LBCreative! Connections #2

LBCreative! is having their next Connections Meeting tonight from 7:00pm-9:00pm as local artists, art collectives, and organizations assemble to hear progress from each of the collaborative teams, network, and learn about shared resources.

The meeting will be at:

Immanuel Community Center
3215 East 3rd Street
Long Beach, CA 90814

Getting Ready for Grand Opening

Our recent Community Pulse talked about our Grand Opening for the new Catalyst Space. It'll be this coming Saturday, Sept. 12th from 4-10pm. It coincides with the Latin American Parade & Festival which converges in the East Village right in front of our Space and it also coincides with the 2nd Saturday Art Walk happening at our cross street at Linden Ave.

Please come by and say hello! We're at 430 E. 1st Street, Long Beach, CA 90802. In the East Village Arts District, that's on 1st Street between Elm Ave and Linden Ave.

It's been amazing to see all the renovations that have happened in just a few short weeks. Catalyst Operations Director, Ryan Blanc, spearheaded organizing volunteers to paint, demolish, and build things for the new Space. Thanks so much to all the volunteers! It really looks great!

In just over 3 months at this new Space, we have connected with over 200 people from over 75 different community organizations. The Catalyst Space has been used by 13 collaborative teams as they work on their own member-driven projects and initiatives. The Space has also been a place where catalysts and community members could regularly hang out to connect. We've held a Catalyst workshop and a Bike workshop at the Space too!

We've also got four computers available for community use. We used Linux (open-source free Operating System) and we have Open Office (free word processing software) installed on all the computers so we've been able to make the computers functional without cost. Now, we'll be putting together a series of workshops and presenting the Catalyst Space as a Community Growth & Learning Center. We're hoping to get funding and get this Center subsidized by a couple sponsors. Cross your fingers!

Community Pulse - September 2009

The new Catalyst Community Pulse is out!

In this issue:

*Vital Signs for Sept 2009
*Catalyst Community's Grand Opening
*Two New Collaboratives Launched
*LBCreative! Completes 1st Round of Team Meetings
*Green Long Beach! Continues Projects
*Building a Team
*Investing in a Vision

Click here to read the September Pulse!

Workshop: The Catalytic Approach

What does it look like to be a catalyst in your group, organization, or neighborhood? How do you catalyze a tangible sense of community among your circle of relationships?

Date and Time: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Location: 430 E. 1st Street, Long Beach, CA 90802
Email RSVP: [email protected]

The Catalytic Approach is how Catalyst Community uses a blend of organic concepts, starfish peer to peer (P2P) decentralized movement concepts, and grassroots organizing concepts to catalyze collaborative teams and communities around common causes.

The workshop will cover introductory concepts to the catalytic approach to community building. It will include topics on how to organically catalyze tangible community in your local group, organization, or neighborhood.

Register for this interactive workshop and explore how the Catalytic Approach could help you advance your group, organization, or even movement.

Cost investment: $10

Refreshments provided.

Please RSVP to [email protected].

GreenLB! Upcoming August Team Meetings

Check out upcoming collaborative team meetings for GreenLB! Get involved! All team meetings listed will be held at the Catalyst Space, 430 E. 1st Street, Long Beach, CA 90802. For questions, please contact Elliot Gonzales at [email protected]. For more, go to www.greenLB.org.

August 10th, 4:00pm - Bike Team Workshop
RSVP w/ Ron: [email protected]

August 10th, 6pm - Community Gardens/Green Spaces Team
RSVP w/ Chris: [email protected]

August 12th, 6pm - Food Co-op Team
RSVP w/ Ty: [email protected]

August 17th, 7pm - Green Art Movement Team
RSVP w/ Elliot: [email protected].

August 24th, 6:30pm - Food Systems Team
RSVP w/ Andrew: [email protected]

Sept. 1st, 7pm - Government Action Team
RSVP w/ April: [email protected] or Sarah: [email protected]

Sept. 2nd, 6:30pm - Community Education Team
RSVP w/ Stella: [email protected]

LBCreative! Community Social - August 2009

Come check out the upcoming LBCreative! Community Social where you can connect with others in the creative communities. We'll be at The Cellar, 201, E. Broadway, Long Beach, CA on Monday, August 24th at 7:00pm. 21 yrs and over.

Contact Tanya Quinn, catalyst for LBCreative! at [email protected].

LBCreative! Upcoming August Team Meetings

Check out upcoming collaborative team meetings for LBCreative! Get involved! For questions, contact Tanya Quinn at [email protected]. For more, go to www.LBCreative.org.

