Hosting educational, participatory, and affordable community movement programming.

Arts & Culture , Dance

Asheville movement community, inc. During 2016 hosted three weekly free-form movement events in service to an economically and socially diverse local community. Each event included a review of the organization's event guidelines in order to encourage participation through self-expression and safe free-form movement. Participants ranged from children under supervision of their parents to persons aged 70 and older, and efforts were made so that, if possible, those coping with particular physical limitations might feel welcome to attend. All in all, our regularly scheduled events served about 7,643 attendees this year. Volunteers and elected participants continued to refine the organizations personnel and governance infrastructure, both to create opportunities for participation and to preserve the system of checks and balances. . . . But with an eye to reducing excessive administrative overhead and improving the experience of community members who are not organizers by shifting the format of the open community gatherings to be more connection and feedback focused than governance focused. Pathways for direct participation in organizational decision making remain. Amc hosted four dancers gatherings (including the annual meeting) to help engage the community in the volunteerism and organizational decision making, and to open a more personal pathway to feedback with the community. The annual community meeting (third annual, and a dancers gathering) was held in october. Participants were invited to dialogue about several topics related to the organization's growth and development, including volunteerism, developing relationships with other nonprofit organizations, accessible governance and financial sustainability. Participants were also provided with current information about the organization's finances, staff and operations. It is estimated that well over 1,000 volunteer hours were contributed to the mission and events in 2016. Amc also continued to train new officers and individual volunteers in operational tasks including accounting and budgeting, governance process and event production. In 2016 amc brought on four new room coordinators and new individuals to serve as volunteer coordinator, part-time executive director and part-time executive secretary. Part of the reductions in administrative overhead expense involved dissolving the event coordinator position and giving additional responsibility to event facilitators while providing a per-event compensation increase for their additional work. The lower attendance trends and rising venue rental rates of 2015 continued in 2016, forcing, by the 4th quarter, a drastic restructuring to reduce administrative overhead, as well as a venue search for alternative venues to begin in early 2017. By the end of 2016, emergency reserves were depleted, but finances managed to remain in the black because of the resilient community members who stepped up to fill important organizing roles, resolve the venue challenges and maintain an uninterrupted event schedule while retaining affordable sliding-scale prices for dancers. 2016 exhibited a marked increase of extra-organizational collaborations with past amc movement event facilitators, and facilitators from similar outside modalities or from our own dance community. There were two live music events which have opened the door for further similar efforts, two collaborations with another freeform movement organization in the area, and ten guest facilitations. Amc collaborated with these organizations while also offering guidance and support for the guest facilitators and musicians to create the suitable and safe setting for the free-form dance experience and authentic expression. In 2016 amc also collaborated with another nonprofit, our voice, to raise over $2,000 in funds and donated supplies for their cause.