What do you want from the AIC?

[deroosisonfire]

Only 7 people attended today's general body meeting. We used to have much greater attendance, but it seems that people are feeling burnt out. I certainly understand that, as I withdrew my candidacy as MD. Like many former leaders in the community, I feel drained, and am no longer excited about building the organization.

What will keep people interested in building?
What do people want from the AIC?
What are you doing instead of building the AIC?

I understand that it is a choice not to commit to leadership positions. This is a real question, not a judgement. I want to know what people are choosing instead of the AIC. What is fulfilling needs that working for the AIC doesn't?

[kaci_beeler]

Instead of the AIC I am choosing: Education, rest, time with friends and family, time for creative pursuits other than improv, though I spend a lot of time at both of the two theaters, doing shows, or working on shows.

I'd probably be more dedicated to the AIC if I wasn't so broke and tired all the time. And if there was more money involved.

How dedicated is dedicated enough?

[Jules]

I find satisfaction out of knowing that I am contributing to an organization/group that has a solid vision and goals. While I have been participating with fund-raising, I'm still actually unsure what the organization wants to become.

For example, I was on the board of a small theater in the 90's. We each had a position such as marketing, volunteer coordination, costuming, etc.

None of us were paid, but we all knew the mission of the theater (the shows we wanted to produce, the actors we wanted to work with, the talent we wanted to grow). We kept the theater in the black for most of the 5 years it was in existence.

There were two strong leaders running the show. There was accountability. and consistency. We always had volunteers for lights, box, house, clean up etc.

AIC is doing a little bit of everything and troupes are in the AIC and also doing other shows outside the AIC. I tend to get confused personally and I've been involved for 4 months now.

I think clear vision and a delineation of goals would be helpful to avoid burnout. I think clear leadership and limits are also important. I like to know my role is important and valuable (whatever that role is).

I like to see results.

Other things I do instead of AIC related work are: Girls Girls Girls, parenting, managing a household along with my husband, dealing with other family issues, trying to have a social life.

I do not perform and explore improv nearly as much as I'd like. The more I do with AIC the less I find I have the time and physical capacity to rehearse, form cagematch ideas, dance, etc. I started improv as a "fun" thing, an outlet for my creativity. It still is that, but more and more I'm taking on "job" type functions. Sometimes that is fine, but I need to see results from that work.

My time, should I continue to give it to the AIC needs to bear fruit.

Meetings like yesterday are frustrating because.....why go? There are at least 100 improvisors and maybe 8 people that are interested in (specifically) AIC production and promotion. (meaning they are working on their troupes and projects first).

What does that mean? Should we expect more dedication? Is the level about what is to be expected? Is the AIC valuable and to whom?

[sara farr]

I would like the AIC to continue to "produce" the 3fer & Double Barrel shows for the improvisers in our community to perform in. I would like the scheduling committee to continue to schedule imps in those slots as well as who will host for those nights.

I feel like the money gained from the shows should be spent on keeping the site updated, and possibly an ad in the Chronicle or Statesman. I don't believe in flyering. Though I've participated last year, I didn't feel we were reaching anyone and did not want to do that again this year. Instead, I feel like word of mouth from good shows, having consistant shows, and having a website that is updated is a stronger way to get and keep audiences. I wish our AIC website had an updated easy to read schedule like the one we get from our Scheduling Committee.

I don't think the AIC needs to be in charge of offering classes. I don't think the AIC needs to host festivals. I don't think the AIC needs to necessarily be the hub of the improv community, but I do think it should be a touchstone within the community.

I think involvment in volunteer organizations is difficult without the things that Julie has mentioned. Most people want to enjoy the benefits without putting in the work.

"Flatland", the animated short, and an overload at school, plus a new emerging Computer Animation degree which needs new courses to be written are all keeping me from being more involved in the AIC right now.

I expect to become more involved again this summer.

