Annual Meeting: Dec 7 2026 After Dance

PCD membership met after dance on Dec 7, 2026 to review our accomplishments in 2025 and vote in new officers for 2026.

John noted that we have 235 members, that we need 10% of the membership present to vote in new officers, and that we have a quorum.

MCs

Jess and Alban were our MCs for the Annual Meeting, leading us into each topic.

Ingathering

Kari and Lori led us in a sacred procession of our PCD prayer flags into a spiral and then out again, toning as we wove our way together and back into a circle.

Appreciations

Rebecca and Jamie offered colored ribbons to each member of the community who has volunteered for PCD in these areas:

• Committee members (Retreat, Vision, Capacity, see below)

• Wiz (Kari, Lori, Lily, Jimmie, Rebecca, Blair, Tim, Brian, Emily)

• Officers (Rebecca, Tasja, Jamie)

• Greeters (Lily and various members)

• Finance (Jamie, John)

• Oversight (John)

• Membership maintenance (John)

• Email communication (Mellen)

• Website updates (Lori)

• Breaking down or setting up (various members)

• Counting money with the Treasurer (various members)

• Hosting a Meraki meeting (various members)

DJ Appreciation 

The DJs present and not present were honored for their offerings to PCD. Much appreciation was expressed!

President's Report

Rebecca offered this report:

It was one year ago, next week, that we had our first dance here at Temple Beth El after a 6 week break of having no place to dance. The experience of suddenly having no place to dance may have fueled some of the energy of this last year. We were all deeply grateful that the Space Committee (Kari, Lori and Mellen) found us a place to dance. 

Some limitations have become apparent over the months, as well as some distinctly positive outcomes. Parking, storage, communal space to gather and a larger dance floor are all greatly appreciated. We changed our time to the afternoon, a number of people became aware of the limitations of dancing on a non-wood, concrete floor and there were concerns raised about whether dancing in a religious space, a Jewish synagogue, would limit access to some people. Our hosts here at Beth El have been gracious, accommodating and welcoming.

Over the last year, there were 3 distinct initiatives to look towards future growth. Capacity and Vision committees were active. Capacity was developed to look at alternatives to managing our growth and a document was devised with ideas for membership responsibilities and pre-registration options. The decision was made to not make any changes at this point and assess attendance numbers for the rest of the year. Membership and Registration committees are currently not active. A document exists in the PCD Meeting notes with those ideas that could be pursued in the future. Attendance and Vision committees will give their update later.

The second initiative deserves some special recognition and appreciation for Tasja and Kiara. In an attempt to address some of the limitations of size, floor, renting from another organization they came up with a real possibility for a forever home for PCD. A Feasibility Committee was considered to explore subleasing a space on Forest Avenue. Several different groups explored the large space there and considered how a healing or dance collective could be developed. Much creative energy was put into this possibility, so a larger meeting was formed which raised even more questions and possibilities for how PCD might grow in the future. From that another document was formed to outline possibilities for a forever home for PCD. Many thanks to Deb Grant for this document which is also available in the PCD archives to be used as an outline for things to consider when starting this sort of big growth endeavor. 

A third possibility developed in June/July when the director of Portland Community Squash (with input from Tasja) pulled together several meetings of different dance communities with an intention of forming a Dance Collective. Several members attended these meetings and even toured the possible home on Lancaster Street in the Bayside neighborhood. This project is still in early stages of development and Tasja is our liaison to them at this point. 

And a fourth smaller initiative was coordinated by Kari and attended by Wiz. This involved ongoing discussion and meetings with Mechanics Hall on Congress Street to consider whether that space would be useful for us to use. Ultimately, it wasn’t a better alternative.

Although none of these options resulted in a change, I’d like to reinforce that the energy and efforts that were put into all three of these endeavors were worthwhile in planting seeds and providing practical information which can be access in the future as new initiatives are considered. 

And here we need to offer a big heartfelt appreciation for the current secretary, and all the past secretaries, who have kept well organized PCD Meeting Notes, easily accessible in the Blog Archive going back to 2013. And we will hear more from the Vision Committee and also a DJ proposal to increase the number of DJs allowing us to increase the number of dances each month. And more good news is that we have a nice nest egg financially, which could be used for future endeavors if/when the opportunity arises. 

So it’s been a year of fertile ideas and ongoing dances. 28 dances in 2025 and 9 Meraki meetings. My hope is we keep encouraging new ideas and new initiatives, new committees and new member involvement to truly help shape our future with the intent to preserve the magic and the mystery, the joy and the transformation, the community and the love we experience here together as we join in the sacred power of collective dance.

DJ Report

Kellie and Jason eluded to the upcoming DJ proposal to be discussed and voted on after the meeting. See Meraki Meeting Notes: Dec 7, 2025.

They also noted that we brought on one new DJ in 2025, DJ CJ Fee' (Charity Joy Robinson), introduced at the PCD Fall Retreat. 

