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Thread: Official: SELEM 2020 in Newton, NC has been cancelled

  1. #11
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    Dec 2016
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    Really sad to hear this news. As someone still new to the hobby, I can say that SELEM was a life changing experience for me. I cannot express how much the event means to me. SELEM is an inspiration for everyone and a showcase of the strength, resilience, knowledge, and creativity of this community. I am positive it can go on, and like many others mentioned above, a fresh start every so often may not be a bad thing. I wish there was some way I could help, but seeing that I am in Cali, I don't see how. Having only been once, I will miss the venue and the atmosphere it brought, but I could also do without the broken air conditioning and endless frustrations.

    Connor

  2. #12
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    May 2020
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    Default SELEM's future

    I've down some things with a location in Kinston, NC. Talked to a friend there tonight and they indicated they might have suggestions for a location there. I do know they have a Holdiay Inn Express because I stayed there.

    Otherwise sorry to see it cancelled but understand.
    Stay Coherent

  3. #13
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    You can rent the Houlshouser Building at the NC state fairgrounds for $1100/day with lower rates on load end days. If you set up exhibits you could probably make some money to offset the cost by allowing people to come in and see what's going on. Stuff is happening at the fairgrounds every weekend so there is a lot of foot traffic. For example, there are a lot of things like car shows, cat shows, dog shows, gun shows, and everything else, there. You don't have to make it public, of course, but it could be an option on a Saturday afternoon, for example. Two things I am not sure about are if they would allow late night use but if so, I am sure noise wouldn't be an issue. The other thing is I am not sure if it would be available for 5 or 6 days since they keep the fairgrounds booked with events pretty well. Otherwise, the area is good. Neat the airport and plenty of hotels and there are even RV hookups there if you want to camp out. It would probably need to be in winter though since the place does not have AC, just heat.

    http://www.ncstatefair.org/facilities/holshous.htm

  4. #14
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    I just want to echo everything others have said above. SELEM is the one single event I look forward to every year, like an annual pilgrimage to Newton/Conover. No, it *is* a pilgrimage. It's unfortunate it came to this.

    Based on the requirements, really any vacant middle or high school in almost any small town would work in the summer. Auditorium, gym, cafeteria, work rooms, kitchen, parking, etc. (And can you imagine having access to the metal and wood shops during SELEM?? LOL). I think the only sticking point would be the likelihood of being forced to negotiate and work with the local unions for power and setup. Just a thought to look for alternative venues that aren't commercial "event" venues that will be more expensive.

    Like I posted on facebook, I'm confident we'll come out of this even better than ever before.

  5. #15
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    Bradfo69 is offline Pending BST Forum Purchases: $47,127,283.53
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    Quote Originally Posted by HankLloydRight View Post
    I just want to echo everything others have said above. SELEM is the one single event I look forward to every year, like an annual pilgrimage to Newton/Conover. No, it *is* a pilgrimage. It's unfortunate it came to this.
    I look forward to CaribLEM on those years so, some years there are two... Lol

    Based on the requirements, really any vacant middle or high school in almost any small town would work in the summer.
    True but, based on some discussions I've had with people in the past, we'd do much better focusing on private/parochial schools versus public schools. Less administrative BS and, they're usually for profit and may welcome income during a quiet month. Easier to develop a relationship as well and, you *could* open a day to science students. They tend to offer better education than public schools so, stressing the educational component able to be afforded to their students could be a big sell.

    On a different note, this is a mix of blessing and curse. I worry that moving it in a different locale may mean I never see certain people again because of the distance involved. There is also the concern (and we have this with ILDA), that going virtually like Zoom will be a downfall because going forward there are some that might say, why bother making the trip if I can just watch a webcam. The blessing on the other hand is that some people that may not have attended for a while might get stirred by the curiosity of a new venue and make the effort to attend again and our overall attendance could see a spike. Like maybe we hit 90 or 100 people just because of the increase from wanting to see the "newness". Regardless... It's hard not ever visiting Newton again. Lotta memories.....
    Last edited by Bradfo69; 05-22-2020 at 05:18.
    PM Sent...

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bradfo69 View Post
    True but, based on some discussions I've had with people in the past, we'd do much better focusing on private/parochial schools versus public schools. Less administrative BS and, they're usually for profit and may welcome income during a quiet month. Easier to develop a relationship as well and, you *could* open a day to science students. They tend to offer better education than public schools so, stressing the educational component able to be afforded to their students could be a big sell.
    Great points, I hadn't thought of that.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bradfo69 View Post
    True but, based on some discussions I've had with people in the past, we'd do much better focusing on private/parochial schools versus public schools. Less administrative BS and, they're usually for profit and may welcome income during a quiet month. Easier to develop a relationship as well and, you *could* open a day to science students. They tend to offer better education than public schools so, stressing the educational component able to be afforded to their students could be a big sell.
    Perhaps but $5K or so for a private school is not a large amount when you consider the time needed, liability, etc. $5K isn't even enough for a week at a big beach house. Private schools just pass the buck for whatever they need to the parents. $5K divided by 200 kids is $25/kid. If they need that much money they could just up student fees by $25 instead of haggling with Adam.

