Donations Donations Donations

As we head into the month of April our fundraiser becomes to focal point of our class.  This week a lot of the focus is on sending emails to businesses and asking for donations for the event.  Just to start, I emailed ten businesses in Fells Point and inquired about another 15, with no luck.  A few of the restaurants actually have closed down and I made a note of that on our ASKS spreadsheet.  It seems me and Cody have lots more businesses because Fells Point is such a popular and congested part of Baltimore.  Another interesting pattern that I noticed while researching these businesses is that a lot of Mexican or ethnic foods don't have websites, but rather just reviews on yelp or urbanspoon. This unfortunately means that their emails are not available.  Tomorrow and Wednesday Cody and I will sit down together and cover as many businesses as possible, after which we will take to the streets to follow up in person.

Additionally, along with the donation inquiries, on Friday, some of the students from our class met with students from our partnering classes and Marc Steiner to talk about the week long radio show we will be producing for the week prior to the event.  A lot of good communicating took place and we laid out our strategy.  We agreed that we wanted to highlight a lot of the issues that people living in the industrial communities like Sparrows Point, Curtis Bay, and Brooklyn endured during the industrialization and de-industrialization periods of the area.  In doing this, we walk a fine line between painting the area in a bad light, and showing their perseverance and strength as communities.  One point that Marc kept reiterating was how he wanted the students and the community members to be engaged in the conversation the whole show, not just Marc and the community members. However the most effective radio series must create tension to bring in listeners and keep their attention.  We need to find a way to create tension without stirring up anger or ill-will.

Lastly, as stated in the previous blog, two of our bands have committed to the event and are starting to promote the event themselves, this will help us spread the word even more.  One thing that our class needs to address is the possibility of having 'gambling' (I use that word lightly) games or a spinning wheel at the event.  If we were to do this, we would need to contact the city permits office and inquire about what it takes to get the proper paperwork and permits.  Personally, I know the wheel has been a huge hit at previous events Ive been involved with.  That being said, the crowd at the event will be noticeably different and there wont be as much alcohol consumption, and less of a raging party atmosphere so people may be less inclined to gamble.  All in all I think our fundraiser is starting to take shape and all the pieces are starting to be put together. 

 In the coming week or two, the event planning committee needs to sort out pretty much the entire schedule and functionality of the event.  We need to start making a master list of what we have, and what we need to make this event a smooth and functioning fundraiser.  In terms of the culutral documentation project, I recently became aware of two brothers,  Bud and Stanley Stupi, both of whom worked at W.R. Grace Davison in Curtis Bay and could possibly be two contacts to give a more narrative voice to my last edit.