Honolulu Printmakers -- virtual community

The Honolulu Printmakers has taken its first steps towards adopting videotelephony as a means to maintain connections with our members and the larger print community. This technology — video conferencing using such platforms as Zoom, Google Meet, and others — is familiar to many but is new to some of us, including this writer, and is proving to be a critical tool for communication within and beyond our organization. Something of a pandemic cliche at this point, the videoconference nevertheless has great potential for community building for Honolulu Printmakers.

On April 25 we held our Annual Meeting via Google Meet. I’m happy to report that we actually had a record turn out, and attendees seemed genuinely grateful for even this remote connection to their community. The purpose of these annual meetings is to approve a new board of directors (see them here) as well as for the Treasurer and Executive Director to deliver their annual reports. Google Meet allowed us to get these routine business tasks accomplished, but also provided a much-needed human element and a modicum of fellowship, however mediated. By the way, if you missed the meeting, you can get in touch for a link to watch the archived video.

The current Board of Directors has adopted videoconferencing in order to continue the governance of the organization via monthly zoom meetings. The first such meeting was on May 6, and despite a few glitches, was genuinely productive. As time goes on I think this will prove to be an invaluable tool for accessibility and inclusivity, as well as productivity, as it allows board members to work more efficiently around busy schedules and stay connected while traveling or even living off-island.

Videoconferencing has also been a handy tool as we begin to develop online content for our members. I recently conducted two interviews with past jurors and visiting artists, and was able to record the discussions, then edit them and upload them to youtube (did you know we had a youtube channel?). You can watch my zoom interviews with Sonnenzimmer (Nadine Nakanishi & Nick Butcher, jurors in 2015) and Jeffrey Dell (2019) here and here; please go check them out, and hit “subscribe” to get updates on future uploads.

There’s quite a bit of interesting work being done online right now involving arts education, presentation, and organizing, with the goal of improved community engagement in these uncertain times. Would you be interested in attending printmaking discussions, demonstrations, or other programming and “events” via videoconferencing? Get in touch with your ideas, or leave them as a comment below.

Regards,

Duncan

Honolulu Printmakers... at home

In-between Times.

I hope this message finds all of you healthy and staying home during these uncertain times. Like everyone else, Honolulu Printmakers has been forced to adjust, postpone, and generally change everything about how we’re operating. With our studio closed and our regular programming on hiatus we’re actively searching for ways to continue our mission and provide value and and service to our members. Please stay tuned, and get in touch if you have some ideas to share. I strongly encourage you to follow us on instagram if you don’t already. It’s the most immediate channel of communication we have right now and is a great way to get updates on our activities. As things change, you’ll hear about it first there.

Annual Meeting on 4/25/20 and a new board of directors.

In spite of the current situation, our Annual Meeting must go on! We’re mandated by our bylaws to hold an annual meeting for our membership, during which we ratify a new board of directors for the coming fiscal year, as well as receive annual and treasurer’s reports about the past year. Of course we’ll have to do things a bit differently this year.

First off, we will be providing all current members an opportunity to vote on the proposed slate for the 2020-21 board via an online form, beginning now, up until April 22. The proposed slate and voting form are located here:

honoluluprintmakers.org/2020-board-of-directors

Please note you must be a current member in good standing to vote. If you need to check on your membership status, please get in touch (and renew here if you need to!). The voting period will end on 4/22/20.

Secondly, as we cannot assemble in person as usual we will be holding a video conference meeting using Google’s Meet service on Saturday, April 25, at 4 pm. The purpose of doing this is to provide connections for our membership, however mediated, and to maintain some sense of community. In the meeting I will present my annual report; our treasurer Paul Weissman will present his financial report; we’ll thank our out-going board members and welcome the new ones (vote before 4/22 please); and we’ll take a moment to reflect on some recent projects from the past year. I hope many of you will join us!

MEMBERS: to join in our meeting on the the 25th, you must opt-in via the same board of directors voting form above.

If you haven’t used Google Meet before it’s very simple, doesn’t require you to download any software or have a google account, and you can even join the meeting via telephone if you have connectivity issues. You will need a computer or mobile device connected to the internet with reasonable bandwidth if you want watch. We will be sending out detailed instructions in the next week or so for those who would like to participate. Our goal is to make this as accessible as possible for all of our members, so we will try our best to get everyone connected. In addition, we will be recording the whole thing for those who miss it.

We need each other, please stay in touch!

We want to stay connected with all of you so please reach out if you have questions, comments, or ideas on how we can continue to promote print culture together and help our members through this time. We also really appreciate all of our members standing by us at this time. We will get to the other side of this crisis, and when that happens we will have your ongoing support to thank for ensuring that Honolulu Printmakers continues on in our 10th decade! The main ways you can help are by staying engaged (join us on the 25th!); by renewing your membership online; by making a tax-deductible donation at any time via this link (FYI we also participate in Amazon’s smile program for charitable giving - designate us as the nonprofit of your choice); or even by buying some socks from our online store.

Thanks, and stay safe!

Duncan Dempster