As coordinator with Temple Beth El, Kari noted that starting in January, we have made arrangements with Temple Beth el for PCD to offer three dances a month consistently (except for April). 

Greeter Report

Lily shared that we've had many new PCD greeters this year, especially in the last few months. 

She remains committed to overseeing this volunteer role. 

The group expressed appreciation for her ongoing commitment to the role of Greeter Coordinator. 

Capacity Report

Rebecca reported that earlier this year we began tracking attendance due to steadily rising attendance at our dances. For a number of months, Brian was tracking the number of people who came in the door and the number of people at closing circle and comparing it to the money we took in. 

We learned that with a margin of error of about 10%, we consistently have between 60 and 100 people attending dance. 

Although various proposals were introduced during the year to address capacity, they are all on hold given generally steady numbers that the committee feels is within capacity.

Finance Report

Jamie shared our overall financial picture (with images created by Lori and data provided by John), which is rosy. 

Our numbers have been growing steadily over the past number of years, partially due to switching from a suggested donation to a fixed price. 

We have about $25,000 in the bank, which is well above the minimum that we decided to stay above, which is $7000. 

Each dance costs PCD about $500: $200 for DJ, $150 rental, $150 overhead (insurance, etc). 

Wiz Report

Kari and Lori offered this report:

We are the group of intrepid dancers whose goal is to make sure our PCD dances happen smoothly for us all. For those of you who may not know, the name "Wiz" was chosen years ago when PCD was young, and it’s definitely a more fun title than "Operations Committee"! It’s derived from the Harry Potter stories and is short for "Wizengamut," or Council of Wise Folks!!!

What magic does the Wiz make happen for each dance, you ask? (waving a wand with each)

clean floors...

set up sound equipment...

shhh—quiet on the dance floor...

we need signs...

it's getting hot in here...

it's too bright...

break down sound equipment...

manage contents of the lost and lost box...

Kari has had the honor of being the unofficial organizer of the Wiz for several years now and has gained much respect for all that we actually do besides cleaning! As PCD has stretched and grown, our role has taken on new and challenging tasks as we stepped up to meet the needs of that growth.

You mean even more magical magic? (waving a wand with each)

Woah, what's going on over there on the dance floor...!?!

I need help figuring out this whole dance thing with these people?

I'm having an emergency!—help!

Is there a suggestion box around here?

Last year Kari came to realize that it was time to step out of this position and step aside for some one else to take over. Luckily for her, that person is also a dear friend and is as devoted to PCD as she is. 

Thank you, Lori, for stepping up and bringing your great skills and clear intentions and kind nature to lead our little group as we all move forward!

Thank you, Kari, for keeping your loving attention on the needs of PCD for so long. We have felt your deep care. Lori will try to follow in your loving footsteps as the Wiz works together to find easeful resolutions to any new challenges that come up.

Retreat Committee

Nate honored those on the two retreat committees for 2026 (Nate, Nev, Devin, Marion, Tasja, Sunshine, Kiara, and Sadie). In particular, Devin was honored as having written up a playbook for organizing retreats going forward. 

Nate noted that this is the first time PCD has hosted both a spring and fall retreat.

The spring retreat at Oceanwood was the first time PCD introduced a sliding scale to make the retreat more accessible to all PCD members, with no extra cost for different types of rooms (introduced by Nate). We experimented with Oceanwood because we had a number of issues at the last retreat at Ferry Beach in 2024.

The fall retreat at Ferry Beach was much better than in the past, and we continued to offer a sliding scale. 

We will likely continue to offer spring and fall retreats, most likely at Ferry Beach. 

Nate and Kiara will continue on the committee for 2026 and are looking for one other person to join. Please reach out if you are interested in joining. 

Vision Committee

Shelagh shared that the Vision Committee (Shelagh, Deb, Jason, Brian, Tasja, Nev, Kiara, Kellie) has met irregularly since last spring to explore the future vision for our community. 

The initial goal was to offer creative ways of soliciting input from the wider PCD community about what we want for our future in a way that we could process the information in an effective way. However, after meeting a number of times, and taking a long hiatus, the group has not come to a general consensus as to how to move forward. One of the big issues is whether there is enough individual time, energy, and commitment toward moving anything forward in new ways given people's busy and otherwise engaged lives. 

As a result, the committee has formed two smaller groups, one that is considering offering community trainings on various issues around culture (Jason and Brian) and the other that is continuing to explore our mission and engagement as a community (Shelagh, Kiara, and Tasja). 

Please reach out if you're interested in joining these conversations.

Appreciation of Past Officers

Our current officers were honored for their service:

President, Rebecca

Secretary, Tasja

Treasurer, Jamie  

This is Tasja's second year as Secretary and Jamie's second year as Treasurer. 

