Fireflies, Do you wish Firefly happened more than one week a year? Not just camping in the woods and our participation in Somerville Open Studios and FIGMENT, but having more Firefly community, art, and activities year round? So do we, but we can’t do it without all of you! Firefly Arts Collective has been working hard to build the groundwork for more events and programs beyond our yearly interactive, multi-day, outdoor arts and culture festival held over the 4th of July weekend. For example, we now have access to the Firefly Gallery space at Velir Studios in Davis Square, and need the volunteer leadership to make more awesome things happen! COMMITTEES We have created a set of organizational committees to allow Fireflies to step up to blink and shine. These committees have extensive responsibility for major parts of Firefly Arts Collective, so if you’re looking for an opportunity to be more involved year round, now is your chance to volunteer! This is an open call for participation in several new committees. If you’re interested, please mail info@fireflyartscollective.org with a note introducing your Firefly background so far, and how you see yourself helping make Firefly stronger. Details on Firefly’s Committees can be found at http://fireflyartscollective.org/committees/ ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE AND THE FIREFLY GALLERY Firefly Arts Collective already participates in several events beyond our yearly festival. We wish to expand our participation in these and other events, curate the Firefly Gallery at Velir, and produce additional day and evening events to foster year-round participation in our culture. We have created an Activities Committee to encourage and develop future events and organization leaders. Initial activities will focus on the work necessary to launch and maintain the Firefly Gallery. The Activities Committee fosters collaborative environments and community for participatory arts through public activities other than our annual Festival. These activities include, but are not limited to, the Firefly Gallery at Velir and participation Somerville Open Studios and FIGMENT Boston. The responsibilities of the Activities Committee include: • Organizing Firefly Arts Collective’s activities and events outside of the yearly Festival • Coordinating the volunteer leadership necessary for production of such events • Encouraging community members to start new activities with the organizational support of Firefly Arts Collective • Establishing a yearly budget for Board approval • Taking direction from the Board as to desired future for the organization’s public activities outside of the Festival • Preparing a yearly summary report of activities One of the major projects of the Activities Committee is the Firefly Gallery, which will require many Firefly volunteers to help run smoothly. If you’re interested in helping out, we have an initial survey at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZELVvnY7N16DjPwBxNtudXe4CKqIJGgHeHgdeIKmHxg... COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE Firefly Arts Collective uses a diverse set of communication channels today, updated by many participants. We have created a Communications Committee to coordinate the organization’s publications. This Committee will plan and publish community announcements and facilitate discussion consistently across multiple channels. The Communications Committee organizes, designs and publishes all forms of Firefly Arts Collective’s outbound communication to our community. These forms may include, but are not limited to, email newsletters, websites, Facebook pages, and other social media. The responsibilities of the Communications Committee include: • Identifying appropriate forms of communication to the community • Working with the Technology Committee to deploy new communication channels • Providing a mechanism for the organization to present information to our community across available channels • Responding to informational inquiries and summarizing feedback to the Board • Ensuring communications channels have current information published at all times • Creating a consistent look across all forms of communication • Preparing a yearly summary report of activities TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE Firefly Arts Collective uses a variety of technology platforms to support its artistic and cultural activities, each of which has been developed or deployed over the past decade. In order to provide a consistent oversight of technology decisions and software development, we have created a Technology Committee. This Committee supports the rest of the organization in its technology requirements. The Technology Committee selects, develops, maintains and supports the technology infrastructure necessary for Firefly Arts Collective to operate. This infrastructure includes, but is not limited to, email aliases, mailing lists, mailing archives, web server infrastructure, software development and software support furthering the organization’s goals. The responsibilities of the Technology Committee include: • Identifying technology infrastructure choices appropriate for the organization • Maintaining or purchasing, as appropriate, external solutions • Developing software in support of the organization’s goals • Establishing standards for software development and project management • Ensuring technology solutions are available and reliable when needed by the organization • Supporting external users (such as other burns) of Firefly technology solutions • Preparing a yearly summary report of activities STILL READING? Thanks for making it to the end of this note, and we hope that you’re as excited as we are about the future of Firefly! These committees will all work throughout the year, so they're a great way to stay involved with Firefly outside of our festival. If you’re energized to volunteer on any of these committees, or have any questions at all, please contact us at info@fireflyartscollective.org . See you in the woods…. and around town too! <3, The Firefly BoD