[kbadr]

I want to know what people are choosing instead of the AIC. What is fulfilling needs that working for the AIC doesn't?

What a strange question.

I'm choosing life. I'm choosing having a day where I can actually do something with my afternoon, if I so desire.

And I stopped attending the meetings a long time ago because I would leave with a massive headache, and missing 3 hours of my life. Having 30 people at the meetings, the way it used to be, was definitely not productive.

Meetings like yesterday are frustrating because.....why go? There are at least 100 improvisors and maybe 8 people that are interested in (specifically) AIC production and promotion. (meaning they are working on their troupes and projects first).

I used to contribute. I really did. But after months of being in a small, select group of people who were doing things like flyering, I decided that I may as well use the effort for myself...or just not bother at all.

I ask nothing of the AIC. And don't get disappointed when no one delivers.

[ratliff]

This seems like as good a place as any to ask the question I always ask, and to which I have never gotten an answer: How does it benefit me to be an AIC member?

I despise and categorically reject the idea that the free market takes care of everything (and we can debate that on another forum, Randians), but I think it's a legitimate issue in this case: What is the AIC doing that wouldn't get done by people pursuing their own goals as individuals, troupes, or production entities?

[Roy Janik]

What is the AIC doing that wouldn't get done by people pursuing their own goals as individuals, troupes, or production entities?

Right now?

*AustinImprov.com (loads of audience members have told me that they found out about shows by going here)
*giving member troupes and side projects performance space in the Double Barrel, Threefer, TNA, and Cagematch. Yes, individual theaters could program these shows, but by institutionalizing it with the AIC, there's an extra level of protection/leniency
*1 point contact to press for show listings/information
*flyers that promote shows/events generically
*festivals, such as Wafflefest, Same Years Eve, and LAFF.
*awards ceremony
*tuesday night jam

Okay, so many of these things could be done by individual troupes, groups, etc, but they would be more specific and more exclusive

[nadine]

everything (and we can debate that on another forum, Randians)

Did you mean Ryndians?

I want nothing from the AIC except a place to perform in. I don't expect it to advertise or flyer for my troupe.

What do I do besides the AIC: let's see.. this week alone, I have improv rehearsal on Tues, shana's improv class on Wed, an improv show on Thurs, and I'm going on an "becoming an outdoors woman" workshop Fri/Sat/Sun. I feel that dedicating 3 nights of a week to Improv is enough, considering the fact that I have other passions and desires in life, and improv is still taking the most time of my hobbies.

I don't like going to AIC meetings because generally I felt that it was too long, and disorganized (at least the ones I went to a long time ago). Secondly, I don't have much authority or experience in the community to say things that will really impact the AIC that much. So I felt that 3 hours was better spent elsewhere, and let the movers and shakers in the AIC make the decisions.

[ratliff]

Thanks, Roy. People will have their own opinions of the relative value of those things, but it seems like an accurate list.

[Jules]

My take.

I don't see the AIC as a body providing places to perform in. I see theaters as offering us opportunities to build relationships with them and to perform in, such as Hideout, CT and SVT and others. I see those as production entities (hopefully) providing stages, seats, lights, box offices, tools and possibly marketing on behalf of their theater.
The theaters can choose how that relationship looks-they can demand certain cuts, or rental feels or ask we provide our own staffing or provide their own. They choose they type of performers they want in their theater AND they can make deals to have a body like the AIC run a night should they want to.

I see a body like the AIC providing a comprehensive list of theater spaces and their requirements to work within, troupe incubation, support for education and training, the outreach and marketing of improv as a whole, gaining its own nonprofit status to act as an umbrella for troupes (the ACOT of Improv), and perhaps being a monetary body to bring in trainers and teachers.

I think right now we are doing bits of both.

[Mike]

I don't see the AIC as anything more than something that creates a few festivals, runs Maestro and the Cage match, and puts out a prom and an awards show. That's it.