Electing New Officers

This slate was voted in, donning the royal regalia in the form of passing of the hats from existing to new officers:

President, Brian Simpson (in absentia)

Secretary, Marion Knox (in absentia)

Treasurer, Jamie Scwellenbach

Filling in for each were three stuffed animals. Rest assured, membership, we are in good hands for 2026!!!

Outgathering

(Lyrics co-created by your outgoing officers with musical accompaniment by Cor, sung in unison to the tune of If I Had a Hammer by Peter, Paul, and Mary)

If We Had a Dance

If I had some rhythm

I'd move it in the morning

I'd shake it the evening

All over this town 

I'd wiggle my bootie

I'd open my heart and soul

I'd dance out love between my brothers and my sisters

All over this land

If we had some friends

We’d rock it in the morning

We’d swing it in the evening

All over this state

We'd twirl and spin ‘em

We'd boogie and sweat with them

We'd dance out hope between our brothers and our sisters

All over this land

If we had community
We’d gather in the morning
We'd meet up in the evening
All over this world
We'd join our hands in trust
We'd touch our hearts and souls
We'd dance out joy between our brothers and our sisters
All over this land

Well, we got some rhythm

And we got some friends 

And we got our P! C! D!

Right here in our hearts

It's the rhythm of release

It's the dance of freedom

It's the song about love between my brothers and my sisters

All over this land

Meraki Dec 7 2025 After Annual Meeting

Meraki (the PCD Steering Committee) met via Zoom on Sunday, Dec 7 2025 After Dance and Annual Meeting

Attending: Tasja (notetaker), Kellie, Jason, Mellen, Rebecca, Kari, Jimmie, Lori, Sophie, Andrew, Felicia, Noah, John, Jamie, Alban, Jess, Eva, ???

Note: As this was a Meraki meeting tacked onto the Annual Meeting, we didn't follow the normal meeting format or assign roles.

Agenda

• DJ Training and Mentorship Proposal - Jason & Kellie

Kellie and Jason walked us through their proposal. Here are the highlights:

Background

DJs have been meeting more regularly to come up with a plan to train four new DJs in 2026 in both the PCD culture and technology around DJing. 

In the past, training has happened as one-offs, whereby current DJs put in a lot of time and sometimes the prospective DJ hasn't followed through. 

The proposal is designed to 1) provide more consistency around DJ training, 2) offer DJ mentors financial compensation for their considerable time, and 3) ensure prospective new DJs are committed to the process. 

Noteworthy is that this is the first time PCD has undertaken a formal DJ training process.

Training Process

The training process consists of two group trainings:

• The first will be in January and will address PCD culture, holding space, music selection, etc.
• The second will be in February and will address more of the technology around DJs, mixing, equipment, music source, etc. 

ALL DJs are encouraged to attend these trainings to provide more consistency and cohesion among all our DJs around music and culture. 

In addition, each DJ-in-training will be paired with a DJ mentor who will support the new DJ in coming up to speed. 

Financial Ask

First, the proposal asks Meraki to pay $500 to train each of four new DJs for a total of $2000. Each DJ-in-training will be paired with a DJ mentor who will spend an estimated 15 - 20 hours training, although the time spent is up to the DJ mentor. 

Second, the proposal asks each DJ-in-training to pay $200 up front to show their commitment to the training process. 

Third, the proposal asks Meraki to pay for two dinners for 14 people each (10 existing DJs plus 4 new DJs) for the group training sessions at a cost of $200 each. These are expected to take place at night and go for three hours, so food will support and encourage the process. The DJs are not being paid for these training sessions.

The total financial ask is for $1600, summarized here:

DJ mentors (4 x $500)                2000

Training dinners (2 x $200)           400

DJ-in-training fees (4 x $200)      (800)

TOTAL                                        $1600

Status

11 people have expressed interest in being a PCD DJ. The next step is to have each of them fill out a formal application to describe their DJing experience and understanding of the PCD culture and musical wave structure. 

The DJs will review the applications and choose four DJs for training in January 2026.

The four new DJs are expected to start offering sets in June of 2026.

The training around PCD culture and music is based on our current understanding of what that is and could potentially evolve over time with input from the Vision committee. 

The application process is now closed for 2026 but will open up again next year, as needed.

Decision

Unanimous acceptance of the proposal

Meraki Nov 3 2025: Zoom

Meraki (the PCD Steering Committee) met via Zoom on Monday, November 3, from 7-9 PM

Attending: John B (notetaker), Tasja, Deb (Ingathering) Mellen, Rebecca (Vibe checker), Lori (timekeeper), Kiara, Shelagh

Meeting Format

• Choose roles (Ingatherer, Facilitator, Timekeeper, Vibe Checker, Note Taker)
• Ingathering
• Briefly review How We Roll
• Summarize previous meeting notes
• Gather new agenda items
• Set order and time for items
• Attend to agenda items
• Schedule future meeting(s)
• Evaluation
• Outgathering

Agenda

• Fall 2025 Retreat Summary (Kiara)
• Email message expressing concerns about the facility we use for dance (Rebecca)
• 190 Lancaster Street Update (Tasja)
• Annual Meeting Planning (Rebecca)

Tabled

• DJ Training Proposal (Jason)
• PCD sponsored Workshops (Brian)
• (Added) AI Meeting Summaries (John)

John hosted the meeting on Zoom, and turned on AI Summary so that notetaking would be easier. Several members present expressed concern about using AI to summarize meetings and asked that it be added as an agenda item to be discussed and decided by Meraki. John turned off the Zoom AI summary feature, and knuckled down to take notes, which are summarized here.

