#jackieblog

[blankslateelyria]

February Updates

Hello! This is Jackie, co-founder of Blank Slate. It's been a minute since I've written a blog post. Today I feel that it's appropriate because the only things I feel motivated to do are talk about Blank Slate and play with my pets. (I successfully played with Ruffles and Snowflake for an hour this morning)

TL;DR Blank Slate is a punk venue. Last night was fun. We have many upcoming events in February. The art gallery looks great. Our bills are scary.

"What is Blank Slate?" you may ask. It's a DIY venue in Elyria, Ohio. We host live music shows,  an art gallery, community get togethers, among other things. The whole idea is to provide a location for artistic expression and community. We are volunteer run and are always seeking out more people to get involved with us. We really want to see you book events in our venue.

You may now be wondering, "What has Blank Slate been up to?" Well, lots of sh*t!

Music Shows

For one, our hip hop game is only getting better and better. For months Eddy (co-founder and guy who books like all the music shows) booked a lot of hardcore, indie, and punk shows. But now I'm seeing a lot more hip hop shows booked mostly by Orcko Occult. And by "a lot more" I mean that there was one last Saturday, there is one this Tuesday 2/7 and Saturday 2/18.

Also upcoming is Anderson's PAL-entines day Lonely Hearts Open Mic on Tuesday 2/14 (ps Anderson is an art gallery juror & very important volunteer). I think there are plenty of open spots, if you're interested.

Shaun (a founding board member) has Meet Me in Montauk on Monday 2/13.  Eddy has an indie punk show on Friday 2/17 with Tiny Engines backed Signals Midwest.

Art Gallery

The art gallery team has been killing it. I'm so proud of Shelby, Michelle, and Anderson. I'm the administrator for the gallery, which means that I do a lot with coordinating artists and assisting the team. Shelby is in charge of the group. Together they select the pieces, install and take down the art, plan the monthly art receptions, and are there for weekly gallery hours. Yeah it's a lot of volunteer hours. Too bad we aren't applying to college anymore. This would look great on a scholarship application.

Last night we had our February Art Reception with live music performed by Matt Deulley (of A Work of Fiction). The gallery is currently featuring the work of artists Dan Manion (Athens) and Blair Griffith (Cleveland). Both of their work have similar themes of abstraction. But it's pretty sweet because they approach the idea in very different ways. Their work will be up all of this month. You can view it Sundays from noon to 3pm and also at any of our events. Next month we have artists Timothy Gaewsky (Cleveland) and Rhiannon Massaro (Wooster). Their work uses lots of color and are similarly trippy.

Film Screenings

Last night following the February reception we had a screening and discussion of Japanese thriller Woman in the Dunes hosted by Stephen (one of our artists back in November '16). It was super creepy and thought provoking. Now I'm wondering, "Would I be more trapped in my current life or enslaved/ enslaved with a lady in the dunes?" That doesn't make any sense to you? You just have to see the movie. Next film screening is coming up in a month or so.

Girl Gang

Michelle, Courtney (January '17 artist & very important volunteer) and I started the Girl Gang Meet Up a few months ago. Our goal is simply to help girls make friends with girls. And by girl, I mean any person who includes girl as a part of their identity. For example, if you are a non binary or trans person who is interested in being part of a girl gang, then I totally want you to come. I want moms to attend, too. At each meetup we have bitch support group and an arts and crafts project. The next event is Wednesday 2/15. I think we are making water marbled coffee mugs.

Finances

It's been a challenge to pay our bills for the last several months. Attendance at shows hasn't been great and that's how we make all of our money. Yeah we sell art and zines sometimes, but it's all about the money we make from admission at shows. I know, it's cold out and netflix exists. But I personally want to encourage you to come to shows! I'm working on being more fun, too, so maybe you will see me and we will become best friends 4 eva.

Alright, that's a lot of information. If you made it this far, congratulations and thank you! If this post got you thinking about how you can get involved, be on the look out for the March public meeting. The public meetings are a great way for new people to get to know us and for everyone to share ideas.I'll make a facebook event for it soon.

That’s Snowflake my pet rabbit ^^^

[neohdama]

Our Venue, Upcoming Public Meeting, and More!