I tried to help and build the AIC and took over the Cage Match. I made several changes to the show, spent my own money and got asked for a "DOnation" when I asked for an AIC t-short to be given away at a cage match ( Though this show was an AIC produced one, and it got all the proceeds after the Hideout took its part). Then I was greeted to a wonderful post on the boards about "What's wrong with the cage match/ why is it doing poorly?" That was the final straw which turned me againstthe AIC in general. Instead of coming to the show's owner and asking what can be done, I was bypassed and ignored as if I hadn't even taken the slot. It was nice to see what everyone thought and how many ideas came up about moving the match to the new theater, and nothing was said ot me in private. Even when I needed to take off for a few weeks to recoup from the burnout I had with dealing with this project, the people who volunteered to take the slot for 3 weeks ditched after the first week. So I came back and then saw the lovely posts on the board saying we should cancel the match and maybe change it to something else. I dropped ownership of the slot after that because apparently the AIC had a better way to run the match, and had the support it needed. Yet there was no magical change and the Cage Match still draws an average of 7 to 8 people a week.

Why don't I attend meetings? Simple. Beacuse I don't feel anything I have to say will be really taken seriously. I also feel the meetings concentrate on too broad a format, and the important stuff is limited by time. And we go over the same stuff each time. And, like Ratliff has stated, I'm not sure what my membership in the AIC does bring me besides a vote, a chance to compete for slots on the schedule with the the volumes of side projects and one-offs that happen and now the out of town troupes who we invite in.

Heck, we even had a debate over wheter or not an AIC charity function was stealing audience members from the TNA. Yet wasn't our goal of the AIC to expose ourselves to new ideas and help get our name in the community? But this was lost because "TNA is struggling for audience members"

The AIC is good at festivals, specific shows (Like Maestro) and the various special events we have like the Awards banquet and the prom. Outside of that, we can't get enough support for much, as everyone is involved it seems, in several projects, forming new side projects, and their personal lives. Until everyone decides to participate in the AIC and not just a select few, meetings will always see low turnout, and we'll have these long, drawn out debates on whether or not we need to have members, an executive director, managing driector, grand poobah, etc.
We need to concentrate on the minor stuff first, then branch out into these glorious visions we have.

But until then I'm not wanting or expecting much from the AIC as a whole.

[DollarBill]

Seems to me like biggest benefit of being in the AIC is getting to perform for an audience (AND EVEN GET PAID A LITTLE!!!!) without having to do the set-up work and PR work. I'd say the AIC is serving two main functions:
-Promoting improv in Austin in general.
-Expanding the scene by bringing in newbies who wouldn't otherwise have a place to perform (and more importantly an audience to perform for).

I did improv for many years before I ever got paid for it. The Austin situation is rare. Most places you have to pay (a lot) to perform, either with money or lots of hard work. Have I said this before? Anyway, people who are new to improv should be very very very grateful to the AIC.

[Roy Janik]

( If you think I'm wrong, why do the Maestro supplies/buttons/names look like crap?)

Real quickly (I'm in a meeting), the AIC doesn't have anything to do with Maestro, really. It's a Heroes of Comedy / Hideout show. The AIC runs the Cagematch, The Double Barrel, The Threefer, and TNA.

The buttons look like crap because I ran out of button supplies. Damn, I should buy more of those.

[Mike]

( If you think I'm wrong, why do the Maestro supplies/buttons/names look like crap?)

Real quickly (I'm in a meeting), the AIC doesn't have anything to do with Maestro, really. It's a Heroes of Comedy / Hideout show. The AIC runs the Cagematch, The Double Barrel, The Threefer, and TNA.

The buttons look like crap because I ran out of button supplies. Damn, I should buy more of those.

OK, my bad. I thought Maestro was AIC as well. Sorry about that.

[Asaf]

Is it through AIC membership that improvisers are getting into all the shows free? Does that include shows in other venues outside of ColdTowne and The Hideout?