190 Lancaster Street Update (Tasja)

Tasja talked to Barrett at Portland Community Squash to find out if anything's happening with Lancaster Street location (A possible space that several Portland area dance organizations could use). Porta wrote up a lease, presented to Portland Ballet, which rejected it, and they're happy to share the lease with us. The cost would be $10/sq foot (a low price); Portland Ballet rejected it (possibly because of the poles in the space).

Other share: Opportunity Alliance still has a lease on the space even though they moved out, and continue to pay rent. Because they're doing that, landlord would potentially offer that money as part of the buildout. Tasja wanted to share with us and not just hold the info herself.

John: Is there further action warranted on this?

Tasja: No, would require visioning and resources beyond what seem to be available at PCD.

Kiara: PCD is several steps behind being able to consider such proposals

Rebecca: Are you (Tasja) willing to continue to liase with Barrett? 

Tasja: Yes, I will contact him.

Deb:

It could be worthwhile writing to PCD people that attended the initial meetings where we explored the possibility of the new space. When Mellen and I left that meeting, seemed like PCD was the least noticeable to them. Some communication would help to increase our visibility. Thanks to Tasja and Kiara, and to anyone else who worked on that. Important to know that you're appreciated.

Action: Tasja to contact Barrett to see if there's any update on 190 Lancaster St.

Retreat Committee Update (Kiara)

John can give numbers, and we need to meet to determine how to divvy up for cancellations that occurred after the deadline

Ferry Beach (FB) said they could give assured regular dates if we could commit to multi-year contract

We had 58 total registrants, but a few had to drop out: Sadie, Marion

FB has a pretty strict system of determining who's in what bed. They have a whole safety protocol with badges. A lot of times FB has people sign up through them directly.

Pros and cons discussed of FB vs Oceanwood

Did we get a discount for mold problems that dancers experienced? Kiara discussed with them, but because we didn't call the amply posted numbers during the weekend so that they could address issues, they wouldn't discount, and we didn't want to push it. We paid their invoice.

John: Unless something has changed, using FB for registration would require participants to pay for all their roommates at the time of registration.

Kiara: It would be helpful to let people figure out their own lodging

Do we have a committee established for the next and future retreats? No, but Kiara is willing to spearhead future retreat committees

Deb: leadership for this retreat had a different low-key vibe, appreciated it.

Kiara: That did work; people stepped up for various things. This is a co-creation. When the committee doesn't hold it too tightly, there's space for people to step up effortlessly.

Pending: Creation of a new Retreat Committee and exploring a two year contract with Ferry Beach.

Dancer email regarding facility (Rebecca/Deb)

Proposal to divide the topic into 2 15 min sections (Rebecca and Deb will fill in each other's blank spaces as needed)

1.     Update
2.     Brainstorming action plans, possible solutions / next steps

Synopsis: 

A dancer sent an email through website; someone who had danced with us at Avant; they're not returning because we're dancing at Beth El. Do we know about the position or views of facility management regarding Gaza?

A follow up private email message continued to be respectful; they were disappointed to see 3 dances in November, and asked to be removed from email list; notify if/when we change locations

Rebecca wrote back with empathy and sadness about her decision; we will continue to keep confidentiality; did include a part about being an all-volunteer consensus-based organization, and it may take time to find a new home; all the lack of options of spaces landed us at our current location.

Deb: Also there are others who feel difficulty with dancing at the current location; this might not just be one person; there are perhaps others.

Rebecca: True, so it's not just about her

Rebecca reviewed questions that arose from previous meeting

  

On to questions. Are there further questions?

Shelagh: What is our responsibility in terms of relationship with the venue? Do we walk away or prioritize the relationship and engage with them?

Would we Walk away without giving a reason, or engage with dialog?

Deb: (transition to action steps) Eva shared about the venue, but Rebecca felt that third-party information wasn't relevant to our discussion.

Discussion about best ways to frame this. (Deb: accessibility; this space might be limiting.)

Rebecca: Given the complexity of these issues; let's move on to action steps.

Reinvigorate space committee (new people; Mellen, Lori, Kari did a fabulous job of researching and documented the venues). The hope is to start to look at space and creative solutions to finding another space

Mellen: Surprised and concerned to see how much time and effort is being given to this. There's always something for somebody about whatever space we're in. Concerned that we're elevating this to "should we relocate because of this?" What are we doing? Good luck to the next group (who searches for a new space).

