Minutes of Special Meeting
to discuss Writers House/WXPN relationship, 5/8/97

By Sarah Giulian

From: afilreis@dept.english.upenn.edu (Al Filreis)
Subject: Minutes of chat about "Live"
Date: Sat, 10 May 1997 23:03:10 -0400 (EDT)

Minutes from "Live" meeting, 5/8/97:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

discussion of real audio on the web--xpn has rights to live at the writers
house participants (release forms)

al and vinnie have spoken with borders people:  probably won't give us
money, crc (communicty relations coordinator) would arrange visits of
writers to writers house, sign books, etc.  rope in larger names that are
about to publish, have them on live (even if they have to drive 6 hours) 

what to do with a poet we don't know:  establish contact with someone we
*do* know--walk-through becomes audition

we are exiting *pilot mode*--wxpn channels and "hierarchies" need to be
respected

need to establish a smaller group of decision making

what is the constituted relationship between wh producer, xpn producer,
and executive producers?

we dont' want to lose a sense of the writers house with "read and runs"--
even if it's workshops with published readers.
what is the policy/ what is expected from our readers


***QUESTIONS DU JOUR***

	what are policies for out of town readers

	what is the chain of command--default decision making group who
cannot be second guessed

	what kind of time are we working with--how often and how long
	where

	time line--break down of what needs to be done when

	what's the relationship with writers house

	support staff (xpn interns, writers house work study)

 	real audio

	what is our purpose

	are there other links to xpn programming that can be
explored--policy implications, break into daytime, do we want to integrate
with xpn programming
		need to maintain enough of a differentiation from xpn to
say "this is writers house" as opposed to "this is a poet on xpn"
		possible middle of the day tid-bits
		"negotiating minutes elsewhere on the calendar"

	what is xpn's level of excitement in this project--are we
infringing on their space

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


bruce and vinnie are super-psyched
xpn feels need to re-assess what they're doing, what relationship is with
penn

kristen's music idea as a bridge from writers house to xpn
	student involvement, local, and music

what is student involvement in general in xpn
	about 25 at any given time (work studies and interns)
	from on air positions to behind the scenes

writers house people need to organize and brainstorm with the bruce, al,
etc before presenting ideas to people like michaela who may be interested
in helping us out--
	careful planning and assessment involved in every step of xpn

ultimate goal of xpn is to get members, appeal to members, keep members

demographics--
	38 years old (ave.)
	56% male
	middle class, affluent
	suburb (e.g. main line)
	50/50 single or married
	college educated
	demographics similar to whyy (content is pretty much the only
difference from xpn)
	attend 3-4 shows a year, buy 20 cd's a year

WRITERS HOUSE PEOPLE SHOULD GET THE UNDERWRITER DEMOGRAPHIC PACKET
(al's on the case)

bruce's quote of the day:  "writers house is not our bastard child"

relationship is solid and dynamic between xpn/whouse even if it can't be
defined

xpn announcing cool events at writers house--
	kristen and holly would report 5 or 6 of the super hot events to xpn
	add whouse events to michaela's events calander
	would submit first draft of liners to xpn

joe says show has "seeped into staff's minds" at xpn

whouse and theater arts conjunction
	a one hour show that runs during winter/spring break
	ellen trachtenburg--executive member or performing arts community
	she has the contacts
	if we give her scripts, she'll get us actors
	writers hosue community will formulate scripts
	concern--it's a bigger commitment and a bigger potential flop (4
15 minutes sections as opposed to 15 3 minute sections)
	sort of spiralled to a level without climbing it's way through the
hierarchy.  al wants to "put the breaks on"
	if it falls into the right hands (writers *and* actors) it could
be good.  this comforts al.
	
al's quote of the day:  "we can act as a vanilla flavored space."

dystopia--
	student and local singer/songwriters and bands
	easy live-to-tape program
	rather unplugged
	maybe have 10 free tickets for pseudo-audience
	work within time constraints--once a month?  bi-weekly?
	"why to go to all music when we're the writers house and xpn
already does all music?"
	*maybe blending of music and poetry--have
accompaniment--PERFORMANCE POETRY (section b) AND MUSIC (sections a and
c)?

calander--kristen create a rough fall 97 calander?

time slot isn't cemented into the calendar, though bruce thinks it's
appropriate.

venues for september (hopefully early in the month for live)
	joes says 13th or 20th
	al says 13th
	al prefers TWO "Live" shows in september, even if we
		have just one monthly after that
	bruce says that's fine as long as it's not fund-drive time

out of town policies:  kristen, holly, joe

small groups will be identified and meet before our next group meeting.
who will answer our many questions?
what is the meaning of life?