welcome Board. Welcome guests.
2. Approval/Modifications of Agenda: Approved unanimously
3. Approval of Minutes of January 2008 meeting: Approved unanimously
4. VOTE to approve results of online vote for Greg Harper to become board treasurer: All those present voted unanimously in favor, with one abstention.
5. Preparation for Summer Retreat I: Strategic Opportunities & Leonardo Business Model and UNM/Leo 40 conference update and discussion
- Jeff explained that this meeting is intended primarily to begin working on a plan that we can then figure out how to implement during the summer retreat. Leonardo has many projects and groups that somehow or other fall under Leonardo. While it's an asset, it's also a challenge as it might confuse the organization. How many of those who are really passionate about the organization can say exactly what it is about? The journal has been the primary source of recognition (and funding). Unfortunately, the journal is only able to sustain itself and not the other activities of the organization. Jeff pointed out that the trademark might be turned into another source of revenue as it is the only other thing (besides the journal) that really has value. If we work more on branding the organization we will need to insist that those who use our name, also give us more recognition/visibility.
Darlene pointed out that the problem of a declining subscription base is a problem with every journal, not just Leonardo. The journal is self-sustaining, we just need to figure out how to fund everything else. Amy Ione said that most comparable organizations have annual dues and an annual meeting where research is presented and a journal comes with membership. Joel and Steve said they have never been successful in getting their students interested or involved in Leonardo; the mechanisms of exchange for the current generation involve free exchange of information (on sites like Facebook and YouTube). If the goal is to reach a younger generation, then concentrating on electronic media (LEA, the website, social networking) may be necessary to reach them.
UNM update: The University of New Mexico was turned down for state funding and UNM organizers are currently looking for help from the university foundation office. Jeff doesn't think they will be any help at all. UNM want until mid-June to try to come up with funding. Roger and Jeff are willing to give them only until the end of April. UNM are counting on 1000 people to attend. Jeff and Roger think it will be more like 1/3 of that amount. Only part of the expenses in their budget has been figured out, but not the revenue. Joel said, based on his experience as chair of ISEA 2006, that there’s no possible way to pull off this conference now unless the model is changed. They need to be more realistic. The general consensus is that the board wants to know where things stand by the end of April at which point they will make a decision.
Kathleen presented initial results from the Leonardo network survey. The general profile of our community, based on the 171 people who had responded within the first two weeks, is made up of artists, educators and/or researchers between the ages of 35 and 64, living in English-speaking countries (primarily the U.S.). Most are not paying member/subscribers, but those who are joined for the journal subscription. The print publications are highly regarded, electronic publications are considered good and all other benefits and services are not very well known or used. General suggestions provided by survey respondents were for Leonardo to update its style and approach, to reach out more to the educational community and to do more to bridge art and science. The board discussed the problems of trying to fit a scholarly journal into the current youth culture of free exchange. There was discussion again of doing more to upgrade the website, make it more central, and looking at online social networking sites for inspiration. Also mentioned was bringing in curators to focus the content a little more and to bridge more with popular culture.
Pat gave a brief overview of the organization’s current finances: $47,000 has been donated or loaned by Roger Malina this year; $8000 has been donated by other individuals; and $6000 has been donated by organizational members. Our expenses are continuing as expected, as outlined in the January budget. Roger says he will continue to front money to help cover expenses until we get our expected editorial fee from MIT Press in June or July 2008. In the meantime, he expects the organization to ramp up fundraising efforts as much as possible to help bring in more money.
Jeff proposed a schedule of tasks and deadlines to help keep momentum going until the retreat in August (see attachment for proposed schedule).
- a. Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER): Piero Scaruffi is off and running with this event series. He has recommended a lot of new initiatives and clearly has no lack of ideas or energy. The question is how does the board harness the energy and ideas to bring the series forward logically with the organization’s general interests in mind? LASER events are helping to bring focus to our SF Bay Area identity. The contract with FORA.tv (an organization Piero was in contact with about recording events and placing the videos online) is dubious. The main problem is over intellectual property and management. If speakers don't own the rights to what they're talking about/showing, Leonardo could potentially get into big trouble. It would require a lot of administration to make it work. Jeff recommended tabling contract. The board agreed.
b. Contracts: Kathleen briefly described our current contract situation, which includes several expired contracts and a long list of pending ones. She will follow up with Greg Harper after the meeting about what to do about them.
Attachments/Supporting Documents
- proposed schedule of tasks and deadlines in creation of 3 year plan
posted 23 April 2008