 After an AMAZING turnout for our JUNE Office Hours, we are happy to announce that the LA Chapter will be returning to The Roguelike Tavern in Burbank (259 N Pass Ave) on July 26th.
This will be a TOWN HALL event including updates on: - Membership - Committees - And an Open Forum portion of the evening for COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS This is a great chance to not only learn more about LEIA's next steps -- including our upcoming SPECIAL ELECTION but to meet other creatives in the community and find potential new collaborators. RSVP Here or Via Our Airtable Form The bar will be open for this event ONLY. This is a private event. Only those who have RSVP'd will be admitted for this event. The kitchen will not be open this night. For more info on LEIA Membership, see the comments below. COVID-19 PROTOCOL UPDATE: Due to the return of a mask mandate in LA County, we are enhancing our COVID-19 protocol for this event. PROOF OF FULL VACCINATION will be required for all attendees. This is in line with the standard being held by local productions, and it is our aim to hold to the highest reasonable standard so as not to undermine the protocols of member productions by undercutting their standards. MASKS: We will be following current LA County guidelines regarding mask use in bars & restaurants. Obviously, there will be times when people are unmasked, as drinking will occur. We ask all to just be mindful: exposure is a math problem, no more no less. Wearing the mask does more to keep one from SPREADING virus than it does to keep from RECEIVING. But both are good things! DO NOT ATTEND: if you are symptomatic, but are unsure of current COVID status or if you have a KNOWN EXPOSURE to a COVID-positive person within 7 days of the event. TRANSPARENCY & TRACING: We also request that anyone who tests positive within seven days of the event contacts us so that we may inform attendees of possible exposure and assist in contact tracing. Your identity will be withheld on request, although we will ask you to let us know who you had prolonged close contact with. Cases are on the rise here in LA County, and while hospitalization and death of those who are vaccinated is rare, the vaccinated can carry and there are those in our community who live and work with individuals who are unvaccinated due to age and/or immunocompromised status. We're all in this together and want the worst of it to be over as swiftly as possible. RSVP Here. (If you cannot attend, we would like to know that as well.) For more information about LEIA membership, see LEIA Membership in a Nutshell: What You Get & What You Give.
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 Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash We get a lot of questions about membership, and we know that the Bylaws can be A LOT. After all, we didn’t just have to read the thing, we had to write it. So we wanted to break down the core of what it means to be a member of the League. Because when you strip away all the legalese any membership agreement comes down to two things: What You Get & What You Give So here we go. What You Get
What You Give You agree to the LEIA Code of Conduct and provide at least one (1) of the following:
That’s it in a nutshell. While there are details galore — and you can read a lot of them — this is what it breaks down to for members. Of course, there are those who are interested in serving in a greater capacity - be that as a Committee Member, Leader, or as part of the Board of Governors. What follows is for those interested in that level of organizing. Committee Membership
Those who are interested in Committee Membership should be prepared for the following:
Committee Leadership Those who are interested in Committee Leadership should be prepared for the above plus:
Board of Governors Those interested in standing for election to the Board of Governors should be prepared for the following:
*Benefit in development **Dues system in development Benefits, dues, duties, and responsibilities are subject to change by policy change of the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors. See Bylaws for details.  After far too long: we're meeting in person again!
All members of the immersive creative community are welcome to join this in-person Office Hours meetup of the League of Experiential & Immersive Artists at The Roguelike Tavern in Burbank (259 N Pass Ave). This time out: We'll be inducting our first members under the new bylaws. Laying out the vision for 2021 & 22's committee projects & League goals. Announcing the election cycle for the Board of Governors. Whether you are actively interested in becoming a member or just curious to know what's on the horizon this is a great opportunity to connect. We will be aiming to set up a live stream for those who cannot or do not wish to attend in person. That includes those outside of LA interested in LEIA. Our host venue has set a two-drink minimum. There is no cover charge. Scope the latest edition of the LEIA Bylaws here.
