A New Near, a New aGLIFF - that’s our theme as we finish out 2008 and start on 2009.
But what do we mean by new? Well, for starters, we have an all new staff. Collin Acock is our Development Director, and Grace Gonzales is our Program Director. That means new grants to pursue, new sponsorships to find, and new relationships with all our members.
We have new membership formats - we learned some important lessons last year about how badges work for us, and so we’ve streamlined the entire membership process.
We’re working on a new website - this one is the functional bones of what we’re working on - that will take a few months as we develop our theme for 2009.
But most importantly, it’s a new chance for us to thrive. There have been some awesome challenges since I started last June, but by reaching out and asking for your support - and by proving to you that your support is worthwhile - we have kept this idea going.
And what is worthwhile? Of course, we’re going to have aGLIFF’s 22nd Annual Film Festival - this year with tentative dates (write them down) of September 8 - 13th - 6 days, with an estimated 42 screenings with 120 films.
We have new projects starting - some may look familiar - My Queer Movie, the Queer Youth Media Project, and expanded volunteer opportunities. We’ve started hosting monthly screenings, and bi-monthly get togethers for our members. We have BLOOM 2009 coming up in April, and we’ll be at Pride in June.
The take home point is that we’re here, and we’ve listened to you and we’re doing what you want. And more than that, we’re grateful for the opportunity.
We’ll see you in 2009. And thank you.
David Sweeney
