NMAC Ideas

Lab Nights
Many alumni have suggested bringing back the tradition of lab night work sessions. As evidenced above, the labs are empty most of the time when classes aren't going on. Having people in the labs allows one to meet other people in the department, and they can often help out with any technical difficulties or offer feedback on projects. Courses are also more enjoyable overall when you know your classmates, and collaborative peer reviews are shown to help improve skills faster.




Taco Tuesday
A proposal for a meet and greet event with lots of tasty burritos, salsa, and chips. UNCA officially frowns upon student orgs using any part of their budget on food, and the lab computers don't mix well with spicy bean sauce, so we would need to find another way to smuggle large quantities of Mexican food onto campus.




New Media Project Divisions
Currently it is very difficult to find ways to meet everyone in this department's wildly different design tastes. Restructuring NewMAC's organization into distinct themed divisions would extend our ability to provide resources evenly to all interest areas, as well as to provide opportunities for collaborative group projects that are not limited by term length. Here are some possibilities for these teams.

• New Media Interactive/Web Design Team- a subcommittee whose main role would be to plan events like hackathons, mini sonic concerts, and graphic design opportunities, as well as creating responsive web interfaces


• New Media Story Group- a subcommittee of NewMAC whose focus would be on planning long-term animated short projects, brainstorming sessions, concept art challenges, and technical workshops


• New Media Film Board- a subcommittee of video students who would help promote the display of photography and videos as well as news about upcoming film festivals. Roles could also involve sharing camera tricks and video editing tools, hosting movie nights, and setting up video projection installations


• Tech Crew- a group who would help sponsor events relating to game design, programming, or other fields of computer science and technology, and possibly be willing to help other students learn how to set up basic hardware and software


Skype and Faculty Interviews
Bringing in guest speakers takes a lot of planning. Skype could be used to talk to more guest speakers that live far away without having to deal with travel expenses. The faculty are also an underused resource since they are all professionals with lots of experience and knowledge outside of what they cover in classes.




Fundraising Ideas
UNCA administration hasn't been very receptive to our past budget proposal requests, so it looks like we're going to have to start trying to raise extra funds on our own. Below are some assorted ideas for generating revenue. Some ideas are more feasible than others, but we're open to other suggestions so long as they don't involve drug money, bitcoin, or desperate Free Store Ponzi schemes.

Fundraising Goal

• $500 over the span of two semesters. The money would possibly go towards new equipment, convention travel expenses, commissions, awards scholarships for graduates seeking a Master's degree, or other things students would be interested in.


Most Feasible Proposals

• 3D Printing- due to the high cost of materials and slow manufacturing time, it would be difficult to produce enough plastic prints at a low cost to make significant profits. Printing moulds that can be filled with a cheaper material might be a better economical investment. Creating miniatures or a board game might be an option
• Free Coffee Nights- Coffee would be free, with a suggested tip donation jar to cover expenses for coffee grounds, cups, and creamers. There's no guarantee this would offset the cost of resupplying the coffee machine, or that someone wouldn't walk off with the coffee maker, money, and creamers. This also might cause problems if coffee were spilled in the labs. The Free Coffee hours would have to be at night when people are in the labs so as not to compete with Argo Tea's monopoly on the campus coffee trade.
• Art Alley- see projects pitches page
• Raffles for art books, Funko collectibles, DVDs, or video games
• VR Game Night- this could possibly generate some revenue from people wanting to experience virtual reality. Other games and concessions could be provided.
• Bake sales
• Booths at the Asheville Comic Expo, East Coast Gaming Conference, MoogFest, or local Arts festivals (LEAF, {Re}Happening)
• T-Shirt sales- designing the shirts and then printing a batch at a retail cost of $8-15, could possibly generate $5-10 per shirt
• Technology Trade-ins- trade in old unused tech
• Software Tutorials- payment by hour kind of goes against the spirit of free student workshops NewMAC has offered in the past, but an appreciation donation jar could be an acceptable alternative


