Building festival 2- aug 08
From The Star And Shadow Cinema Wiki
Hello, welcome to the page where we can lay down initial ideas for the 2nd Star and Shadow Building Festival. It is taking place the first week of august when the cinema is closed for its Summer holidays (we will be closed all of august as agreed by the Star and Shadow volunteers as various general meetings).
What was The 1st Star and Shadow building festival? This was the first thing that we did when we got the cinema venue (april 2006)- for two weeks we invited people from all over, skilled and non skilled to come and help us make our building into what you see it as today. It was very creative, very hard work, lots of skill sharing and fun! People came from all over Europe.
What is the 2nd Star and Shadow building festival? It will be a similar event but rather than starting from scratch as before we are looking at how we can improve our venue- a bit of tlc, some repairs, some rethinking of spaces, building furniture, making the space better for volunteers to use and improving the atmosphere for visitors. Keeping the cinema safe, interesting, happy, good looking... you get it.
Who can take part? Anyone who has an interest in doing any of these activities. Of course we are after as many skilled workers as possible, joiners, builders, technicians, skilled decorators etc. If you are not skilled though come and learn, as long as you are interested in learning how to do stuff and trying it.
If you're not into getting dirty, but want to help you can get involved by joining the hospitality side of things.. We will need to prepare lunch (sandwiches etc) and dinner for hungry workers (big group meals in the evenings). We also like to organise a few laid back things in the evening that people can relax to and hang out. (film screenings etc)
How can we afford this? Indeed! We could put in an application for some funds as happened with the last one. What do people think? Or we could start looking at raising money ourselves now via parties where the door entry goes towards a fund for the building fest. But the price of material always adds up even when we are recycling. Financial update - cinema is contirbuting £1000 from own funds. We are awaiting to hear if we get the £1000 off community foundation which we will know by the meeting of mon 21st july. We are not getting the £1000 as we hoped from the Sir James Knott trust so we need to make up for this £1000 downfall. This is being discussed as an idea of a fundraising party with ticketed entrance that is likely to be on sat 9th August. We hope to make from this a total of £800- £1000
Materials and tools Star and Shadow have a lotta junk and only some of this is useful, we have got some stuff but its clear that we need to do a sort out prior to the building fest to look at what materials/ tools we have and to clear space for any actually useful wood and materials that we can start collecting in our workshop area that is currently nightmarish.
this is just an initial set out of ideas- what would be the best way to work on this anyone? I will create a link to another page that can collect ideas for jobs we could do during the festival?
How about we have a huge technology car boot sale to start the whole thing off - people can come and buy stuff at the cinema, or maybe we do it at an actual boot sale, with 2 stalls in different parts of the car boot sale, in the same way starbucks have 2 coffes shops nearby each other! I would be keen on getting rid of a lot of stuff too.
Also, how about making it into an informal school scenario too - make it into a bit of an alternative education project. For example, it could be that 10am-11.30am is reading time, 11.30-1 is preparing materials for working. 1-1.30 is lunch, then 1.30-4 is working and building, then 4-5 is talking about what we read. Hmm that sound a bit arduous. I guess it depends on what people want to learn, but we could have some sort of skills board instead, like the one they have in the access space in sheffield, or like the letts system, and you plan for 2 hours every morning or evening where people can share knowledge - e.g some things I have either enjoyed learning or would like to learn are:
- how to make a radio transmitter,
- what the main ideas of certain groups of academic thought are (like queer theory, cultural studies, feminism, post-colonialism, permaculture, whatever words or ideas people have heard but dont know about)
- Introduction to basic electronics
- How to make yoghurt
- Different ways of cutting wood (from a big saw to an axe to a pen knife, and the benefits of different tools for different jobs). IN fact a whole session about wood in general - its different properties
- Ideas for alterntaive education for children
- growing food calendar - what is best do do when, and how
- understanding a car engine
- How to do screen printing
- home processing super 8
Maybe the above is a different project, for a different city in a different country - suddenly feeling like it would make people snort at it somehow... i know we have alot to do in terms of building too. I certainly think the radio workshop would be a good one, but maybe that should be the one learning thing, or maybe we could ask someone to do a single 2 hour workshop on wood, for those who dont know very much - just looking at different woods, how one might cut them, sand them, understand the grain etc. In the evenings, I think meals and then films in the cinema or just music and chilling out and drinking is probably the most relaxing way to unwind after a hard days work. It would be nice to work out how to make the bar a nice place to be even when there are very few people in it - some speakers around the walls, shelves with bits and bobs, lights in different places and different brightnesses. Maybe a nicer idea for the evenings is planning cool food rather than cool entertainments. Obviously we need an end of festival party with some djs or bands - djs probably best, but a great feast, djs then dancing - yeah. There is of course the new Star and Shadow zine which we could do as an evening activity - a zine documentation of the building fest would be pretty dope i reckon.