Hello, again! This is Jackie. I’m one of NEOHDAMA’s founding board members as well as our official Treasurer. It’s been a while since my last post. I apologize. I’ve been busier than ever because 1) I’m a full-time student again, 2) *Spoiler Alert* we just got a venue, and 3) I’ve been working as a server part-time. Pretty busy, right?

What have I been doing for the last couple of months? The short answer: business-stuff. What does that mean? I’m pretty much done with the basic classes put out by the Small Business Development Center. I’ve attended business networking events through FEBE3. I went to an Invest Elyria meeting. Also, I’m still very slowly chipping away at our business plan. I just want it to be really good, you know? I’m sure there is more that I’ve done since my last post, but honestly if I start to think more about all of the business that needs to get done my brain might pop out of my head. (Like out of anxiety, not cuz I’m stupid or something.)

Let’s fast forward to the good stuff: our very first venue! Just a couple of weeks ago, our board member Eddy secured a venue in historic downtown Elyria for us. Do you remember Jim’s Coffee House or the Tattoo Lounge? It’s that place. If you haven’t been there, it’s a basement-like spot just off of Broad Street. Inside has a pretty cool industrial-chic aesthetic- there are brick walls, metallic hanging light fixtures, natural wood walls, and an ok amount of natural lighting. Eddy, Abbey, Bob, and Shaun have been putting in the hours to clear out the space for us (with the help of volunteers Ricky and others who I don’t even know!).

There’s a ton of work to be done at the venue. (See the scrum chart we made above) We still need to deep clean the space. One of the toilets needs a new handle inside. We need soap, paper towels, chairs, trash bags, more free time! We need to construct a stage. We want to put on a fresh coat of paint. And dude, I’m not even mentioning all of the work that the booking team needs to crack down on. Or the behind-the-scenes work I need to do.

Speaking of work to do, we really need some help from you. Which is why we have our first big public meeting this Sunday April 3rd at 2pm. It will be at our slightly-furnished new venue! In my mind, the big goals of our meeting are to 1) introduce the venue to our target audience, 2) get your feedback about our projects and 3) to reel-in some volunteers. I hope we will introduce our venue’s name on Sunday. Please let me know if you have any ideas.

I think we are going to start the meeting off with the basics about what our venue will be doing. That’s just providing DIY shows that are accessible to everyone and displaying cool, independent art.  We really want to reach the point of having multiple shows each week. After the intro, I hope that we will engage you enough that you’ll give us your opinions about how you want the venue to be run. For example, do you really want movie nights? Dance parties? Documentary screenings? After that, I’m hoping you will be excited enough to sign up as a volunteer. We can use volunteers to do the basics like watching the door at shows and cleaning up. I could really use more people on the business and organizational side of our group. For example, someone who understands how to develop an accounting system. Or an organized person who can be in charge of membership. AND I’m sure we can use people on the booking team. Abbey, Shaun, and Eddy are experienced in booking music shows across several genres. But I can’t say we have someone who can book art-centric events. Could that be you?

Wow my head is spinning with the possibilities of what our venue will become. Thanks for reading! Please come to the general public meeting, our first show on April 10th, or the second show on April 17th.

P.S. Look at this sick show flyer that I helped make:

[neohdama]

Last Fundraiser Update & Future Fundraiser Thoughts

Happy Holidays! It’s Jackie. (And it’s totally not weird that I’m the only person writing blog posts. Just as a reminder NEOHDAMA isn’t my project, it belongs to our whole group.)

It’s almost Christmas, and I’ve been thinking a lot about the act of giving to NEOHDAMA. But first, I should update you on our activities.

A video posted by abbey clark (@abbeycleluzer) on Nov 29, 2015 at 9:31pm PST

That's me waltzing lol

Did you go to our fundraiser on November 11th? Did you think it was AWESOME? I did. We had a lot of really cool bands performing. The bar was open for beer, and Shelby was nice enough to donate all of her tips that night to us. I don’t know how many people showed up, but the parking lot at Sterk’s was full. What with donations, bar tips, raffle earnings, and merch sales we raised $450! What did you like about the fundraiser? What didn’t you like?

So you’re probably wondering now that the fundraiser is over, what else are we doing? The board has been talking a lot about federal nonprofit status. Right now, we are a nonprofit because we don’t have paid employees. However legally, we are still a corporation. It takes about $400 and 1 year to complete the process to be legally a nonprofit. Which is why it has been taking us a bit. We’ve debated, is it worth it to spend 50% of our savings on nonprofit status? I’m pretty sure that we will though, because having that status has its incentives. But as always, all of our major decisions are up for vote by the board of directors.

