Son Of The Public Meeting

These are my notes for the public meeting of Sept 23rd at The Victoria pub. I’ve fleshed them out for publication but be aware they are notes. Video of my talk will be up soon.

Introducing We Are Birmingham

Showing off the logo, thanking Kipp and Tommy.

Emphasising what it means and how much of a challenge “We Are Birmingham” is to us running it. Potentially unattainable goal but one worth reaching for.

The company structure

In July I asked for help. In the last 2 months a group has come together and formed a company.

Think of it as two entities

1. Company board and members which utilises pool of skill and experience to advise and support shop.

   This is the board:

   • Aaron Andrews & Matt Murtagh (Chief Executives)
   • Pete Ashton (Communications Director)
   • Jeff Stuka (real name David Sowerby) (Business & Marketing Director)
   • Kathryn Rushe & Simon Gray (Administrative Executives)
   • Allison Sadler (Retail Consultant and Visual Director)

   As well as this there are Members of the Company. In essence these are people who are giving time and/or assets to the company:

   • Karen Cameron
   • Debbie Murphy
   • Steve Cooper
   • Kathryn Hall
   • Dennis McNulty

   While we want to keep things simple through to Christmas there is always the possibility of people joining (and leaving) the company over time. The point is this is a sustainable structure no matter who’s running it.

2. Running of the shop itself.

   • Aaron Andrews – Operational manager. Deals with landlord, staff, day to day running of shop.
   • Matt Murtagh – Artistic manager. Deals with stock and suppliers. Controls merchandising.
   • Pete Ashton – Communications manager. Spokesperson for shop. Keeps wider community informed.

   All three manage shop on rotational basis.

The Next Few Weeks

Setting up the unit.

• Painting, transporting furniture, cleaning, general labouring.
• Taking names. Leave details with Dennis.

Portfolio Reviews and Submissions

• To be held at Moseley Exchange.
• Main purpose is to have people ready to stock shop for 2 months of trading.
• How to present and package your work and so on.
• Lead by Matt.

Staff Interviews

• Looking for two full time and five flexible part time.
• Talk to Aaron.

Fund Raising

Breakdown of funds required before opening shop.

• £3,000 Fixtures and fittings.
• £1,000 Utilities (electrician, water, safety)
• £1,000 Marketing (flyers, ads where necessary)
• £1,200 contingency fund.

Need £6,000.

That’s a lot but each member of company put in £50 so we have £600 already. 10% of the way there.

We’re also pursuing funding opportunities and have opportunity of a bank loan but these take time.

We’ve had lots of support in kind. Anything that can reduce the costs (shop fittings, for example) would be useful.

We’ll be selling t-shirts thanks to generous deal with Mission Print. On sale soon.

What you can do:

• Donate something, however small. (link to Paypal page)
• Use your contacts to help us reduce costs. Who do you know who can supply us cheaply or for free? We can discuss sponsorship, etc.
• Help us find donors. People for whom £100 isn’t a scary sum.
• Buy our stuff, and sell our stuff. Ask for t-shirts, etc.
• Spread the word.

Remember, the shop isn’t called “We Are Birmingham” for PR reasons. It’s your shop.

Long Term Plans

Long term plan is for a permanent shop in the city centre.

Our relationship with Bullring is strong, so much so I’m calling them Bullring not The Bull Ring. Louise is in the room. They want us involved with their developments over the next year or so.

Part of the “vision” (urgh) is:

1. Working with arts organsations of all sizes to give them a presence in the city centre. For example, the work we did with Flatpack Festival, International Dance Festival, Needle & Thread / Kindle Theatre co’s.
2. Social and Creative hub for the community. A neutral space for people to meet do do things.

We think this is worth investing time and money in. We hope you do too.

The Shop Itself

(I talked about the shop we’re hoping to take. As that’s in the delicate stages of final negotiation I’ve taken the details off the blog for now.)

In conclusion

We’re going to do this.

We need your help.

Break for drinks

Asking questions of the board. Suspect this will mostly be Aaron and Matt.

We’ll try and sumarise the questions and answers later but in the meanwhile if you have any pop them in the comments.