We need to plan food organising, and also plan time durations of specific work. How many folk are we aiming at getting and from where. Are we paying for any transport and putting people up? Do we need a van for the week? We will need a skip. We should do an ebay thing where someone sits in the office and tries to get everything on ebay - maybe this can happen in the lead up to the building festival week - a preparation of ebay stuff and things to go for car boot sale on the last sunday of the festival, and anything that didnt sell, give away or skip.
An important balance is between creative things - decorative and playful; and doing boring things that need to be done.
Send email concerning the selling off of crap in the office. Add this to the list of the jobs of the placement person (ebaying stuff). Schedule bar door widening and roof void for weekend 1. Painting hammerite on the steel structure and tidying ofice can happen simultaneously.
- Widening door in bar - Debbora and her contacts, day 1 and 2, bringing their own materials.
- Installing telephone system for wheelchair recess. - [here is an example
1 person 1/2 day.
- sewing and Putting up drape/ lighting bars in the bar - Jona interested in doing the scaff bars. Drape already in the cinema? Need Sewing machine which Jona can provide. Amanda has offered to do the sewing.
2 people 3 days.
- Extending lighting flex on pendants in bar - 50m 2core 5a flex,
1 person 1 day
- Building the bar - Timber - 3x2, 2x2, 18mm ply, 6mm hardboard, fixings, paint, 8mm perspex for bar top and backs of shelves, light fittings etc.
4 people 3 days.
- Painting hammerite on the steel structure - wire brush to prepare surface, 1litre hamerite.
1 person, 5hours.
- Fire proofing ceiling of the heating plant room - plaster board, scrim tape, bag of joint filler, 25mm galvanized clout nails.
3 people, 1 day (Sat 2nd) including Keith.
- Fixing all the holes and fire proof foaming anywhere needed -
2 persons 1 day.
- Bar furniture - 2x2, 18mm ply, foam, fabric, fire retardant. -
4 people 3 days.
- Painting and decorating the bar and fire corridor - 2 coats ochrey yellow (ceiling), (20l), aluminium primer, 5" cutting in brush, bunch of rollers, 4 extension arms, paint buckets,
2 people, 4 days.
- Painting and decorating the office
6 people 1 week
- Ebaying stuff - ongoing, 1 or 2 people
- Sign on the front door and rennovation of the existing blackboard on the outside and making large poster boxes on hinges for front door. - angle iron, hinges, bolts, perspex (Jona), maybe Shimmersign if we agree,
2 people 2 days.
- Signs in the hallway - 18mm ply, jigsaw, paint? keep closed and keep clear stickers
2 people 2 days
- Painting the ceiling towards the toilets - using up excess paint that is in the back.
2 people 1 day.
- Painting the corridor into the projection booth - included in bar ceiling calculation.
- Tidying office - included in painting and decorating office calculation.
- Skipping stuff - ongoing, x2 one at beginning one at end. - check envirocall for legalities of getting rid of stuff.
- Painting the lobby
1 artist 3 dayts
- Kitchen area
2 people 3 days
- Electrics into dark room
prior to building festival - all materials are in a yellow tub in the little office. Just need some ducting for the dark room i think. we have 2.5mm twin and earth cable already, just need some ducting.
- Plumbing into darkroom
prior to building festival
2 people in early stages of festival - Ian B and 1 other. - 3 days
- Fixing Piano - being taken away when sewing machine is dropped off.
1 person - Ian B. over the next while.
- Painting doors and Flooring in the mens toilet to combat smell and painting walls and floor in staff toilet. - egg shell for doors, industrial floor paint?
2 people 1.5 days.
- replacing toilet seats - - 10x heavy use toilet seats (P.T.S £12 each)
1 person 1 day
- Electrics into small office. - included in dark room electrics.
- Fixing light fittings in hallways - Job for Derek some other time.
- Building 30x40" steel and perspex boxes for front door. - angle steel (7.5m), 4x hinges, 4x 6"bolts and wing nuts. 8x4' sheet perspex.
1 person 1 day.
- Cleaning hallway including steel trusses - hoover, scaff tower.
2 people 1/2 day.
- Finishing off box office - paint, timber for shelves?
1 person 1 day.
Total persons - 45, Total days - 43 = 45 people days to do So if 45 people work it will take 1day. If 1 person - 45days. If 15people help it will be done in a week. Workshops: Multi tool wood work PA Lighting Projection?