Creative Art Spaces Team
Next team meeting: Wednesday, August 12th, 7pm
Location: Phantom Galleries on 3rd Street and Elm Ave.
Contact & RSVP: Evan Kelly, EPKvision at [email protected]

Education & Workshops Team
Next team meeting: Wednesday, August 12th, 7pm
Location: Catalyst Space, 430 E. 1st Street, 90802
Contact & RSVP: Peter Dopulos, Project Oasis at [email protected]

Cultural & Community Diversity Team
Next team meeting: Thursday, August 13th, 7pm
Location: Catalyst Space, 430 E. 1st Street, 90802
Contact & RSVP: Keith Lewis, Project Oasis at [email protected]

Green Art Movement Team
Next team meeting: Monday, August 17, 7pm
Location: Catalyst Space, 430 E. 1st Street, 90802
Contact & RSVP: Elliot Gonzales, Green LB at [email protected]

Festivals & Events Team
Next team meeting: August 17 - 21 (Date being finalized)
Location: Catalyst Space, 430 E. 1st Street, 90802
Contact & RSVP: Aaron Elimelech, Collectivei at [email protected]

Government Policy Team
Next team meeting: Tuesday, August 25, 7pm
Location: Catalyst Space, 430 E. 1st Street, 90802
Contact & RSVP: Evan Kelly, EPKvision at [email protected]

Catalyst PulseCard - August 2009

The Community Pulse is a monthly multimedia compilation of quick updates and reports FROM the community ABOUT the community. Think of it as a catalyst-style non-email newsletter. Check out this month's Community Pulse here:

http://www.gocatalyst.org/page/Community+Pulse+-+August+2009

A PulseCard is what you'll see below. It contains vital signs of Catalyst Community. This is a quick way to see how Catalyst is doing - seen through the lens of relational impact.

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Catalyst Community PulseCard
Vital Signs for August 2009

Building Relationships
-Were intentional about nurturing new friendships and building trust among community catalysts and members of the collaborative communities.

Establishing Partnerships
-Worked with over 60 people from more than 40 different community groups in 5 collaborative teams for Green Long Beach!
-Collaborated with 3 other groups to organize the first LBCreative meeting, bringing together over 60 local artists and organizations to form 6 new collaborative teams working to strengthen the arts and culture in our city.

Encouraging Contribution
-Empowered 4 new volunteer community catalysts, 15 new volunteer collaborative team facilitators.
-Had 10 individuals volunteer to support events, meetings, and work done at the new Catalyst Space.
-Received financial contributions donated by 2 individuals.

Inspiring Growth
-Coached 4 new community catalysts.
-Began to introduce catalytic concepts to community building.
-Encouraged catalysts to stretch past their comfort zones in public speaking and use of technology.
-Introduced a new strategic planning tool that community catalysts and team facilitators used with their teams.

New Computers for Catalyst Space

So we just took advantage of a great deal and we acquired 8 used Dell computers for only $500. Part of the deal was that we also had to take a ton of other working/non-working office equipment and supplies. These included telephones, fax machines, paper folder, shredder, monitors and more! We'd have to go through and see what works and what doesn't. A $500 donation made it possible for Catalyst to purchase the package deal. But we'd need more donations to cover the costs of repair or other services.

The main reason we got this package deal was because it included the computers. We want to set up some work stations inside the Catalyst Space and make them available for catalysts to use, for community workshops and classes, and we're exploring ways that we can make the computers available for community members. We probably only have space for four of those eight computers.

The computers' hard drives were all wiped which means they don't have any software, including operating systems. So we're planning on having volunteers set up the computers, install the Linux operating system, and also the OpenOffice software. These are all Open Source applications which means they are all free. The philosophy of Open Source is that knowledge belongs to the world and any programmer can add to the internal source code to improve or adapt the software for the public. It's cool because it really does fall in line with Catalyst's approach to community collaboration and sharing resources.

It's still gonna require more resources for us to set up the computers to be fully functional. If you can help or if you can contribute your time or financial resources, we'd definitely appreciate it!

Click here to make a donation.

GreenLB! Collaborative Community Mtg - July 2009

This was our second collaborative community meeting for Green Long Beach held at the Aquarium of the Pacific. We had over 40 people come out for the meeting. The six collaborative teams have been continuing to meet during June and July for strategic planning and implementation of their goals. Each team facilitator gave an update to everyone in the collaborative community on their progress. Afterwards, everyone broke out into the teams for further planning.

I was so proud of Elliot and all the GreenLB teams and facilitators! After months of helping to catalyze this community and empower leaders from within, I was able to take a hands-off role during this meeting. They all did a fantastic job!

Check out more pics of this awesome meeting here!

LBCreative! Collaborative Community Mtg - July 2009

We had a great first meeting last Wednesday to connect and begin the collaborative process of strengthening the arts and culture in Long Beach. Over 60 members of the creative community came together to share their visions and build new relationships. This led to the creation of 6 new collaborative teams that you can get involved with:

* Creative Art Spaces
* Cultural & Community Diversity
* Education & Workshops
* Festivals & Events
* Government Policy
* Green Art Movement

Check out our website at LBCreative.org for regular updates and details about each team. Check out a few more pics from the meeting here.