Rebecca: It hit a deep chord in me. This feels different. Although, this can be a part of the solution: We stay, and not address it further.

Kiara: Is one of our action items to add to our mission statement that we don't take political positions

Shelagh: appreciates this discussion. Is the decision is to keep dancing or not at all? Like a relationship: Do we stay and continue dialog. (Rebecca: summarize) Value in keep dancing and continue to have difficult conversation about accessibility for others who will not dance at this temple?

Deb's version of what Shelagh said: As an organization, we hold the value about conversing around ethics

Lori: when first informed about the email message, wanted to know what is their standpoint? Looked on website, and found it, and it made her consider the complexity of the situation. So complex that it can't be a yes or no. Cannot be reduced to sound bites. A can of worms comes up.

Deb: Consider Rebecca's proposal to reinvigorate space committee for other reasons, irrespective of this

Rebecca: Willing to solicit involvement for new space committee. Lori willing to manage the google doc if that's helpful; willing to serve as consultant. Action step: start that process

Kiara: Send a callout to members in an email message

Tasja: We might have done something like this before, but include a link to the spreadsheet.

Mellen: There may have been some new venues that have popped up. Legitimate to continue to look for other reasons. This shouldn't be the reason to leave.

Rebecca: will craft email message

John: Mechanics - do we send to membership via MailChimp? 

Tasja: Maybe send to bigger list for more potential interest/etc. 

Decision: Rebecca to an email to our entire list, not just members, asking to form a new space committee.

Annual Meeting (Rebecca)

Rebecca: Board gets together, creates structure, person from each committee of dealings from the past year.

Mellen: Look at recycling the agenda. Question about food, entertainment

Rebecca to take on the agenda

Kiara re food: Last year we had an events committee; could check in with Taryn re Trader Joe's

Deb: Potluck a possibility

Rebecca: Providing food will be a draw to encourage participation

Mellen: afternoon timing means no meal needed

Kiara: all we need are simple snacks; a potluck raises the bar; if Taryn can't do it, Kiara offers to do it; we agreed to a $200 maximum expenditure for food.

To AI or Not to AI: Tabled

AI discussion for the purpose of summarizing the meeting

Kiara: there are other possibilities that don't involve AI.

Next Meeting 

• Sunday Dec 7 Annual Membership Meeting
• Tuesday Jan 13 In Person (Location TBD)

Meraki Tues Oct 7 2025

 

Meraki Tuesday Oct 7, 2025 at Kari and Jimmie's House

Meraki met at Kari and Jimmie's house 

Attendees: Kari (ingatherer), Deb (facilitator), Lily (timekeeper), Marion (vibe checker), Tasja (notetaker), Jimmie, Jason, Lily, Kiara, Blair, Rebecca, Gary, Shelagh

Meeting Format

• Choose roles (Ingatherer, Facilitator, Timekeeper, Vibe Checker, Note Taker)
• Ingathering
• Briefly review How We Roll
• Summarize previous meeting notes
• Gather new agenda items
• Set order and time for items
• Attend to agenda items
• Schedule future meeting(s)
• Evaluation
• Outgathering

Agenda

• Retreat Update & Scholarship Request - Kiara
• Annual Meeting & Recruitment Update - Rebecca
• Secretary Role Proposal - Tasja
• Email from Dancer re: Temple Beth El - Rebecca
• DJ Training - Jason
• Vision Committee Update - Shelagh

Vision Committee Update - Shelagh

Met 2 weeks ago. Lots of enthusiasm about the vision, different energy for moving it forward or even having a committee. We reorganized. 

Brian and Jason are focusing on workshops to align with our values. 

Shelagh, Kiara, and maybe Tasja and Kellie are interested in actionable steps toward our vision, whatever that might be.

We met 4 times and we're holding a lot of interesting ideas. 

We have notes and want to share them.

Click here for Vision Quest Committee Meeting Notes.

Annual Meeting & Recruitment Update - Rebecca 

Brian has stepped up to be President. YAY all around!!

Annual meeting is Dec 7 after dance.

Secretary Role Proposal - Tasja 

Tasja has had a hard time finding someone to step up to be Secretary. It feels like a big ask to many.

Proposal is that taking notes should not be the role of the secretary but rather be a role filled at each meeting. 

We could also consider using AI for note taking on zoom calls.

In fact, this is how it's always been, it's just that previous and current secretary usually do it. 

Brian would take notes sometimes.

Some people have an aversion to AI. 

We need a separate proposal for how we feel about using AI for notetaking. 

There are transcribing tools that are not AI. 

It's ok to share notetaking as Secretary position. Same with treasurer. They don't have to count the money; they just have to be responsible.

Having more service positions that are less high commitment would be great. 

Fresh blood into the mix into leadership is a goal.

