Hello fwWesties!
This is Austin – and I would like to share a few club updates and changes coming to the Fort Wayne Westies for early 2020, as well as a few opportunities for you to get involved!
2020 Event Updates/Schedule
Events will continue to take place on 1st Saturdays + every(ish) Friday.
Official events will be listed on the Facebook Page:
https://facebook.com/fwWesties/events
Westie PLAYground 50 (Celebration!)
The next event is WPG 50 on January 10th.
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm or later.
WPG’s base admission for all attendees is $10. Students/youth are still $5!
We started WPG around October 2018 and this will be our 50th (!) Westie PLAYground to date. We’ll be celebrating in fun ways this coming Friday!
WPG 50 Details
- 7p – 10p+, $10 ($5 for students/youth)
- Please bring a treat for yourself or to share!
- We’ll have some kind of special activities, such as a showcase/demo, steals, and/or … ?! … Depends on what our community wants to do this evening.
- More info to come later. <3
Updated WPG Format
Our WPG format will be updating to a loose structure of:
intro lesson for newcomers → practice → advanced practice/discussion → practice → special segment → practice/dance
This change is based on the feedback discussed during our Community Discussion during a WPG in November!
Westies Unite – 3 Year Anniversary (More Celebration!)
Westie Night (Westie Unite – 3 Year Anniversary!) on February 1st.
7:00 pm – 11:00 pm or later.
Cost is $10 for general admission and $5 for students/youth.
This will be our opportunity to shine a light on how far we’ve come – and where we are going next.
More info to come and will be posted on Facebook!
Featured Highlight Videos
I would like to “highlight” more of our community, both on and off the dance floor. This initiative is via dance videos!
The first request/opportunity for you is to share with me a song you would like to dance with – we’ll keep it on hand and when you’re ready to dance it with someone at a WPG or Westie Night, grab your partner and let’s video it!
We’ll overlay a higher quality audio track and then upload it to Youtube and Facebook as a “featured fwWesties Highlight” video.
So in recap: pick a song, send it to me (messenger, email, or in-person is fine), and who you want to dance with (or pick who you want to dance with at the next event you’re at). – But if you are interested, send me a message right now. (:
Westie Support Council (WSC) + Volunteers
Delegating is an area I would like to improve on in 2020. It will help distribute the workload and reduce the problems associated to a bottle-neck (me), as well as giving people an opportunity to have a more direct role and contribution with the community.
I’ll be following up with individuals who have expressed interest and dusting off the systems in place for WSC communication.
Westie Support Council
The WSC will be helping me by providing input on nitty-gritty and big-picture topics, offering suggestions, prodding me if I seem to be derailing, and/or providing assistance on particular tasks and projects.
WSC is generally “behind the scenes” or has a more consistent, direct role with the club.
Current WSC members include Melissa, LuAnn, “N”, Liuda, Rilee, Audra, Stephanie, and Aimee.
*If you would like to remain anonymous, please contact me.
Volunteers
Volunteers are more direct participants that help out with particular needs of the club, like setting up and tearing down events, being a greeter, or any other type of needed role.
Westie Angel Initiative
To make our community even more inclusive and supportive, we are implementing the “Westie Angel” initiative, which is an opportunity for our community members to get directly involved with helping newcomers or hesitant dancers get comfortable in our scene.
An official update will be coming in the near future – if this sounds like it’s up your alley, please contact me directly. <3
Updated Vision & Mission for 2020
VISION – the big picture
To create an inclusive, friendly, supportive, and growth-oriented dance community and a platform for people to feel confident to be themselves.
MISSION – how we’re moving towards our vision
To provide regular learning, practice, dance, and social opportunities for people to grow in community as dancers and individuals.
Later I will be updating the website to offer a more comprehensive look at where we are going and how we will be achieving our goals.
Payments to the “Founder”/Operator?
For almost the entirety of the club’s existence, I have not been paying myself for any of the work I’ve been doing because I want to see the club succeed and not seem like I am “doing this for money.”
Numerous supporters have advised against this and that I should be paying myself something for my time, skills and/or energy put into building and managing the club behind the scenes or from running events. – Both to avoid burnout/resentment as well as recognition for value being put into a project like this.
To be as transparent as I can, as of mid/late 2019 I have started paying myself for some of the time/energy put into running this club. It is my intention to never take more than what the club earns (after expenses to instructs, venues, etc.) so that the club will always be cash-flow positive.
Coming Soon to the fwWesties!
- Update to Logo/Branding + Apparel/Swag (#TheHeartbeat)
- Code of Ethics / Community Guidelines/Etiquette
- Complete update of the website with new content, updated design, team updates, photos & video, resources, and more.