 Photo by Robynne Hu on Unsplash When: Dec. 15, 2020 @ 7 PM PST
Where: The LEIA Discord The year is coming to a close, but before the holiday slowdown begins, The League of Experiential & Immersive Artists is going to have one more event – one that looks ahead to a brighter future. Drop into the LEIA Discord on Dec. 15th and share your hopes for the ever evolving future of immersive art and entertainment. PLUS: members of LEIA’s Founding Committee will be on hand to answer questions and talk about the Draft Bylaws which will be made public the week of Dec. 7th. Join the LEIA Discord RSVP to the Event  The view from Griffith Park Observatory in Los Angeles.Photo by David Everett Strickler on Unsplash LEIA had big plans for 2020. By this point in the year, our goals were to have a membership program in effect, to have Chapter Houses beyond our home base in Southern California, and to be headed towards our first Board Election.
But like most everyone else in the world, the pandemic has drastically altered our plans. As a volunteer-run organization, run primarily by artists, we’ve all found our lives and practices disrupted in ways we could never have anticipated. Our first reaction was to establish the Emergency Relief Grant, which channeled resources from those in the community who had something to spare to those who had pressing needs. Through direct GoFundMe donations and revenue shares from artists who produced work, we distributed over $3000 worth of grants at the start of the pandemic. Since then, we’ve been waiting for a timeline that would give the green light for immersive and experiential creators to get back to the kind of groundbreaking work they are known for. That timeline, sadly, has not appeared. While there are signs of incredible adaptation — from the virtual experiential work that has evolved online, to the drive-in style work that is on the horizon for October — we know that across the United States, the overall situation is still uncertain. With that in mind, we are holding off on making any major decisions regarding a membership drive, LEIA elections, 2021 programs, and other matters until the Founding Committee can gather in mid-November when the shape of things to come will (hopefully) have more clarity. This does not mean that the Founding Committee is idle, or that active members (who serve on committees) or potential members should think that there is not work to be done. Instead now is the time for us to discover just where the greatest good can be done and to identify what levers of change lay within our grasp regardless of available resources. Of particular interest remains those who have either already begun to organize their regions, or who are interested in organizing local creators in the United States outside of Southern California. (A note to our international brothers and sisters: our mandate does not fall outside the legal territory of the United States, but we are always glad to hear from those who are organizing in solidarity.) Our hope is that, come mid-November. a clear view of 2021 will be available to us, and that timelines for voting membership, Chapter Houses, elections, and new initiatives can be put into place and communicated to all around the holidays. So that we can start 2021 off with a renewed sense of purpose. To reach us, email contact@leia.design. – The LEIA Founding Committee We know that members of the community have a lot of questions and concerns about what the guidelines on staging work will be like once it is deemed safe to reopen, and what “safe to reopen” actually means.
LEIA will hold a Town Hall (informational session and Q/A) via the newly opened LEIA Discord Server to discuss the latest news regarding the safety guidelines being set forth by the State of California for various businesses, underlying issues with re-opening, and action steps for the creative community in both the short and long term. Our agenda will include a short presentation on the current climate, an open Q/A, and space/time for breakout conversations. While this session is targeted to the Southern California region, immersive creators from other regions are welcome to join in the discussion. The Meeting will start at 7PM, May 27th on the Presentation Stage in the Main Hall of the LEIA Town Hall Discord. The house will be open at 6:30 PM, and people are welcome to gather in the General chat channel or the Lobby at that time. RSVP to this event via email (contact@leia.design) to be sent a Discord invite. In an effort to help address the impacts of lost revenue due to the closure of immersive/interactive experiences as a preventive measure to control the spread of COVID-19, LEIA (League of Experiential and Immersive Artists) has decided to provide a centralized location where artists may apply for modest grants. While we hope to provide a model for other organizations providing direct relief to affected artists, at this time the founding chapter of LEIA will be focusing its efforts on the greater LA area. Emergency grants to defray specific costs/shortfalls incurred by cancelations, postponements, and complications of COVID-19 will be awarded in amounts of up to $250 per individual applicant. In order to qualify for emergency assistance, applicants must demonstrate involvement in an immersive/experiential