A Way Forward

Public FB post by A.S.

A way forward:

By now, many of you will have heard the news.  SPWF is all-but cancelled, and Silver Phoenix Society is shopping around a future event to replace it.  Needless to say, this has been met with mixed reactions.  The biggest ones I've seen are confusion and anger.  Anger at people who spoke up, exposed heinous and ugly things, and in their view 'brought down' an event that they care about.  But also confusion at what's going to happen going forward.  

With what I'm about to write, I'll be upfront: I'm neither a lawyer, nor a business expert.  I haven't been part of the Steampunk community in a few years, for various reasons.  I'm a former Widdershins volunployee.  I have no financial stake in anything.  

I'd like to propose a way forward.  That way has a few parts.  

Pre-work: All of the Widdershins events and assets are sold to a neutral, non-involved and non-local holding or event management company.  The reason for non-local is that the entire Northeast Coast Alt/Steampunk/etc. crew is interlinked, and it would be borderline impossible to find a party who is truly neutral.  These properties must be sold for a token sum, something like $1 each.  The terms of sale must include a non-compete clause that specifies Jeff Mach is forbidden from promoting/creating/running/etc. any events in the Northeast United States, and that he is barred from any income resulting from these events.  The final bill of sale, and full contract are posted publicly.  

Phase one: To short-circuit the pressure of rebuilding events while running them, all of the Widdershins events are suspended for 1.5 years after their sale date.  All current staff and volunteers at these events are removed, with official notice being given to all.  During this time period, the holding company goes over the financials for the events, and resolves what issues they can.  The holding company also puts in place bare-bones best practices in the following areas: communications, accounting, workplace/event safety, accountability, and marketing.  

Phase two: The holding company rehires staff for these events, either by hiring one person to manage an area for all events, or per event.  The hiring process follows a traditional model: the position is posted publicly, applications are taken, interviews are given, references are checked, and a decision is made.  Once a critical mass of core staff is developed, the hiring process shifts from the holding company to the new core staff.  

Phase three: The events are leased to the new group of core staff, again for a token sum.  The first events are planned and executed, utilizing the best practices and staff gained in phases one and two.  For the first two years, after every event, the holding company has a post-mortem, and has the right to make changes and recommendations.  If all is well at the end of that two-year period, the events are sold to the new group.  

Yes it's long.  Yes it's wordy.  Yes, it's high-level and needs a lot of nitty-gritty details.  But this is the only way I can see SPWF and WF actually "surviving".  


Discuss.