Hey it's a post from that ridiculous/amazing/this is the worst idea/this is the best idea Make-Your-Own Meme "blog every day of November" thing!
The original post explaining the project is here. Please feel free to continue adding topics/questions on the LJ or DW versions. If something comes up in any of these posts that you'd like to hear more about, please feel free to just make it into its own topic! HERE GOES NOTHING. YOU (SORT OF) ASKED FOR IT.
Once again, we interrupt your regularly scheduled topics (which I promise I will get back to I SWEAR) in favour of current events.
So there is this thing where FictionAlley is applying for a grant from the Pepsi Refresh project, which is a grant competition giving away lump pre-determined sum grants to proposals competing within monetary (but not category-based) brackets. So all the proposals asking for $25K compete with each other, across categories, but do not compete with those asking for $250K. The money is given in those determined amounts, e.g. Pepsi is not saying "we will distribute $X among Y number of proposals based on votes/need/merit/other criteria".
Here is an FA staffer's post on the subject: A Big Favor: PLEASE VOTE FOR FA, EVERY DAY, EVERY WAY. The comments there are now closed but there are some screencaps available.
Some further information is provided where
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nextian reposts (with permission) an email exchange she had with FictionAlley: so ... this happened.So the thing is, as a member of the OTW, as someone who recently gave money to a fannish project and urged others to do so (or to give time/spread the word), this strikes pretty close to home for me, right? I support fandom as a legitimate cultural endeavour and I support the idea of fannish projects being deserving of grants and resources. But I am so sideways and so many kinds of unhappy/mixed feelings about this, and after (probably insufficient) cogitation and (also insufficient) flailing at various friends, trying to sort my thoughts and feelings out, I think all of my internal mess over this can probably be summed up like so:
1. Boy am I mad at Pepsi and the system that created it.
2. Within the above context I have no objection to FA going for the grant; arts are important and should be funded. Fandom is important. But within the below context:
3. I don't know every avenue FA has tried, but based on my perception, FA did not do enough to seek resources within its own community before applying outside of it, and still handled it in a way that, from here, seems illogical, insensitive, inefficient, and just... not good. Which is a failure of either process or communication.
That's the short version. Let's have the long one.
( 1. I am SO MAD at Pepsi. )
( 2. Go ahead and apply for grants! It is okay for fandom projects to apply for grants! Fandom rocks! )
( 3. There were other and probably better ways to do this, wow. )
Guys, what happened?
ETA: Answer: This happened! FA has asked to be removed from the challenge. It sounds like their financial situation has improved but could still use continued support; I hope they get the funds/support they need.
ETA 2:
seperis has collected more links on this subject, which cover a lot of angles (including the Pepsi angle and the fandom funding angle and the OMG SPREADSHEETS angle) and basically this is a good place to go for more thinkings on the matters and click links within links. (disclaimer: I am linked in there but you already read me, go read other people!)
