WASFF WANTS YOU!

[callistra]

One of the things I want to look at this year in WASFF is how WASFF can benefit YOU.

What I want from you today is your wildest ideas on how WASFF can benefit you, and your fandom life. WASFF is here to promote SFF in WA, and to that end I am looking for more ideas on the things we can do, and the structures we can put in place to help YOU do stuff.

So, your wildest ideas please!

Random thoughts that have cropped up:

- Grants like systems (intangible return, or creative work returns)
* grant for a writer to attend a writing course and in return produce a text
* grant for artist to purchase goods and in return produce an artwork to be displayed at Swancon/something
* grant for a theatre production to be done at Swancon
* grant for independant presses to produce something showcasing local talent
* strengthen and stabilise the Swancon Short Story Competition
* strengthen and stabilise the Swancon Art Competition
* WASFF Short story competition to be held 6 months after Swancon one, with similar prize money
* Subsidy for WA person to go to Clarion, Clarion South, or Clarion West
* work in tandem with the KSP or other writers groups for awards nights or something
* funding for awards night(s)
* WASFF donations to GUFF, DUFF, NAFF, TAFF, FFANZ, whatevs
* donations to ensure creche and children's stream is financially stable and strengthened at all WASFF events
* Entertainment Books

- Grantslike System where the grant is expected to be returned (ie, a budget and etc is expected)
* small convention development (look at what stops people from doing this, and try to streamline)
* WASFF publications (short story winners? Something else?)
* Projects ie someone wants to run ie a writer's workshop, can apply for a loan

If you have any wild, wild ideas, please let me know. You can either comment below for discussion, or else email me at callisto at g mail dot com. I know I am missing heaps, so please give me your thoughts!

Comments

[angriest.livejournal.com]

What I would like WASFF to do above and beyond anything else is establish a proper, well thought-out, well funded grants scheme for science fiction, fantasy and horror art works in WA. It could be funds to publish a small press anthology, or to produce a short film, or make a comic book, or hold an art exhibition. But a proper fund, with a properly appointed assessment panel, and proper key performance indicators.

[callistra.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of this comes under part 2 of my post of a grants-like system with an expectation of return.

I am hoping to have KPIs and etc organized, so specifics would be awesome as to how we can do that.

Would the KPIs be the same for evert type of that project - ie, if we use a theatre grant for example, someone who wants to put on a proper play in a proper play house will need considerably more money than someone we're funding to put on a 40 minute play in a Swancon slot. Yet as theatre productions they would be under the same grant slot, one play would be expecting to handle money/charge for tix and the other would not.

Did I just answer my own question then?
:-)

I guess if I create a dichotomy key, and then look at the way people want to run projects from that... but I still need to know what sort of projects people want to run, which is the point of this post, rather than structure or framework.

[angriest.livejournal.com]

I think KPIs would need to be set individually for each project by a funding subcommittee. So if it was a play it would have to be X performances to Y people, etc. If it was an anthology it might have to include X Western Australian authors, and Y new authors, etc.

I think it's always important with this sort of thing to demand the recipient actually submits a report at the end of their project detailing exactly how the money was spent and what the results were.

[editormum.livejournal.com]

I agree with Grant, but I also think that to be sustaining, any project that receives funding that will go on to be sold (such as an anthology), should be basically an interest-free loan that should be repaid as the project has returns.

[callistra.livejournal.com]

Ok, I think that comes under part 2 of my post.
What else?

[callistra.livejournal.com]

Ok, maybe what I need is more information about the independant press industry. I have emailed some people, and need to email more. What sort of info will I need to keep in mind for independant press related granty stuff?

To keep the tail long, for example?
I think grants systems with an expectation of return also come with it an expectation of generousity not found in other lending arenas, such as banks. I hope that the expectation of loss is understood, but at the same time I need to find ways to stop people applying for a grant and then just taking off with the money.

I guess we can slow that down by WASFF writing the cheques for the main body of the grant object, and other stuff being handled in other ways.

I'd also like to suggest that we allow a small amount of cash for unspecific project expenditure, but this is now fine print which will come up later.

Right now I need broad ideas of what people might want to do, which would need cash, and WASFF support.

IE, the AAs needed a new home, and we had no frame work in which to offer (you) any one help on bringing them to Perth, and maintaining them as a glamourous evening event. I'm hoping that if we can get some sort of system going, then it will be more of people going "Hey, I want to do *this*, in what way can WASFF help me?" rather than "Hey, WASFF, how do I get this off the ground. Can I have money? How do I get it? Huh?"

So right now I am looking for wild ideas as to what you want WASFF to help you do.

[stephen-dedman.livejournal.com]

I'm also in favour of a grants scheme in the form of interest-free loans. Perhaps the best way of controlling this would be for WASFF to set aside a certain amount of money as a pot, with repaid loans going back into the pot for later years, and no-one receiving another grant until they've paid back the previous one. If the pot isn't refilled by repaid loans or by a WASFF surplus, there are no grants until it is.

[emma-in-oz.livejournal.com]

When I was on committee WASFF sponsored $50 memberships for new members. Brilliant idea (cough mine!).

[callistra.livejournal.com]

I think the $20 Friday memberships have that well in hand now. New members are beyond the scope of this project, I want to know what YOU need to get more art out of you. Or more writing out of you. Or get you to see different SFF stuff you haven't seen before.

[callistra.livejournal.com]

It was brilliant too by the way
:-)

[stephen-dedman.livejournal.com]

The 2011 concom's idea of making the first day free strikes me as an even better idea (even better than the *cough* cheap day), which I think WASFF should continue to support.

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

Agree on the short story comp stuff. It also needs, without a doubt, to have a section/sections that focuss on under-18 writers.

[callistra.livejournal.com]

OK, noted.

[callistra.livejournal.com]

What else would you like WASFF to do for you? What amazing awesome projects would you want help with?

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

Ok, this is not for me, per say, but at the Red Bull gathering there was talk on how it would be nice if there would one day be a '42' attendence badge for Swancon...

[prk.livejournal.com]

That's one of the reasons we chose "33" to follow the "20" year badges :)

"42" then "50" was the plan!

prk.

[stephen-dedman.livejournal.com]

KSP already runs an sf short story competition with free entry for under-20s. I'm not saying we shouldn't have another, but maybe WASFF should consider subsidising this, and/or liaising more with the writers' centres in WA.

[angriest.livejournal.com]

One idea I've always had in the back of my head, which I did float with WASFF nearly a decade ago (without any interest from the board) was a project to purchase quality science fiction and fantasy novels and donate them to school libraries.

[callistra.livejournal.com]

Oo, I like that
:-)
excellent, and also an idea that's outside the scopes above.

[angriest.livejournal.com]

WASFF should probably consult with some librarians at the outset though. There'd be nothing worse than buying schools a bunch of books they don't need or want.

[stephen-dedman.livejournal.com]

Agreed... and I'd like to see an emphasis on donating sf/f/h by Australian (esp. WA) writers. One of the things that inspired me to write, when I was a kid, was the discovery that WA writers could write books I actually enjoyed and get them published! (Randolph Stow's Midnite being the first: I also remember reading Australian sf while in my early teens, and while it wasn't as memorable as the stuff by my favourite US and UK writers, at least it proved that it existed. Clarke's use of Australian settings and characters also gave me hope.)