Olympia Film Society votes in favor of democracy, nothing changes

author : Brian Nicholson topic : Olympia Film Society

by Brian Nicholson

On Saturday, October 13, an emergency meeting was held by the Olympia Film Society membership. This was to be the culminating action by the volunteer-organized movement that formed following the firing of Operations Manager Jeffrey Bartone. The movement’s aim was to reclaim the Film Society from a leadership perceived as being out of touch with its membership and trying to suit commercial interests. [Editor’s Note: See stories in the September 2007 and October 2007 issues of Works In Progress for more background on the issues leading up to the meeting.] The emergency meeting was called to vote on whether to amend the OFS bylaws to have a member-elected Board of Directors. A 64% majority voted in favor of a member-elected board. However, a two-thirds majority of 66% was needed to change the bylaws. The Olympia Film Society Board of Directors remains as is: An autocracy that votes among itself on who to let join.

Due to the support for such an amendment, it remains an issue for the Olympia Film Society to address. There will be a discussion, along with a re-vote, at the Olympia Film Society membership’s annual meeting, to be held in the Spring of 2008. Many people expect that the energy created by the volunteer movement, most easily associated with http://www.ofsvolunteers.org , will have died down at this point, but perhaps some of the reactionary resentment that seemingly fueled the minority will have died down as well.

The second measure to be voted on at the meeting—to dissolve the board immediately and to elect a new one—was voted down more resolutely, with only 36% of the voting OFS membership in favor of such a proposal.

The vote was disheartening to many volunteers, several of whom have quit their volunteer shifts in tired disgust. Some aim to achieve change in the Film Society by being involved in other ways, such as attending the Board meetings and the programming meetings, both of which are open to the public. This is separate from the strike that was reported on in the September 2007 issue of Works In Progress that was the first fruit of the volunteer movement

The Olympia Film Society continues to function, for the time being, without an Operations Manager, with unpaid volunteers picking up the slack left behind, and a largely disenfranchised membership.

This is not to say that Olympia should not support the Film Society economically. The stated goals of the Film Society are fine ones, and the continued existence of a historic site such as the Capitol Theater is a fine bulwark against the gentrification of downtown. No one involved in the volunteer movement, least of all the ousted Jeffrey Bartone, wants harm to befall the Olympia Film Society. People are urged to try to affect change within the leadership, so that the Film Society does not continue to harm itself by trying to compete with the commercial aims of the multiplexes instead of fostering an independent and self-sustaining community of people interested in film as an art medium.

Brian Nicholson is a volunteer projectionist and amateur videomaker at the Olympia Film Society.