May 13, 2015 Special Meeting
Notes on Special Meeting of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven and West Haven
Meeting Date: May 13, 2015
A special meeting of CTAC concerning the reshaping of the CTAC video production contest was held at DiMatteo’s Restaurant, 2100 Dixwell, Ave. Hamden, Connecticut on Wednesday, May 13, 2015. President Tad Weinstein presiding. Don Levy secretary. Meeting started at 5:30 p.m.
Members in attendance:
Tad Weinstein, Chair (WH)
George Alexander, Treasurer (H)
Don Levy, Secretary (H)
Johnes Ruta (NH)
Members voted to establish a grant program aimed at encouraging local video production to replace the video contest.
The grant program would provide grants for new video productions in the area of public service.
The following remarks are offered as a rough working outline of how the new CTAC Public Service Grant Pro would be administered. The details of the new CTAC Public Service Grant Program will be crafted and put to a vote at a regular meeting of CTAC.
Members formed a consensus that grants would each be of the same monetary value. The figure of three $1,000 grants during the first year was discussed.
Members felt that a wide cross section of community members should be encouraged to apply for the new CTAC Video Production Grants. Members considered establishing three categories of grants: 1) unrestricted and open to all community members, 2) A category limited to community members ages 15 to 18 and 3) a category for community members ages 14 and younger.
Grants would only be considered for new video projects. Grant applicants would be required to navigate a two-step application process. Step one requires a brief synopsis of the proposed video project. This synopsis could be submitted in writing or by using an electronic medium. These preliminary grant proposals will provide an overview of the public service content to be addressed. They will also identify who is going to participate in the video production, the ages of the participants, their towns of residence, and the approximate length of the finished video. A small committee of CTAC Commissioners will examine each of these preliminary proposals for appropriateness of its content and the eligibility of producing team with regard to which category of grant (unrestricted, aged 15 to 18, age 14 and younger) is being sought. Only residents of the three municipalities represented by CTAC are eligible to apply for grants.
Once the CTAC committee has considered all of the preliminary proposals only those applicants whose preliminary proposal had been deemed to meet the grant proposal guidelines could be eligible for the award of a grant. The second round of the program awards grants based on the merits of the video submitted for consideration. A subcommittee of CTAC, perhaps integrating members from the community with expertise in the area of video production or other applicable experience, will make the final determination for the awarding of the grants.
Grants are to be awarded based on the public service value and esthetic merits of the video submitted.
An announcement of the availability of the CTAC Public Service Grants will be widely disseminated in order to reach as broad a pool of potential grant applicants as possible.
Community institutions such as the libraries, arts organizations, government agencies, religious organizations, community service agencies, local print, broadcast, cable and internet providers will be sought as partners in order to reach out to community members as broadly as possible.