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