Now for what I’ve really been wanting to talk about: future fundraising. Yeah sure we will have more music show fundraisers. (At this point, our next show fundraiser is out of my hands because I’m not involved with booking shows.) The type of fundraising that I’m thinking about right now is more like crowdfunding, fundraisers at restaurants, and AmazonSmile.

I think that we won’t launch a crowdfunding campaign until we have a venue secured. Hopefully that will happen in the next 6 months.

Regarding fundraisers at restaurants, I mean the kind of fundraiser where you get 20% of sales at Chipotle on some time that you’re in charge of promoting. Did you do that kind of stuff in high school? I did for student government. I did apply to have a NEOHDAMA fundraiser at Chipotle but they didn’t get back to me. It’s probably my fault for not following up. But there are about 3 other restaurants that I know who do similar charitable fundraisers. Would you even go to one of these things?

And AmazonSmile. It’s when 0.05% of your amazon purchases gets donated to the charitable organization of your choice. Which seemed like a cool idea for us until I read this article. The article says that by donating with AmazonSmile gives you a mental “pat on the back” that kills future inclination to actually donate directly to charity. That’s messed up, huh?

Well those are my thoughts. Do you have any ideas for fundraiser? Let me know.

P.S. Who saw the new Star Wars? Fricken cool right?

[neohdama]

6 Reasons Why Elyria is Perfect for a DIY Venue

Hello! It's Jackie. Again.

When people think about Elyria, Ohio their first thought doesn’t go to its parks featuring ravines carved by ancient glaciers, or how vital the introduction of the Garford Saddle has become to enjoying long bicycle rides. Instead, nowadays people seem to associate Elyria with dirty basement parties, robberies at the Taco Bell, and its numerous dive bars. So when I talk to people about this up and coming nonprofit music and art space they’re like, “Why don’t you rent a space in Lakewood?” or “Nobody wants to go to Elyria.”

And while I politely keep up the conversation until we ultimately move onto something else to talk about, all I want to say is, “STFU it’s a great idea!” Here are 6 reasons why:

The small town community makes you feel less socially-awkward When I go to shows in Cleveland/ Lakewood, it usually sucks for me because I don’t know anyone. I end up drinking tall PBRs just as something to do. Sure I can cling to my boyfriend and that friend that he hasn’t seen in 5 years who also showed up, but the chances are we aren’t going to run into each other again.

However Elyria is way different from Cleveland and Lakewood because it still has a small town vibe to it. Have you ever gotten lunch at Cascade Café? Seriously everyone is on a first name basis. The small town thing translates to punk shows, too. I’m always seeing familiar faces at local shows in Lorain County, which in turn makes me feel much more comfortable and sociable.

Driving out to shows in Cleveland/ Akron/ Toledo/ Columbus sucks For those of us who have lived in the Westside suburbs of Cleveland our whole lives, the struggle to commute to shows is real. It’s expensive to drive an hour on the turnpike to Akron, especially with the mandatory late night Taco Bell run.

Elyria is in a sweet spot not only because its proximity to I-90 and I-480, but also because there are just so many of us who live out here in the ‘burbs anyway.

There are vacant affordable and well-constructed buildings There’s a lot of sturdy and attractive architecture in Elyria. When its downtown was thriving 50+ years ago, there was enough money in the city to build a lot of really nice commercial buildings. And because of the historic downtown’s current state of decline, a lot of these buildings are vacant and low-rent.

14th Most Populated City in Ohio Elyria has a lot more people than you think. It’s actually more populated than Lakewood! The more people there are nearby, the more likely they’ll attend shows.

It's close to Oberlin, but not too close Let’s face it, Oberlin is cool because there are a lot of great musicians and art there. When you can find a show, it’s usually pretty great. But some kids who go to the college don’t want to interact with "townies". There are a lot of Obie students who want to break into the greater Cleveland music scene, but just don't know how. (I actually know a kid who wanted to explore Cleveland, so he would go to PARMA!)