Decision: Notetaker is a role assigned at the beginning of every meeting, not exclusively the role of secretary.

Retreat Update & Scholarship Request - Kiara

Sadie, Nate, Kiara are the committee. 

We are up to 51, goal is 60. 

2 people have asked for scholarships. 

How much could PCD offer in scholarships? 

In the past, it was a partial scholarships of 50%.

We're doing pretty well at this point financially since lots of people are paying covering amount. 

In the past, PCD offered $2000 to help cover shortfall at the retreat. 

How do we decide how much to offer in scholarship?

We need to decide the amount we can offer in scholarship and the maximum amount we can offer each person in scholarship.

There's a benefit to being more conservative in our finances so that we have a pool of money for a potential new space. 

We have $30,500 in the bank. 

We try to make retreats self-sustaining. 

We're close to covering everything now. 

Decision: Let Kiara and John work it out. Up to $500 in scholarships and a max $2000. 

There are two people who aren't officially members who want to come. One will have danced 5 times by the retreat. Another person hasn't come 5 times and has trouble making it to dance but attends Wed dance regularly. 

We set a standard that you have to dance 5 times, so why should we make exceptions?

General consensus is that we should stick with the rules, but others feel exception would be ok in this case, especially since the retreat isn't yet full. 

The reason we have the rule is that after 5 dances, you presumably know our culture. 

All the people who want to come have aske, so why not trust that those who want to come should come. 

We're hitting a roadblock on a decision, so proposal is:

Decision: Let President, Secretary, Treasurer decide this year. It's an experiment. And we will revisit the policy next year before the retreat. 

Note: We did not have consensus on decision.

UPDATED: Leadership decided to stick to the rules and only allow members to attend the retreat. 

DJ Training Proposal - Jason

DJs met 4 times and have a financial plan for DJ training. 

3 training modules. Application for being a DJ. Cost to PCD would be $3500 - 4000 for 2 people to train up to 4 new DJs, including hours for prepping modules, plus access to DJs as needed up to a certain amount. The DJs applying invest $200 and when they're ready, they do a set and are paid that money back. 

Initial application would cost $20 and would cover their knowledge of 5Rhythms, PCD culture, etc, over zoom.

The training is around technology, culture, 5Rhythms, plus prep time. 

DJs are asking to be paid for their time training new DJs because it's historically been a big time commitment. It will also make our dance sets more consistent. Plus we've invested a ton of time over the years mentoring people who want to be DJs and then drop out. 

We'd like to have a chance to look at the proposal in more detail and then decide.

We'd like to start in January, so we can take our time to read and digest the proposal. 

The cost is based on an estimated hourly rate of $30/hr for DJ's time. 

How would money flow from PCD to the DJs? 

We should have a contract between trainees and PCD.

What is the financial setpoint and other factors that would keep trainees in the program?

DJs are the lifeblood of PCD and there is a lot of support in the room for that sentiment. 

At the same time, PCD is a partnership between the DJs and the dancers. 

Decision: We will post the proposal for next Meraki and discuss in more detail then.

Email from Dancer re: Temple Beth El - Rebecca

Background/context: The PCD leadership received a thoughtful email from a former regular dancer who has decided not to return to PCD while we are at Temple Beth El. The writer expressed appreciation for PCD and asked what we as an organization know about the temple's political views and actions regarding the war, and whether we care what their stance is.

Rebecca sent a reply letting the individual know we would begin to address this at Meraki. Rebecca and Deb discussed at length how best to approach this conversation, and facilitated the discussion tonight.

Discussion: The purpose of the discussion was to hear what questions this raises for leadership and to begin considering how to address these concerns. No decisions would be made at this meeting. 

The leadership solicited questions (a dozen or so) from those present. They ranged in topic from PCD’s values and mission, community inclusion, venue limitations, and precedents for navigating difficult or heartfelt conversations. These questions will continue to be considered and addressed at upcoming meetings.

This was an initial conversation. No decisions were made. The group recognized there is a lot to consider here. 

Next Steps

• Further discussion is needed. 
• Questions raised will continue to be considered/explored
• This topic will continue to be addressed at upcoming meetings

Next Meeting

• Monday Nov 3 Zoom
• Sunday Dec 7 After dance 3:15 - 4:30 

Tabled

• PCD Sponsored Workshops - Jason

Meraki Sunday July 11 After Dance

  

Meraki Monday June 11 on Zoom

Attendees: John B (notetaker), Mellen, Brian (Facilitator), Lori (vibe check), Lindy (ingatherer), Deb G (timekeeper), Kari, Blair, Marion, Shelagh, Juliette, Kiara, Katharine

Attendees: (ingatherer), (facilitator), (timekeeper), (vibe checker), (notetaker), 

Meeting Format

• Choose roles (Ingatherer, Facilitator, Timekeeper, Vibe Checker, Note Taker)
• Ingathering
• Briefly review How We Roll
• Summarize previous meeting notes
• Gather new agenda items
• Set order and time for items
• Attend to agenda items
• Schedule future meeting(s)
• Evaluation
• Outgathering

Agenda

• DJ thing - Deb
• Mechanics Hall Update - Kari
• DJ Update - Deb
• Dance Collective Opportunity - Deb et al
• Special Meraki Meeting Feasibility Study Questions - Deb
• PCD Sponsored Workshops - Jason
• Dance number updates - Brian

Meeting

Special DJ proposal: (Deb) Acquire DJ table cloth. Proposal approved.

