MayDay COMMUNITY MEETING
February 12 is our community meeting, 7 PM at the Avalon Theater (1500 E. Lake Street), for sharing ideas, images, and themes for this year”'s MayDay. Please come. You can help In the Heart of the Beast continue this tradition for you and your community. Photo by Liz Welch
Challenges of MayDay
Need Your Ideas and Your Support
By Sandy Spieler
Dear Neighbors,
I”'m writing about the MayDay Parade and Festival, specifically the situation for MayDay this year and into the future.
I”'m the artistic director of In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, one of the founders of MayDay, and one of the midwives of this event”'s artistic and community development for 39 years. It has been my great joy to work with so many wonderful people for so many years! Thank you!
This year has me worried, though. As we crafted our theatre”'s finances for 2013, our executive director Loren Niemi suggested we not “do MayDay” this year; our budget would not support it. ”¦What? Not do MayDay?! After much discussion, our Board and staff agreed instead to do MayDay with a budget 33% less than previous years, while making a commitment to build a broader base of public fiscal support for this very public event.
It is my belief that MayDay can be supported by the constituents for whom it means so much, especially if everyone understands “what it takes” to “do MayDay.” This is why I write to you””to help you understand the challenges we face, and to ask for your support and ideas.
It takes both money and volunteers!
Let”'s build a broad base of financial and volunteer support to assure the future sustainability of MayDay! In the Heart of the Beast Theatre cannot do it alone.
If everyone who comes to MayDay contributed $5, (less than the cost of a movie), then Mayday would flourish, end of story.Â
Sincerely, Sandy Spieler