A venue in Elyria is close enough to draw out the good artists and musicians who don’t suck, but not so close that we feel repelled by their exclusive bubble. It’s also a great way to bridge the gap between eager college kids and the satellite scenes throughout northeast Ohio.

Lorain county’s rich history of music Do you remember walking up three flights to The Spot? How about trekking out all the way to Lorain to the Red Parrot? It’s been almost 10 years since I’ve been to a show at a real music venue in Lorain County. (And even though it was sort of sketchy then) The history is real. If it happened then, it can happen again. Especially considering the rad group of people who are working on NEOHDAMA.

[neohdama]

It’s awesome to see punk events happening locally! Check out Fat Girl Tales for more info.

[neohdama]

DIY Business Plan

Have you ever thought up a really cool business but didn’t know how to take it to the next step? Me too! But when we needed to get a business plan done to show to potential financial backers, we figured it out. So here's some info if you get put in a similar situation.

You may be wondering why do a business plan anyway. From what I've learned, they are important because 1) writing out a business plan makes sure that you have thought out all the important details and 2) you need a comprehensive document to show to people who will back you financially. And when I'm talking about financial backers, I mean anyone from a landlord to a bank.

Alright now you may be wondering if you can even do it. I mean, you don't have a degree in business (probably). It seems hard. You may have googled it and thought, "WTF I can't do a financial analysis for the first 3 years of business!" At least, that's what I went through. But it's really not that hard. If you've ever written a research paper, you can probably write a business plan.

Ok now here we go with the steps:

Take out books on how to write a business plan from the library. Like I said before, I tried googling how to do it and that was a mess. Pick out the thickest how-to book you can. I suggest "Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies" by Rhonda Abrams.

Read it! You don't have to look at every page, because it's not all going to apply to you. But it's important to read the intro and flip through some chapters.

Make an outline. Your first section should be the executive summary, then business description. Next you'll probably want to do a market research section, followed by development plan, and an operations section. Last, always needs to be the financial section, followed by the appendix. These are sort of the basics of a business plan, you'll probably need to add more based on your business. For ours, I really got into specifics. There was a community involvement section, as well as target market.

Do your research! You need to look into facts about your industry, trends, facts about your market, census data, ect. You're going to want to be able to say, "So-and-so reference reports that sales have increased blabla percent in the last 5 years for whatever industry."

It sort of goes without saying, but I'm the kind of person who says those things. Think about what you've found out, and think about your outline before you start writing. Does your business model seem like it's going to work? How do you want your writing to sound? Formal? Casual? Eccentric? Who are you writing this for? What do they want to hear?

Start with one of your sections and get writing. This is where the "Successful Business Plan" really came in handy for me. Before I got started with each section I read what Rhonda had to say about it, and made bullet points on what I needed to write. Her examples are also really helpful.

Revise your writing (duh).

Ask other people to read your plan and make edits! This step is crucial, because you don't want your tunnel vision to cost you $$$.

Present the business plan to your banker, mayor, landlord, whoever.

Wow see it's not that hard! It's less than 10 steps. Also I feel that I should note this process will probably take you months. Our business plan went through at least 4 drafts, took about 4 months to get to a place where I'm mostly satisfied, and is now 32 pages long (don't worry 10 pages are all appendix). And I'm actually still on step 8, moving onto step 9. 

Anyway good luck, you DIY entrepreneur!

[neohdama]

Updates: November 29 Fundraiser & Finished Business Plan

Hello yet again. It’s me, Jackie. Here to tell you what you need to know about what NEOHDAMA is up to.

First things first, we have our second fundraiser coming up on November 29. It will be at Sterk’s of Oberlin (like the last one). It will be a bit different than our August fundraiser because we aren’t going to have an art and zine show or comedy. Also it’s a Sunday so you won’t be able to buy liquor, only beer. But that’s ok because who wants to hang out with a bunch of wasted punks on a Sunday night anyway? ... Probably a few people...

So far, the only band we have booked is Antillia. If you are in a cool local band feel free to hit us up about it! Although Eddy, Shaun, and Abbey are in the midst of talking to people already.

Second, that dang business plan is finished- except for a couple revisions. At this moment I’m anxiously waiting for Eddy to be done with his revisions so I can convert the whole 32 page document into a pdf. When that’s done, we are planning on sending it over to friends and friendly acquaintances who may help us hand it off to somebody who will either give us a grant or a rental agreement. I’m hoping for both. Do you know of any local organizations who we should talk to?

