(tl;dr: Please provide your feedback, particularly on candidates, via https://forms.gle/r6221QViiGwvcwCf7 by Sunday, September 17th!)

Dear Fireflies,

Earlier this spring we sent out our periodic open call for interest in joining the Board of Directors of Firefly Arts Collective. We received a number of enthusiastic responses, asked for and received thoughtful feedback from the Firefly Planning team, and invited several participants to meet with the current board and participate in 2023 event organization to better understand how we operate.

We would now like to solicit community feedback on the current round of candidates under consideration for joining the Firefly Board via the survey linked below. We also welcome feedback on current board members, to help keep us accountable to our community.

For the participants listed below, please consider the following thoughts as you write us:

1. Do you feel that the candidate or board member is well-suited for participating on the Board of Directors, based on your experience and board duties as described in our bylaws (http://fireflyartscollective.org/about-fac/firefly-bylaws/)?

2. What are some qualities in the candidate or board member that would assure success as a member of the Firefly Board?

3. If you have worked with the candidate or board member on a project before, what was that experience like?

4. Is there anything else you would like to share about the candidate or board member?

Our Board can be between 7 and 21 active members, so any and all of the candidates could join our board. There's no need to rank candidates in your feedback, just tell us what you think individually.

When considering your feedback, keep in mind that beyond the yearly camping festival, there are year-round activities of Firefly Arts Collective. The board works to build long-term plans to further our community values, and we are hoping to expand the year-round activities of Firefly Arts Collective. We seek members who are excited not just in helping coordinate our festival, but who also have the time and energy to expand and strengthen our regional community.

Candidates for August 2023:

• Tristan Brown

• Meytal Kotik

• Iva Gishin

Active Board Members:

• Jon Evans

• Jered Floyd

• Carly Nix

• Peter Salomone

• Dan Snyder

Non-Voting Board Members (formerly “active board alumni”):

• Alexander "Spencer" DeFelice-Kent

• Brian “Bendy” Endy

• Frank Gerratana

• Brian Gowdey

• Forest Handford

• Liz LaManche

• Sage Kochavi

• Sharon Kubo

• Mike “Magneto” MacHenry

• Kendra Pugh

• Lia Rudolph

• Julia Vilner-Shimoni

Non-Voting members are past board members in good standing who have chosen to participate in an advisory role, but are no longer able to fully meet the participation responsibilities of a board member. We haven’t previously noted the tenure of these participants, but are now doing so for increased transparency.

Please provide your feedback, particularly on candidates, via https://forms.gle/r6221QViiGwvcwCf7 by Sunday, September 17th. You may also send comments to board@fireflyartscollective.org if you do not want to use the Google form.  (If you wish to send feedback anonymously, feel free to relay it through any board or community member that you trust.) We welcome feedback on the Board at any time.

Thank you for your participation and we look forward to seeing you in the woods in 2024!

Sincerely,

The Firefly Arts Collective Board of Directors