    Public school departments are terribly underfunded. The band program at my daughters school had to cut out a lot. The drama programs need funding for competitions. Consider contacting these departments at schools and leveraging them. After all, you will be using their facilities (auditorium). They would welcome the money and can help twist the arms of the admins to make it happen. They may even help with monitoring things over the week.

  8. #18
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    I'm impressed with the ideas suggested so far, and I hope that people continue to offer suggestions for new venues.

    Gary, the NC Fairgrounds looks promising, especially the James Holshouser Building. (Wow! What a room!) The pricing will stretch our budget right to the limit, but we can probably swing it. Have you been inside the facility? Do you know if there are other spaces included in the rental besides the one large, round room? That single space is much larger than we need, but I don't know how we could effectively subdivide it and have any hope of isolating the sound between the different sections. Still, it's got potential - maybe not ideal, but worth a closer look.

    Spacelaser: What is the name of the facility in Kingston? Got pictures? I'd like to learn more about it.

    The idea to approach a private school is a great thought that I honestly had not considered. As long as we stick with the early-August time-frame we shouldn't have any conflict with classes, and I agree that private schools will probably be easier to work with compared to public schools. An empty school might be even better, although there could be problems in the future if they have other plans for the building. I'm not opposed to working with a public school, provided we can find someone who is willing to help us cut through the red tape. Having a teacher or administrator on our side would be extremely helpful. (Anyone know any science teachers?)

    Chris Tate suggested that for 2021 we might want to re-brand SELEM in some way to signify the break with Newton and to celebrate the new venue. "SELEM reborn", or "SELEM 2.0" Something like that. I like the idea, and once we know more about the new venue we can start working on this concept. I do think that SELEM will come out of this better than before, assuming we find the right venue.

    Newton certainly has it's charms (The Trott House, The 3 Little Pigs BBQ, El Paso Mexican Restaurant, and of course the former Artist's Cafe, now the Blue Moon Tavern, to name just a few). But we also had to deal with things like the air conditioning tripping out in the Auditorium (or being broken for several days in the gym), the door at the loading dock leaking during a rain storm (threatening to short out the 3 phase power), the one year when the auditorium screen was broken (and we had to re-hang the cyclorama), the WiFi that never seemed to work right, the sketchy power in the cafeteria and gym, the tiny kitchen with the broken oven, and the constant bickering between the school and the auditorium.

    Pilgrimage or not, there was an awful lot of crap that we either put up with or worked around in the name of keeping the event going. (Remember the year that they had a focus group in the gallery area for the first 2 days? Or the year we killed two Venus projectors and one of my Plutos with the bad power in the cafeteria?) There's no reason for a paying customer to put up with things like that, and moving forward I'm going to be more insistent that we get what we pay for. That alone should go a long way towards making SELEM better than it was.

    But yes, we need to find an appropriate venue first. We don't need the Metropolitan Opera House, but we don't want an abandoned warehouse in the run-down waterfront district either. And while I said I'm open to non-traditional options, I'd really like to find something similar to what we had in Newton. So a school that has an auditorium, a cafeteria, and a gym would probably fit the bill nicely. But a small private auditorium that also had a ball room and/or a few meeting rooms would work just as well.

    Regarding an empty retail or commercial building (like part of a strip-mall, for example), while this might work out in the short run, it's unlikely that such a space would be available for us year after year. So I'd prefer to find a permanent venue that we can commit to for the long run if we can find one in time, and if we can afford it.

    Finally, I think the time has come for me to incorporate SELEM into some form of non-profit organization. (Thanks to everyone who has been suggesting this to me over the years; sorry that it took so long for me to come around!) I admit that I've been avoiding the issue for far too long, even if I always agreed that it was a good idea in principle. I guess it was foolish naivete on my part.

    Nonetheless, if we're going to move forward it's something I need to do - both to protect the people involved with SELEM (including me) and to enhance our image in the eye of the general public. I think people will take us more seriously once we do this.

    Adam
    Last edited by buffo; 05-22-2020 at 08:16.

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by buffo View Post
    Gary, the NC Fairgrounds looks promising, especially the James Holshouser Building. (Wow! What a room!) The pricing will stretch our budget right to the limit, but we can probably swing it. Have you been inside the facility? Do you know if there are other spaces included in the rental besides the one large, round room? That single space is much larger than we need, but I don't know how we could effectively subdivide it and have any hope of isolating the sound between the different sections. Still, it's got potential - maybe not ideal, but worth a closer look.
    I've been in the Holshouser building and fairgrounds many times. I can tell you it is a very large open building in the shape of a circle. Once life gets more back to normal I will go over there and look inside to see how much potential it has. I have a feeling that it gets booked far in advance so more than likely it wouldn't even an option but I can investigate at least.

  10. #20
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    May 2020
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    Default Kinston

    I'm conversing with my source up there. It appears there is a theater they suggest and there is at least one other meeting room. I'm trying to get pictures. My source indicates cost might well be less than for what you've been paying. I did ask about a place where we could use haze and also asked about somewhere that could be booked for several days and nights in a row. Will keep you informed.

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