WAmend's campaign for Initiative 735
Hi WAmend Supporters:
We are getting ready to announce the WAmend Meaningful Movies Film Series and to invite your participation.
Last year, when I was serving as campaign manager for WAmend, I spoke before the Meaningful Movies group at Keystone UCC Church in Wallingford; they showed "Inequality for All." They were a very receptive audience. People enthusiastically signed and often took our petitions to participate further in the campaign. Rick Turner, head of Meaningful Movies, has done a great job, bringing together the community to show a wide variety of social justice films on Friday nights in this Seattle neighborhood for the last 12 years. This organization is now growing by opening up other Meaningful Movie groups around the Puget Sound region (www.meaningfulmovies.org).
The new WAmend I-735 campaign is a great opportunity to educate the public about this critical issue and also to collect filled petitions. We are thinking that having a monthly film night across the state to simultaneously show the same film could be a great way to publicize the new campaign, get signatures, recruit new volunteers, and generally advance the WAmend campaign to "Get Big Money out of Elections."
Rick is generously working with us to negotiate the screening rights and rates. We are now looking for local coordinators across the state to show the films. This is a great way to build on what we did last year with volunteers we already have in place as well as to encourage participation for those new to this campaign.
Other details:
Tentative Film List: If you have films you would like to suggest, please send me your remarks. The decision to show a film first depends upon the screening rights arrangements (and costs) we make with the appropriate parties. Taking care of these legal details is very important.
Venues: Finding a friendly, comfortable and inexpensive location is also very important. We would encourage you to check out churches (Unitarian Universalists, UCC churches, Episcopal, etc) are all denominations who have a strong social justice mission. They might be quite open to hosting this monthly activity.
Equipment: You will need to locate a digital projector that can play DVDs, either directly or through a laptop computer. It's best to also have a 8' (or so) screen, but one could use a white wall if necessary. Finally, a sound system will need to also be set up. The details and recommendations on equipment is currently being prepared.
Costs/Donations/Money Issues: We are anticipating we will need to solicit some donations to fund this project. We are currently in the process of determining what the costs might be, but they would basically consist of screening costs, venue rental costs (if not for free), and equipment costs, etc. I am hoping to get a few major donors to contribute to this cause and am estimating we will need $4000 to $5000 to fund it for the full 18 months. Then, when we pass the hat for donations at the events, that money can go directly to WAmend for campaign expenses.
Target Date & Publicity: We are hoping to have the films shown on the 4th Saturday of each month, starting in May. We will send each group the monthly DVD and a poster/flyer template that can be completed with your details. We will also draft a press release that can be used for your local newspapers and we'll work on getting publicity for this project on the radio, the internet and on TV. Finally, we plan to host a Free Conference call at least monthly to see how everyone is doing on executing this film project.
Please let me know if you would like to be a part of this exciting project. With all of the wonderful films that have been created over the last several years about this critical issue, we need to utilize this huge resource to wake up the American people and Save Our Democracy. Call/email me ASAP to let me know of your interest.
In solidarity, Libby Carr, Coordinator, WAmend Meaningful Movies Film Series, libbycarr007 <at> gmail.com
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