DJ Update (Deb):

We want a more collective, structured way to introduce new DJs. Experience of people being interested; takes a lot of time to train new DJs, and then they may fizzle out. Idea: DJs pay to be trained; they will get that back if they become a DJ. Mellen: We have about 4 or 5 people who are interested.

Dance Collective Opportunity (Shelagh)

Grew out of momentum of finding a new dance space. Tasja and others met with a group of dance orgs that Barrett of PCS (Portland Community Squash) held. 190 Lancaster (near Bayside bowl) was a place visited on Friday; several PCDers met there to check out the space. Other dance orgs were represented. 2nd and 3rd floors: contiguous 12,000 feet, other smaller spaces. Don't have numbers about the cost of that space.

Marion: Next steps: wish list to be developed by the Portland Ballet representative, then compare with other orgs to see if there are common requirements. Also, evaluate by architect.

Deb: This is informally a globular group that isn't PCD or Meraki officially, but a group of PCDers with strong interest allied with PCD. Not official PCD business, but it's about looking for spaces.

Juliette: Is the proposal to rent, or lease with build-out? Shelagh: Most likely is that some other organization that builds out the space. (Temple Beth El isn't a permanent long-term solution because of the floor and scheduling shifts during the school year.)

Katharine: Don't know if it was already on their radar, but has been talking to Creative Portland (arts council). They're supposed to be representing all arts in Portland, and should know about this, but it's only two people. Deb: Good to get that information over to Tasja, who's a good gatherer of this kind of information. Katharine: They've got their fingers on the pulse of the dance community.

Deb: Coming away from the meeting and comparing notes with Mellen, they thought the space was impossible. The space requires extensive changes; at the same time our collective thought was that if we keep coming to these meetings and participating, eventually something would come together. Marion: PCD is not in a vacuum. We're part of a larger dance/arts community. Important energy to be reaching out now.

Jason: Who's going to get that info to Tasja? Katharine will communicate with her.

Feasibility Study (Deb):

So many questions and energy developed in meetings about potential new spaces and how we / do we expand. Lots of energy connected to the discussions; it would be crazy if we didn't harness the energy around those discussions. Deb created a page document (PCD Space Feasibility Study Questions) regarding the larger process of evaluating options. It's a guidebook. Wants people to know about it because if anyone gets involved with questions about new space, this document is important to review.

Kiara: There's also an offering in that document to research questions that are raised therein. If people are moved to contribute, add to that document if you have info/input. Document is sitting there waiting, ready to go.

Katharine: Link available? John: yes, the link is in the Meraki announcement and notes.

Dance Workshops (Jason):

PCD as an organization has never done anything but dance. Would PCD consider holding workshops specifically that reflect the values we want to maintain, for the purposes of keeping core values alive in the culture we want to maintain. Idea to incentivize newer dancers. Would PCD consider such possibilities to branch out beyond just dance. John: PCD in the past has taken the decision not to partner with other groups, but that decision could be reviewed.

Kiara: There is precedence; we did breakout groups at Avant regarding safety, consent. (Others remembered these.) A phrase like "workshopping" would be important to bring in outside members.

Juliette: What's the impetus for wanting to do that? Jason: Impetus is: we're growing, whether we want to or not, but how do we maintain the culture? Juliette: That's a different discussion than "should we do workshops?" There are different ways to communicate values, like on website (Jason: cards are an example). Goal: investigate multiple ways to maintain the culture.

Kari: A term that came to me was educating about the culture. Did we never sponsor Nege or Moti? Answer: No.

Blair: We had committee meetings around membership in the spring. Some of the possibilities are necessities going forward, like asking members to take a greater role, even require certain things for membership. (Greeting, breakdown, etc.) There's an overlap between membership participation and culture.

Deb: There's also a visioning committee that's been meeting quietly. Also been looking into the larger topics, of which this is one. Will meet again in September.

Shelagh: Wants to give context. John proposed circle up after warmup. Group didn't like that idea, and Lori developed the pamphlet in part as response.

Katharine: If visioning committee is open to other people, I'd like to participate. Had the experience with a new person she checked in with, but that person didn't come to closing circle.

Kiara: Do we want to do a temperature check for the visioning committee around what topics we want to put energy into. There's a certain amount of energy around this idea of culture and how to inform dancers about it. As members of visioning committee: is this a priority? How do you feel about a group read on this topic?

