Zimfest News Blog

Posts by Zimfest Association Board

March Board Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the March 13th meeting of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.

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January and February Board Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the January 9th and February 13th meetings of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.

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December Board Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the December 12th meeting of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.

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New Membership System

Dear Zimfest Association members and friends,

Once again, we find ourselves at the end of a trying year, but the holidays are upon us and with them comes the Zimfest Association’s annual campaign and membership drive! We want to continue to grow the festival and provide the best experience we can, and here are some ways that you can help.

Become a Member

Thanks to the hard work of the Zimfest Tech Committee, becoming a member is now even easier! Simply go to https://zimfest.org/about/membership/. From there, you can become a member, renew a membership, or verify your membership status by plugging in your email address. We are excited to announce that there is finally an option to auto-renew, which defaults to “yes.” Simply uncheck this box if you do not wish to auto-renew. Previously, memberships went by calendar year, but now the renewal date will be 1 year after the purchase date.

We are also pleased to announce that all Zimfest Association members will not only have their festival registration fees waived as before, but will also have early access to register for all the workshops at the festival! This additional membership perk comes with the decision to raise our membership prices for the first time in well over a decade, or maybe ever. We hope you will decide to take the plunge this year and become a member!

Provide Charitable Donations

Perhaps you’re already a member, but you want to know how you can help out even more? Consider a tax-deductible donation! While membership dues are a significant contributor to our community, your donations continue to be essential. Your money goes straight to things like paying travel expenses for Zimbabwean teachers, paying teachers for performances and workshops, our travel fellowship program for Zimbabwean artists, and most recently, things like paying for studio space and recording equipment for Zimfest Online. To donate, go to the Support Zimfest page.

Other Ways to Contribute

As you’re finishing up your holiday shopping, remember that when you shop on Amazon, you can support Zimfest by choosing the Zimfest Association as the organization you would like to receive 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases (see https://zimfest.org/blog/2014/support-zimfest-when-you-shop-at-amazon-com/). Also, if you’re selling stuff on eBay, you can choose to donate a percentage of the final sales price to the Zimfest Association. See https://charity.ebay.com/charity/i/Zimfest-Association/85993 for more information.

Finally, if your company supports matching donations, find out from your supervisor or Human Resources department how your company can match your contributions!

Whatever you’re celebrating this year, we hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and we’re crossing our fingers that we will finally see each other again next year!

Warmly,
The Zimfest Board

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Village Meeting and November Board Meeting Minutes

The Zimfest Association board of directors has posted minutes from the August 1st Membership/Village Meeting and the November 14th board meeting.

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October Board Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the October 10th meeting of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.

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September Board Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the September 12th meeting of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.

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June, July and August Board Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the June 13th, July 11th and August 8th meetings of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.

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The Make It Grow Project

Make It Grow: Supporting community-based food initiatives in Zimbabwe to fundraise using participatory video proposals

[Posted on behalf of Pamela Richardson-Ngwenya and the Make it Grow project]

In an attempt to empower communities to alleviate increasing food and nutritional insecurity, especially during the pandemic, the Make It Grow Project has been running online capacity-building workshops with community groups and NGOs in Zimbabwe to equip participants with the skills needed to create their own video proposals, using smartphone technologies. These video proposals pitch home-grown ideas for community food projects and can be used by the community groups and NGOs as a fundraising tool. The intention is to increase the accessibility of start-up funds for implementing community-based, sustainable food projects, while at the same time building up local video-making and project planning skills.

We devise learning resources for community groups and facilitators, to support straightforward ways of enhancing the social inclusion, production and dissemination of video proposals. We also work with the United Nations Development Programme’s Global Environment Facility (Small Grants Programme) and other donors to support and pilot the integration of video proposals into their grant management and application process, making it more inclusive for all. Following the workshop series, we continue to support our participants and their fundraising campaigns through ongoing public events and online publication of their video proposals.

We are now asking for YOUR help! Please support our community partners in Zimbabwe to fundraise for their sustainable food projects by donating to their crowdfunding campaigns and promoting their videos on your social media networks. Make It Grow is a Knowledge Exchange project from the University of Sheffield’s Institute for Sustainable Food, supported by the UKRI’s Economic and Social Research Council. You can visit our website at www.makeitgrow.org.

You can see some of the participants’ videos here: Video Proposals :: Make It Grow

Pamela Richardson-Ngwenya
Project Leader, Knowledge Exchange Research Fellow and Learning Facilitator
Make It Grow

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April and May Board Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the April 11th and May 16th meetings of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.

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March Board Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the March 14th meeting of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.

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February Board Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the February 7th meeting of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.

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