Stay connected,

Tanya Quinn
LBCreative! Catalyst
www.LBCreative.org

Upcoming GreenLB! Mtg - July 2009

Our next Green Long Beach! Community meeting will be held next Tuesday, July 21st, 7:00pm at the Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way, LB, CA 90802, in the Watershed Room. All are welcome! Please RSVP. This will be a time for reconnecting, meeting new people and organizations, sharing common vision for a green Long Beach, hearing about the progress of our collaborative teams, and advancing forward together.

Our collaborative teams have been meeting since our last community meeting together on May 28th. They are looking forward to updating everyone at next week's meeting. There are a lot of exciting things happening and there are a lot of ways that you can get involved to help Green Long Beach! So far, we have active teams for:

• Green Restaurants Initiative
• Bikes
• Community Gardens/Green Spaces
• Government Action Team
• Food Co-op
• Education

We'll have the notes from the team meetings up on the web site soon. If you would like to know more about a team or participate in a team, go to the Collaborative Projects page and contact a facilitator.

I'd appreciate it if you would RSVP for next week's collaborative community meeting on Tuesday, July 21st at 7pm by replying back to this email. If you have any questions, you can also contact me at (562) 786-3874.

Looking forward to seeing you all again! Together we can Green Long Beach!

Elliot Gonzales
Green Long Beach! catalyst
www.greenLB.org

Upcoming LBCreative! Meeting - July 2009

Hello Friends,

The LBCreative! Connections Meeting on Wednesday July 15th at 6:30pm, will take place in the Phantom Galleries at 390 E. 3rd Street (corner of Elm) in Downtown Long Beach. At the meeting we are asking you to list three things you would like to see happen within Long Beach's Creative Community over the next year. We would also like to know about any events or projects you are involved in over the next year to help promote them and connect with possible resources.

Please feel free to email us any responses to those requests above before-hand so we'll have lots of info to share during the meeting.

In the spirit of community, all our guests are invited to bring a dish to share for a Community Potluck!

Please RSVP for the meeting by emailing tanya.quinn@gocatalyst.org

Thank you very much and see you on the 15th!

Tanya Quinn

LBCreative! catalyst

Catalyst Space Allowing Collaboration

There has been so much activity in our Catalyst Community lately! And the fun part is that I've been on vacation for two weeks!

So while I've been gone on a road trip from Chicago to Long Beach on vacation from July 1-11, there has been numerous collaborative team meetings led by many of the Green Long Beach team facilitators. They've all been using the Catalyst Space too to have their meetings which is exciting because this is what it's here for - to inspire and empower and resource people to be catalysts!

These teams for Green Long Beach have included a Government Action Team, the Co-ops Team, the Green Spaces/Community Gardens Team, the Green Restaurants Initiative Team, the Bikes Team, and the Education Team. Each team has been meeting in the Catalyst Space to conduct their strategic planning of their vision and projects.

In addition to the team facilitators making active use of the Catalyst Space, the community catalysts are also helping out to cultivate an awesome catalytic space for people in the community. Tanya has been working with the LBCreative! folks. Elliot has been working with the Green Long Beach! facilitators. Ty has been helping everyone out and really helping to maintain the Space. Ryan has been living into his new role as Catalyst's Operations Director and he's been taking care of much of the facilities issues for the Space.

All in all, I'm very excited that all this can be happening while I'm not even around. It's showing that a lot of the foundational ground work of investing in and empowering catalysts is paying off and bearing fruit.

BTW - vacation is awesome!

LBCreative! Media Advisory - July 2009

PRESS RELEASE

LBCreative! teams up to empower the creative community of Long Beach with a focus on strategic planning, communication and partnerships

LONG BEACH, CA - with a large community of active artists, musicians and creative talent that constantly has to leave the city to be recognized, we are left with the questions of why and how to fix this. LBCreative! is stepping up to address these issues and find solutions.

Catalyst Community, Project Oasis, Collective I and EPKVISION have partnered together to form LBCreative!, a collaborative network dedicated to strengthen the arts and culture within the city of Long Beach. “We’re hoping to build tangible connections between local artists, organizations and resources in an effort to create stronger outlets for Arts and Culture on all levels”, says Tanya Quinn of Catalyst Community.

The first LBCreative! Connections Meeting is set for Wednesday July 15th at 6:30pm in the Phantom Galleries at 390 E. 3rd Street (corner of Elm) in Downtown Long Beach. Guests will be asked for input regarding the future of the creative community of Long Beach, to post upcoming events, and get involved in breakout sessions addressing the most pressing issues.

For more information please contact Tanya Quinn at [email protected] or visit www.LBCreative.org

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