production in the greater LA area that has been affected by closures/delays due to COVID-19 . Applicants must indicate the specific need that the grant will address (rent, utilities, etc.) Grant recipients will be chosen from among qualifying applicants via lottery and awarded on a rolling basis. Grants will awarded weekly, starting one week after the fund has enough resources for a full grant, and will continued to be awarded until all funds have been awarded. Applications will be due every Tuesday at noon, and awarded on Fridays. Any eligible applications that have not been selected will roll over to the next selection period: there is no need to reapply. To apply, enter your information here: The Review Committee will need: Your Name The Org/production impacted Evidence of postponement/cancellation Amount requested (up to $250) Need that the funds will address Anything else we should know? FAQ- Where does my donation go? LEIA will collect 2% of donation fees up to a cap of $500 in order to offset the cost of taxes and web hosting fees. Gofundme collects 5% of donations, and payment processors take 2.9% along with $0.30 per donation. 90% of your donation goes directly to affected artists. Who is eligible to receive assistance? All members of the immersive creator/designer/performer community who have been impacted by precautions regarding COVID-19 in greater Los Angeles are eligible to apply (note: members of the LEIA founding board are ineligible to receive grant money from this fundraiser) What if I need more than $250? In an effort to create a positive impact for the largest number of artists with finite resources, we have chosen to limit the dollar amount for grants at this time- we encourage you to look for other relief opportunities through the mutual aide thread on the Everything Immersive facebook group. What happens if you raise more money than you use? Any leftover money will be stored in a standing disaster fund in case of ongoing need or future emergencies. Applications to the LEIA Emergency grant are strictly confidential and available only to a small Review Committee. The Review Committee currently comprises LEIA Board members Matthew Bamberg-Johnson and Monica Miklas. Should the composition of this committee change, an announcement will be posted on leia.design/blog.  To the immersive creative community, The proactive response to the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic by immersive and experiential creators and producers have made us proud to be part of this community. We know that difficult choices and real sacrifices are being made by many of you in order to protect the most vulnerable among us, and to ease the burden on our nation’s health care system as it braces for what may be an unprecedented event. We do not know how long the current situation — restrictions on public gatherings, closed theaters, canceled projects — will last but we do know that now is the time to take action: Community Discussions: Now is the time for facilitated discussions to address problems like lost wages, adopt standards around sanitation, and to prepare for welcoming guests back into our work once the current crisis has passed. We also want to keep the community together in a less formal way, and will be establishing online “Office Hours” events. The first of these Office Hours will be March 16th at 7:00PM PDT. Platform to be announced. Financial Aid: We have begun work on a campaign to address the short term financial needs of artists and artisans in our community who will be in financial distress because of postponements and closures. Please, track your lost gigs and wages. Back to Work Messaging: When the time of greatest crisis is over, audiences will be hungry for in-person interaction. We will be ready to help lead a public campaign on behalf of immersive and experiential creators to usher in the “new normal” and create audience awareness of and access to experiences that will be more important than ever. We call upon our community to continue working together in the spirit of collaboration and creativity that underpins all immersive and experiential projects. No one knows what the full impact — economic, social, personal — of the current crisis will be. However, we believe that together we can not only blunt that impact in our community, but take this as an opportunity to create an even stronger foundation for immersive and experiential work for years to come. If you are interested in taking part in our organizing efforts, including facilitating discussions, donating, or in our public relations campaign please email us at response@leia.design. Signed, The LEIA Founding Committee
 In partnership with Bunglaow '77, the League of Experiential and Immersive Artists hosts its first-ever Fringe Brunch Town Hall, a celebration of immersive stories and experiences set to premiere at The Hollywood Fringe Festival in June. On June 8, join us for engaging conversation with Fringe creators and facilitators from 11:00am-3:00p. Admission includes a delicious mimosa from our mimosa bar, snacks, and curated programming. Programming takes place on the top of the hour at 12pm, 1pm, and 2pm. Open to the public; capacity is limited. Just $10. Purchase Tickets Here. |
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