Vancouver Asahi Induction Committee Minutes #3

Vancouver Asahi BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum Induction Committee Meeting
Thursday, February 17, 2005
BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum Boardroom

Present:
Sam Araki
Elmer Morishita
Timothy Savage
Rika Uto

The meeting was called to order at 5:35 p.m.

Updates since last meeting:

Celebration Grant - The city of Vancouver has a grant which is geared towards funding cultural and arts events. Sam spoke with Roy Yen at the city and after explaining the purposes and mandate of the celebration event, Sam was told the next day that the event wouldn’t qualify for funding. Sam had originally requested $5,000-10,000 for the April 29 event.

NAJC Cultural Development Program Grant - Elmer has been working on this grant application which is due by March 31. He had a draft of the grant copied and available for everybody at the meeting. The application is inclusive of travel and hotel costs as well as event costs for the Celebration event.

Hotel and Airfare help - After receiving communication from the Banquet of Champions chair, Sam mentioned that the Westin Bayshore Resort and Marina will provide rooms (rack rate $259) for $109. The committee approximated that 10 rooms should be booked.

What to display at the BCSHFM - Depending on space possible items include: uniform/trousers, equipment and pictures. It was determined that in addition to a temporary display for a year, there will be a special display during the Celebration event. Timothy Savage noted that 2-3 weeks lead time is necessary to prepare any display.

Website - While the current blog serves a useful purpose of having all information in one place, it is restrictive. So Sam mentioned that a simple homepage could be set up where people could download registration forms, link through to other pages and have a more complete set of information available. In this format, there would be a link to the current blog.

Banquet of Champions

§ The National Nikkei Heritage Center and Museum Board of Directors has committed to buying a table

§ The Vancouver Asahi Induction Committee also unanimously committed to buying a table with the intention that it will sell seats to members of the community

§ Other organization that could possibly buy tickets include the Vancouver Japanese Language School and Powell Street Festival

§ The committee also unanimously agreed that the Banquet of Champions is the focus of activities and we will offer people from the community a chance to attend the Banquet.

Attendees

§ Elmer will compile and keep updated a list of who will be attending the Banquet of Champions and the Celebration event

§ To supplement the list of those attending, it is also important to know where everybody will be staying and for how long they will be in Vancouver for. The committee can then make adjustments for those needing accommodations, etc.

Publicity

§ Tim and Sam to collaborate in getting information to Karen Duffield at Nikkei Network

§ Sam spoke with John Endo Greenaway at the Bulliten and he will write a small story for the March issue and write a lengthier cover piece for the April issue

Celebration event (To be held Friday, April 29, 2005 at BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum)

§ Admission charge to the event will be nominal and be in the $5 per adult, $10 per family (2 adults, 2 children) range.

§ There will be several food stations. Types of food being looked at are Chinese, Japanese and hotdogs. Food tickets will be given out when admission is paid, and additional tickets can be bought. Drinks will be available at a cash bar.

§ Parking was discussed and is an issue. The only parking available is metered street parking and paid lot parking. In the past, EasyPark has been a sponsor of BCSHFM events and if they sponsor this event with free parking for inductees, that would be best. There are several EasyPark lots around B.C. Place and we would have volunteers at each lot to give visitors a free parking pass for the night. Sam will look into this. Also, Stadium skytrain station is nearby.

§ There was a discussion about what we should officially name the event. Ideas were tossed about including:

o Asahi Family Celebration/Evening

o Asahi Induction: The Family Event

o Keywords - commemoration, cultural history, baseball, for the love of the game

Timeline

§ There is nine weeks to go before the banquet and the celebration event. There was a discussion about the timeline and more will be firmed up at the next meeting.

Push

§ Items touched on but will be worked out in the coming weeks include:

o Volunteer coordination for Celebration Event

o Who will be event manager? In charge of the coordination of possible coat check, drinks, food, facility setup, etc.

o Who will be the budget manager? Control funds for Celebration Event, and oversee travel and hotel expenses by out-of-towners

Conclusion:

The next meeting will be on Wednesday, Mar. 2, 2005, from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m.

Next Committee Meeting: Thursday, Feb. 17 at 5:30 p.m.

Just a reminder to all that the next Asahi Banquet Committee meeting will be on Thursday, Feb. 17 at 5:30 p.m. at the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. If you have any topics you would like added to the adgenda, please let Sam Araki know at sam.araki@bcsportshalloffame.com.

WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 17 at 5:30 p.m. for one hour.
WHERE: The boardroom at the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
DIRECTIONS: The BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is located at "GATE A" just East of the Terry Fox Plaza at B.C. Place Stadium which is at the foot of Robson at Beatty. Metered street parking is available. Please walk through the front doors of the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.
CONTACT: Any questions, please let me know, Sam Araki, at sam.araki@bcsportshalloffame.com.