Please share this announcement with any and all Pagans in the Greater Rochester Community.
A "Town Hall" Meeting will be held on Sunday, April 5, 2009, hosted by The Greater Rochester Pagan Pride Project, Inc. Doors will open at 6:30 pm, with the meeting to begin promptly at 7 pm.
Items for discussion at this meeting will pertain to a potential name change for the Rochester Pagan Pride Day Festival and the use of the pentagram on Festival event signs.
The Location of this meeting will be the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), One Lomb Memorial Drive (off Jefferson Road), Bldg 6 (College of Liberal Arts), Room 1251 (Faculty Commons). Parking will be in Lot U (see RIT site map here)
All Pagans in the Greater Rochester Community are welcome and invited to attend this community Forum to express their views on these subjects so that your voices may be heard.
It is quite apparent that there are people in the Rochester Area Pagan Community who hold very strong feelings about the name our event is identified by, which we believe is a good thing, regardless of which direction those feelings lean. It is also quite apparent that we, as the Board, along with the Planning Committee for RPPD, made a major error in the manner in which the subject of a potential name change was handled when it came up. We did not take the time for due diligence and we did not submit the subject to the general community. This was a mistake that we need to correct as soon as possible.
Upon arrival at this meeting, there will be two sign-up sheets at the door. One is for attendance records, the second will be for those who wish to speak to list their names. When the floor is opened for comments, speakers will be called in order of sign-up, so please make sure to sign in! We will be asking only for your name (either Craft or mundane) on both of the sign-up sheets, with an option of supplying your contact email if you so wish. Anonymity will be maintained for those who wish it so.
At this meeting event, the topics of discussion will be:
#1 - the potential name change of our event,
#2 - the use of the Pentagram as our official symbol on roadside and event entrance signs.
Initially, brief presentations will be made of:
- the initial proposal pertaining to the name change and what transpired at the December 2008 Planning Committee meeting
- the Mission Statements and Statements of Purpose of The Greater Rochester Pagan Pride Project, Inc., and Pagan Pride International
- The requirements for event names issued by Pagan Pride International
Please note: As a Pagan Pride Day organization we are contractually required to comply with all Pagan Pride International policies. One of these policies is that the name must include the phrase "Pagan Pride Day". Please refer to the Pagan Pride International policies page at:
- Ideas for different pagan symbology on the event signs from a desire to include other spiritual paths that do not identify with the pentagram
Following this, the floor will be opened to all to present their views.
Although it is not a requirement to speak, we request that written copies of presentations/statements be brought so that they may be given to the Board for our files. All such files will be open and available for review by any member of the Rochester Pagan Community who might wish to do so.
Each person will be allotted five (5) minutes speaking time, with no interruptions by other attendees.
As we are aware, there may be members of the local Pagan Community who might not be able to attend this Town Hall Meeting. Therefore, we are setting up a special email address to which your statements may be sent, which is: townhall@rochesterpaganpride.com
Letters received prior to April 3, 2009, including the author's name (Craft or mundane), will be read aloud at the meeting following the presentations by community members in attendance. For privacy the author's email address will not be read aloud nor included in any manner. If you are in favor of a change of name for our Event, we ask that you make a suggestion of such during your presentation, or include your suggestion in your email letter.
A Tally will be kept during the meeting of the statements presented to maintain the current name, and those presented to change the name, along with any suggested possible names. Immediately upon the conclusion of Town Hall Meeting, the Executive Board will meet to review the opinions expressed. Based upon these opinions the Board will decide whether or not to retain the current event name. The results of this meeting will be shared with the community members still present.
If the event name is going to be changed an announcement including further instructions and applicable deadlines will be posted on our website, and a vote to decide the new name will be taken. The Executive Board of Directors of The Greater Rochester Pagan Pride Project, Inc. and the Event Planning Committee will abide by the voting results.
Thank you for letting us hear your voices.
Myriah, Larry, and Suzan
Executive Board of Directors,
The Greater Rochester Pagan Pride Project, Inc
1 comments:
Nicely put together! Very professional. I'll be sending a letter in support of maintaing the status quo--now there is a first for me! Dorothy Abrams
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