Sol Diego CORE Update

23 February 2014

6pm, at Paul Williamson's house

Brandie Maddalena, Abraxas, Paul Williamson, Jeff Makey, Cliff arrived.

Audio/visual was set up for presentations. DVI connection refused to work.

Jake from Colab arrived. Myrna arrived.

Use VGA vs DVI on Brandie's laptop to connect to Paul's TV.

1. CORE Guidelines Delayed

The guidelines for 2014 CORE were expected to be released over the past week. However, they have been delayed another "few weeks". This is the third deadline broken for the Souk-style CORE ring around The Man. Earlier delays were "next week" and "in a month".

We do have an art grant in to the Burning Man Organization for an open-playa project called Nexus, which is a pavilion with interactive organ and lanterns. This provides some amount of hedging due to the lack of information about CORE.

Space, content, noise levels, presence or absence of power, and any other guideline are simply unknown. Speculating at this point is not productive. What we do know is that there will be a ring of tents that appear to be about a stall deep. CORE projects will be located underneath the tents, and will be moved to the Man to burn with the Man.

The projects will be on playa until Saturday, where before they were burned on Thursday night. The projects will probably be smaller. This may allow more regions to participate. However, it was noted that even if all regions participate, there is no way to complete the ring around the Man with booths and stalls in a marketplace-style deployment.

Lantern stalls in a Moroccan Bazaar is the proposed theme for San Diego CORE.

2. Fundraisers.

Upcoming events include Burner Bazaar and Roll & Love.

Kickstarter was discussed. Possible rewards were discussed. Lanterns that went to the playa, poscards from the playa, bandanas, stickers, necklaces, t-shirts, shot glasses, photo of project, etched glasses, Sol Diego Suns, embroidery, custom textiles, LED key chain lanterns.

3. Organ Donor Update

Prototype and first production-style organ pipes were shown. Strategies for interactivity was discussed, including MIDI keyboard, Theremin interface, and a method to choose pre-programmed music. The music is directly linked to the LED lighting. Hidden information in the form of spectral content will be visually evident through the use of frequency-linked LED lighthing.

The repaired LED light strands were shown, and the team that worked on repairing LED lighting recognized.

4. Colab

The Collaborative Workspace

https://www.facebook.com/SDcolab

Sol Diego is the largest group for volunteer duty at the recent Colab cleanup. This community workspace, mentored by Bob and Sharon from ???????, will be a home for Sol Diego.

Having a community workspace removes the tension with doing projects on other peoples' property. This gives us a dedicated home for tools and supplies. Rent the 1st year is $500/month. The money is coming from fundraising for CORE, sucha s Burner Bazaar. There is a track record and an optimism about the ability to pay for the space.

There will be lockers, a meeting room, locked storage spaces.

Taylor, Andrew, Fin, some other people arrived.

The goal is to make the space free for CORE to use through grants and fundraising and workshare.

Dancers, workshops, meetings, yogis, are all welcome to use the space. More burners means more customers. Colab meets a need, and success may mean expansion. Other properties nearby are available.

Tool checkout is accomplished with photo enforcement. A photograph of you and the tool is taken. A keyholder for the locked storage space will be required to be on premisis in order for this system to work.

The anchor renters of the space are expected to be YouTopia, Sol Diego, and art car projects.

There is 1800 square feet inside

3000 square feet outside

3-phase power

Jake has a kiln that needs a home. Colab could possibly take it.

Someone else had a printing press.

Trish requested use in support of a research paper for chemistry that involves pyrotechnics.

This is an all-outdoor workspace. Take stuff outdoors to work on it, then put it back at the end of the day.

Outdoor rules are relatively loose. Parties may be limited to 10pm. Fire spinning is OK. Burners bartering services for rent was discussed and will not be the method of renting. Money will be used instead.

A full build-out of Colab is upcoming (https://www.facebook.com/events/1392626921008024/)

With respect to specific projects, we may be asked to build the Temple. The design looks a lot like the Nexus, or maybe more pagoda-like. It has an elevated stage, false walls with interactive art, and two or three stories with a bell on the third level. It doesn't burn. There will probably be no fire at all at YouTopia. It has to be removed and stored or installed elsewhere. The designer is open to engineering feedback. It could be its own art grant.

5. Outreach to San Diego

Jason's grant to develop a park with his school kids was discussed. It is now a patch of grass. He has access to an unused kiln in Alpine. He would create a kiln shed at the middle school that is expected to be the primary user of the park. Brandie will approach JP to assist. We could do benches or anything built to robust Parks and Recreation specifications. The money is there, the need is for workers.

The park is located off College/El Cajon Blvd at a charter middle school. The community would use it if it was appealing at all. Helps school and the local community.

Future plans for outreach to San Diego include an adult playground.

How do the 10 principals hold up when interacting with communities outside our own? In most cases, we are representatives and educators. We demonstrate our values to others through interaction. This is an evangelist model. Or, in certain cases, we limit our involvement. This takes judicious assessment of the needs, aims, and purposes of each project and encounter.

How can burners become more culturally competent when encountering other communities? The example of the spray-painting of a mural at Chicano Park during the 2013 San Diego FIGMENT event was discussed as a pertinent example.

Greater San Diego outreach creates bridges. Don't burn the pile of lumber before it's built. Know your culture. Don't be a tourist.

6. Website

Updated websites www.sdcore.org and www.sol-diego.org were demonstrated.

7. Conclusion

Scout out more projects.

When guidelines are announced then we will be able to make decisions on CORE.

Getting a laser cutter for colab was discussed, given the demand.

A call for tools will be made.

Grants will be applied for.

SDCAP is our safety net. They have signed the lease and backstopped Sol Diego for the first year. After that we are expected to be on our own. Having this "just in case" financial support means that people will be able to commit to Sol Diego.