Dear friends, supporters, and accomplices,
I don’t know about you, but for us at Splinter, this summer has been a lot of things- trying, exhausting, transformative, and beautiful. As you know from our last newsletter, we’ve been focusing primarily on reorganizing our internal structure and fine tuning our operations in order to build a solid foundation for our fall season. We’ve had some major staffing changes, including the step down of two amazing and instrumental members of our team, Ronah, and Knomi. We’ve been so lucky to have these two incredible humans pouring their energy into splinter. They will both be sorely missed but we’re so excited for their next chapters. We’ve also been thrilled to welcome a new team member- Monk, who is working primarily on social media.
With the help of some community volunteers, we were able to make a lot of headway with our long term courtyard accessibility project and are nearing the day that we can confidently open our courtyard to all.
Another thing we’ve had in the works for some time is our shift to a membership model. Essentially, Splinter members will have access to our events and are eligible to host their own events in our space. Membership will function through an income based sliding scale- so each individual can pay an amount that feels comfortable and sustainable for them. The idea being that our members who are able to contribute more can ensure our longevity as an organization and by extension that all can continue to have access to our space and events regardless of their ability to pay. This will greatly alleviate some of our financial growing pains, allow us to continue employing our amazing team, and to bring art, poetry, drag, music, and activism to our community.
This summer, TPD heavily cracked down on many of our neighbors camping around splinter and Estevan park. We’ve been having an ongoing dialogue with the city regarding the encampment at Estevan Park, and are working towards piloting a new model of community partnership. We are hoping that this development will greatly increase our ability to build relationships and cultivate care with our community. We envision a future in which we can continue to build equity and community with our unhoused neighbors; utilizing resources from the city to provide shower facilities in the park and a safe, comprehensive space for folks to charge devices, enjoy the shade, and and connect with each other. The timeline for this project is still in the works, and it will be a big hurdle for us to expand our outreach work. We’re so excited to have the opportunity to create positive change in our neighborhood.
We hope that you will all sign up to become members and enjoy the exciting schedule we have lined up for this fall; at all events there will be a tablet at the door for folks to register.
Be well, take care, see you soon!