Dear Zimfest Association Membership and Participants:
We hope that this communication finds you well. It’s been a few months since the amazing Zimfest in Tacoma! Since then the board has been working hard to begin planning Zimfest 2014. We have finally set a location and date for Zimfest 2014 – which will be held at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA from July 24-27th. We will send out more information with details in the next month or two.
In the meantime, we’d like to make you aware of several important items:
1) We’ve decided to setup a blog which will be used by the board to communicate with Zimfest membership. The blog is at zimfest.wordpress.com. You will be able to subscribe to the blog by clicking on the link on the right-hand sidebar. Once subscribed, you will receive an e-mail whenever we post to the blog. Among other things, we will be posting regular synopses of Zimfest board meetings on this site which can be reviewed by anyone interested. In addition, we are hoping that this blog will become a mechanism for members to provide regular feedback to the board.
2) We hope to access the skills and talents of the community through a more vibrant volunteer coordination mechanism. Please keep your eyes out for an email from our new Zimfest Association Volunteer coordinator, Lisa McKerlick, with more details on how this will work and the type of assistance that we’re seeking.
3) We are pleased to announce that Claire Jones has accepted the position of Zimfest coordinator for 2014. This is a part-time, paid position in which Claire will be the point-person for Zimfest 2014. In addition to coordinating and heading the organizing committee, Claire will be working to raise grant monies and spearhead an annual giving campaign to help make Zimfest more sustainable.
4) With the recent resignation of MyLinda King from the board for personal reasons, there are now 6 active board members as listed below.
Tsitsi Hantuba – Treasurer
Jennifer Kyker-Bangoura – Member at Large
Paul Mataruse – Member at Large
Amy Robinson – Secretary
David Simon – President
Alex Weeks – Member at Large
Ideally, we would like to recruit 1-2 additional board members over the coming month or two. If you are interested in joining the board, please send a letter expressing your interest to the board at . Alternatively, if you are aware of individuals who you believe might have the skills and interest in joining the board, please let us know at .
5) We would like to grow our Zimfest Association membership to accurately reflect the number of people/families that enjoy Zimfest year after year. Starting in 2014, annual memberships should be renewed at the start of the calendar year. We are planning to conduct the membership drive and the above mentioned annual giving campaign at the same time early in the year. An active membership will still entitle you to waive any registration fees for that year’s Zimfest. If you renewed your membership after Zimfest 2013 your term will automatically run from Jan. 2014 to Dec. 31st 2014. Please mark your calendars to join or renew your ZA membership in January. You can do this online at www.zimfest.org/membership (make sure you scroll all the way down). If you have questions please contact MyLinda King at .
We look forward to a vibrant dialog between the board and the Zimfest community. We hope that this email finds you all well.
–The Zimfest Association Board of Directors