That’s about it. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to mark Nov 29 in your calendar!

[neohdama]

Jackie Blog: What the heck are we up to?

Hey!

It’s Jackie here. NEOHDAMA has gone through some changes lately. ‘What changes?’ you may ask. Well, the first one is that NEOHDAMA is not involved with SEED Ventures anymore. They had their opening day on the 1st of October and we were not there. I feel guilty and a little bummed that we aren’t in it anymore, but I also feel good that we are spending our more time on getting a venue.

The second change is that we have lost Kevin as a board member, but we gained Bob! You win some, lose some, am I right?

Now for some updates. 

We are in the beginning stages of planning a big fundraiser music show at Sterk’s of Oberlin for the end of November. It won’t be a combination art and music show (like our last big fundraiser). We aren’t too confident that we know how to put on a good art show. So our next fundraiser will just be a typical punk music show.

Also I’m sure you’re dying to hear what I’ve personally been doing for NEOHDAMA. I’ve been working on our business plan. We’ve had a draft for a while, but the financial section needed some buffing up before we seriously presented it to future business partners. Have you ever written a business plan? It’s tough. THANKFULLY I understand the merits of a library card. I borrowed “The Successful Business Plan” from the library, which has been instrumental in my work to make ours legit. Eddy presented the last draft of it our our landlord, who said that it looked like a professional had made it. That made me feel pretty cool about us.

My final update is that there is a house show this Thursday the 15th at Kevin’s house. You should check it out! It looks like it will be short and sweet, if you’re worried about staying out too late on a weekday.

[neohdama]

Update: SEED Ventures

Hello, again!

It’s me Jackie. Have you been wondering what NEOHDAMA is up to lately? Well I’m here to cure your curiosity. We haven’t posted about a new event lately because we have been directing our efforts towards SEED Ventures. It’s a part of The Oberlin Project that is working to stimulate local entrepreneurship. 

What does that mean for NEOHDAMA? I’m glad you asked. SEED is letting us and other new, local businesses occupy their space at 29 S. Main St. in Oberlin. The idea is that SEED is going to teach us how to run a business and give us a head start in that we can use their space as a trial run for us. I’ve only been to one meeting so far, but I really appreciated receiving feedback from SEED and the other businesses on our business pitch.

What does that mean for you? You can come to our temporary space for events and to experience our pop up cassette & 7-inch distro/ zine store. We are still feeling out the parameters of events that we can do at the space. But we really want to do full-on punk shows and art displays in November and December. In the mean time we have events that require less planning in the works. I volunteered to co-host a get-together for punk ladies, and also another one for punk POC. Kevin wants to do a punk literature club, Abbey wants to do regular in-person updates, and Eddy wants to do a playlist sharing event. What kind of events would you like to attend?

Our big open house at SEED is October 1 from 7- 9pm. The store will be open through December 31. Hours are 11am- 6pm everyday, except that in November and December Thursday hours are 11am- 8pm.

[neohdama]

Jackie Blog

Hi!

Did you go to our fundraiser show on Monday? Did you have fun? I hope you did. There was comedy, a build your own zine station, art on display, a battle set, a raffle, and some more awesome music.

The show was a success because we proved that you actually are interested in our venture! And you were actually willing to donate money! I know some were skeptical. All the money we made was sent to our bank account to save for a real venue in Elyria.

The show failed, in a way, because the art room was awkward. We (Shaun, Kevin, Eddy, and I) talked a lot about the placement of art and music. We ultimately ended up having the music in the dining room closest to the East doors, which made sense because it was a big room next to a rear entrance for loading music gear. We decided to have the art in the tavern dining area because we wanted you to talk to the artists without having to be louder than the live music. BUT I guess a lot of people didn't make it out to the art area. Bummer.

I want to see an event just for artists come up soon. Do you have any ideas on the subject?

Another event that I REALLY want to happen is an 80's dance party. In my mind, it would be at Sterk's of Oberlin again. Everyone would show up looking like Madonna in "Like A Virgin," give a small donation, there would be a small art showcase, and there would be drinking and dancing. I'd have so much fun with that.

There's also talk of a Halloween cover band show! I'l let you know as soon as I do!