We are currently preparing for the Ahecha Paraguay Cycle 1 Final Exhibition Series beginning this July in the nation's capital of Asunción, including a Cultural Field Trip that will bring together all of the youth participants from communities all over Paraguay and give them the opportunity to view and celebrate their photographs on display at the Centro Cultural Paraguayo-Americano (CCPA) downtown.
Please refer to the sidebar to the right for a preliminary exhibit schedule.
Latest News:
- CCPA brindis field trip for Cycle 1, Teams 1-3 – dates have been set for Aug 1-2, 2008. See the end of the minutes for the tentative schedule in Spanish. We will be contacting everyone to confirm details SOON AFTER June 16 (date of SPA grant review meeting).
- SPA Grant – The new and old Coordinators turned in some SPA Grants (facilitated by Peace Corps, funded by USAID) for continued project funding! The SPA Grants will include supplemental funding for the Cycle 1 Final Exhibition Series including the CCPA brindis Field Trip. Thanks to Jeff Nicholson, Luke Keeler, Aubrey Stenger and Rachel Newby for signing off on these.
Reminders
- All those on the Final Exhibit long-sleeve shirt pedido, please remember to drop 53 mil (women) or 57 mil (men) in Jen Cheng’s mailbox (g21) by June 23rd. Gracias.
- Please check below for your assigned task team in preparation for the Final Exhibition Series!
Help Wanted
- Partnership Funds Reconciliation – Jim plans to do this at the PCO sometime soon. Anyone interested in lending him a second cabeza (mejor que una)? Contact Jim.
Highlights
- New Coordinators: Rachel Newby, g24 - Ashley Raasch, g22 - Allison Whaley, g22
[Check out the recently added lindo Coordinator-identifying fotos on the sidebar]
***FE Task team assignments***
o foto/frame assembly – Orlando (lead), Claudia, Jim, Sadiya, Matt, Tammy, maybe Kyle
- need to meet in Asunción about 1 week before July 4th to prepare for the inaugural Embassy exhibit
- Orlando will avisar team about set-up and take-down dates
o transportation/set-up/take-down – Orlando (supervising up until COS date), Rachel (supervising after Orlando's COS date), Adam and Ashley (help when possible)
- Let's get PCVC in on this!
o captions – Jen, Jim
- name of photographer and community; assigned number (for print sales); paragraph of each community; map of PY
o self-portrait banner or collage/slideshow assembly – Ashley (lead), Kelly
- the small foto idea morphed into a collage or banner of all the kids' self-portraits (gracias a Rache!)
o publicity – Rachel, Bradford, Luke, Orlando, Jim
- afiches
- invitations (as in to VIPs)
- newspaper (Mariano, owner of Chaco will help, remind him 1 week before Aug 1 Field Trip)
- pasacalles
o sales table/donations box organization – Allison (lead), Sadiya, David, Aubrey
o sales table volunteers – Jill, Jeff (will be contacted by Allison and team)
o products procurement – Jen, Allison, Adam, Jim, Ashley
- see Ahecha merchandise section for specifics
-
Ahecha merchandise (for project sustainment)
o Long-sleeve tees (organic cotton from Aratex (formerly known as Arasy), available to current Ahecha facilitators for now, will be offered to public más adelante) - Jen
o Tote bags (new logo, reorder) – 100 bags
- may need to increase quantity if we get bags as participant CCPA brindis favors
- Allison (bag parchase), Adam (bag printing)
o postcards – Ashley, Jim, Rachel
- got quote from Para Vos graphic design printing place on Rep. Argentina c/ Mcal. Lopez
o participant prints
- Exhibit prints will be numbered
- Prints will be ordered from Kodak in matte (not glossy)
- Purchase form – Jen
- price 50 mil per print (we did market research among PYans AND nortes)
- Will include print and TY slip inside envelope – Anyone interested in prepping? Probably Ashley and Allison (?)
- Buyer pays up front, pick up at PCO, got Michael's OK!
- We need to organize who will do the pedido at Kodak for each Exhibit (help from PCVCs?).
* * *
To Focus on AFTER the Final Exhibition Series is Underway:
Recruiting Volunteers
o Strategies to implement:
- Dispel commonly-held belief that CoCuMu is the artsy group – it is for all Volunteers who want to work with youth on personal development via PYan and world culture & arts tools
- Change meeting time and location (GAD has good time but we wouldn't want to be mean and rob them of their time, would we?)
- Send text messages week before meeting
- More CHP action
• invite Volunteers to CoCuMu meetings during training (like NVAC)
• create a PowerPoint presentation to show trainees (Rachel's suggestion)
CoCuMu Kuat Section
o deadline July 12th
o Ashley will determine optimum order for maximum impact
- Photo spread page – Ashley photos, Jen text
- Meet new coordinators blurb with foto – Ashley
- Ahecha experience – Allison
- How to check out cameras – Rachel
- Camera kit request form – Jen will submit
New Policy: EVERYONE MUST RETURN CAMERA KITS TO THE PCO.
o Why? We found there are issues with direct camera kit hand-off (PCV to PCV)
- can’t check for damaged/missing items
- can’t update manual hard copy
o Is a wear and tear registry necessary? Who will create?
o There needs to be lag time between check-out periods – New Coordinators will decide how long
o Ask Team 3 to bring in cam kits to PCO on June 15th – Jim
o Update manual June 15-16th – Jen, Jim, Orlando
Camera repair – Brad will submit a cautionary what-to-do-in-case doc to include in the camera kit manual about his experience having to fix a camera dropped by a youth participant.
Manual updating and post-cycle 1 overhaul – New Coordinators
o long-term project
o need to include more examples! Adam will get 5 cover-to-cover photocopies of Ashley’s big photo book. We will also include money for more photo book purchase in the SPA Grant.
Ahecha Paraguay CafePress Store
o We set up a CafePress.com account (Kudos to Big B for the idea)
o Here's the link to our CafePress store: http://www.cafepress.com
o When we have some time, we can start uploading products and setting prices and doing publicity
o To make this legit, a Stateside supporter will be authorized to receive money and make official donations via an annual Peace Corps Partnership grant
Peace Corps-Wide Publicity
o Rachel is working on getting us an article in PC's WorldView magazine
o We should also hit up PC Times
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Tentative CCPA Brindis Field Trip Schedule (in Castellano)
# de participantes - mínimo 36 alumnos y contrapartes paraguayos (adultos), 12 voluntarios
= 48 personas en total
viernes, el 1 de agosto de 2008
A la mañana - llegar al Hotel Chaco para check-in y almuerzo
-después, tiempo para descansar, uso del Salón Bahía para juegos tranquilos-
15:00 - excursión al Museo del Barrio
19:00 - pizza cena en el hotel
20:30 - uso del Salón Bahía para mostrar una película
sábado el 2 de agosto de 2008
7:30 desayuno
A la mañana - llegar al CCPA para el brindis de la exposición de Ahecha Paraguay
12:00 almuerzo y check-out
- Adios Asunción, holajey el Interior!