Mellen: Appreciate Juliette bringing this up; we've been discussing this for some time. Appreciate if Juliette is willing to contribute to the visioning committee.

John: Letting newcomers know about closing circle hasn't been done consistently or well. Kari: Greeters have a lot to do.

Brian: Summarizing the discussion, the Vision committee is open for input. Meraki is where we bring community feedback into the work of the committee.

Deb: Visioning committee has a huge swath of possible things to consider. Question of how to choose (which we can't do today). If we choose to emphasize culture, we'll not be able to take up other things.

Brian: What are we taking a temperature check on? As far as visioning committee working on workshop or other methodology for working on culture.

Shelagh: Original charter of visioning committee was to figure out how we're going to collect community input. Not necessarily to make proposals, or decide where to go, but collect input.

Juliette: Is PCD's vision based on community input, or does Meraki decide for the group?

Brian: Meraki is the current mechanism to gather input.

Brian: regarding temperature check: Does the visioning committee consider culture as a priority over other topics? Deb suggested cold to hot with level of hand. Others: measure with thumbs up or down graded in-between.

Brian: temperature check on the work the visioning committee is doing towards some kind of workshop or method regarding culture. Is it a priority? 9 thumbs up, 3 sideways, 2 "warm" (partway up). No downs.

Dance attendance (Brian):

We've been collecting numbers on how many come in the door, gathered by a clicker, count at closing circle, and cash/Venmo payments.

                Closing    Door

Date    Clicker  Circle  Proceeds

May 4     102      70      $832

May 11     98      58      $747

June 1     86      64      $675 

June 8     71      65      $666

June 22    70      57      $845

July 13    85      56      $700

   

Steady decline from May. Is it seasonal or a trend?

Jason: Super valuable. Are we doing this ongoing? Brian: It's a lot of work, but yes, we're planning to continue.

Lindy: When did we switch to mornings? June 8, a sharp decrease.

Lori: We can't compare seasonality with schedule change

Katharine: Could we have 2 greeters? Or maybe there's a Wiz person to address.

Deb: We've had many iterations of this, and it seems like we need to revisit.

Blair: This is a possible area for increased participation through membership requirement: Have you done your greeting?

Jason: Burnout is on our radar. Definitely one of the nuggets we have to look at.

Brian: Doesn't mind doing it some, but can't do it every time. Sophie covered it today.

Blair: Beck is also contributing, and I've stepped in.

Mellen: Having been part of this for 13 years, there's always a summer lull, and always a boost in fall/winter. Lest people think we're going down the tubes or something, summer is always like this (lighter attendance).

Katharine: More slow floor stuff available with fewer folks.

Kari: Regarding Wiz burnout, we're having a meeting soon, and there's going to be a change coming up for the fall.

Marion: Where does reinvigorating fit in? We want people to be more involved, how do we address that?

Jason: Overlap with culture, and Blair: a membership committee. We're on a pause currently. We gauged 80 as a good number.

Lori: If our check-in period was very compressed, greeting, counting, like "This is the 15 minutes we have to check in, then we start" then if you leave early, you leave early, but we're here for the whole thing because it's a whole thing.

Kari: we did talk about requiring volunteering for membership.

Brian: this is a valuable conversation that we could put on the next Meraki meeting. Hard to nail down single things for visioning: the committee has a lot to discuss/consider.

Kiara: Is the membership committee to the point where they could introduce specific proposals? Blair: There can be a membership meeting; my experience was that there was no interest.

Deb: 2 issues: There is interest in membership, and then: who's willing to make sure that happens?

Kari: Discussed that there would be no volunteer monitoring; it would be on the honor system.

Jason: Put together a wish list for membership. 

Shelagh: Where are we, and what is our time? (Over time) We were discussing membership numbers, and has expanded to further discussion.

Brian: There wasn't no interest, but it's a hard conversation. Blair, your work is appreciated, as is all volunteer work. Bring it forward into: how can we become volunteer-centric? because we're all volunteering.

Mechanic's Hall (MH) (Kari):

MH has fallen apart for several reasons. No final answer from them, but several logistics concerned (greeter's table, AC, parking, street people). Taking so long for them to get back to us. It's not dead, but we've heard nothing from them. I think they want us, but we don't fit their mold. They wanted us for 2 dances/month, but we wanted 3, and there were other hitches.

Katharine: MH is an org I'm part of, had a meeting with program director Katie. They're going through a lot of restructuring; got huge grant money, planning on AC, etc. Like a lot of other orgs, they're re-visioning themselves. They are a tremendous organization.

Evaluation (group, comments unreported here.)

Jason: Assuming Fall retreat not happening. Mellen: Is that right? They gave me dates. Brian: Sorry, not on the agenda. Let's discuss next time.

Next meeting (after discussion): Tuesday September 9 7-9 PM in person at Kari and Jimmie's

Lindy: Outgathering

Meeting adjourned