Department Research Grants

• Grant Proposals- Communicate more with the faculty and try to develop more undergraduate research opportunities. These types of projects are funded incrementally and any grants for necessary technology generally get renewed every few years by the university.
• Networking- Send emails to tech companies, famous designers/directors/animators, and larger universities asking for education grants or collaborative partnerships. Networking looks good on the university's public record, which will lead to increased incentive to invest funding in the department


Planning Large Events

• Photography and Print Sale- NewMAC would subtract a small 10% dividend from sales for sponsoring the event, with all profits going towards technology improvements in the department
• Local Film Festival Screenings- this would require reserving Lipinkski Auditorium or the Quad and networking with local Film and Art Festival organizers
• Sonic Concert- partner with the Music Department to host a projection light show/concert festival, splitting any proceeds evenly between departments
• UNCA ComicCon- this would probably require contacting local businesses, game stores, etc. to attract larger crowds, as well as co-hosting with other student organizations on campus. The organizers of the Asheville Comic Expo are looking for a larger venue than the Civic Center to host the annual event, if UNCA administrators would be ok with leasing out the Quad
• Installations- setting up themed installation pieces across campus to bring more awareness to New Media
• Art/New Media Exhibition- Collaboration with ArtFront to sponsor a joint Art/New Media Exhibition in Highsmith Gallery, charging $5 per entry offset by monetary awards for Grand Prize, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Regular NM student exhibitions would continue to be free of charge.


Online Sales and Kickstarters

• Online Store- Sell 3D model assets on online stores- unfortunately student versions of Maya don't allow commercial use, so models would need to be made in an open source program like Blender. Sales would probably provide a gradual source of income over time rather than a quick profit.
• Sell fonts or music- not a huge source of income
• River Arts District- rent a studio space or set up a website or etsy account for selling artwork. The art department would probably be willing to collaborate.
• Games- Develop an app or video game to sell on the iStore or Steam


Alltober Fest
Status: In need of a reboot. Alltober is a Fall-themed event unique to the New Media department. The past semester, the Alltober animated shorts screening didn't seem to attract a lot of interest, so we are open to suggestions on how to turn this into a bigger event possibly involving food, digital music, graphic design, cosplay, or zombies.




New Media Newsletters
Reviving the digital newsletter series would probably require a team responsible for finding monthly content for video, interactive, and animation. It would also be preferable to design original covers, since we found out the animation characters that were used in previous issues are subject to copyright protection.

It has been suggested to try and make the newsletters less about UNCA or the New Media Arts Council and to instead include more relevant job opportunities, internships, and relevant design tips for students. Miscellaneous links to featured designers or artists, music, typography, videos, trivia, inspirational quotes, industry news, or events might be cool too.




UNCA Student Alliance/News Network
Pitch: A proposed collaboration between other student organizations on campus intended to help co-sponsor events, increase student access to resources, and improve communication between departments, especially concerning the advertisement of guest speakers and other relevant events.

A similar idea was to try and work with Mass Comm, Blue Echo, Blue Banner, SAIL, and Student Government students to create a televised news network that could be broadcast on monitors across campus. This would possibly help students find out about local events and campus activities, since many students are unaware that events are even happening. This news network would attempt to fix the existing system of bulletin board posters, email newsletters, and UNCA's unnavigable website, none of which seems to be a very successful means of distributing information




Planning Calendar
FALL

• UNCA Student Org Fair


• Department Meeting (usually on the Tuesday after the first week of classes)


• Miscellaneous Events and Fun Stuff


• Alltober Fest/Haunted House Volunteering


• Senior Capstone Project Presentations


• NM Graduation Party


• Reading Day/Up All Night

SPRING

• Department Meeting


• NM Juried Exhibition/Arts Fest


• Senior Capstone Project Presentations


• Student Org Budget Proposal Due


• NM Graduation Party


• Reading Day/Up All Night

SUMMER

• SIGGRAPH


• Study Abroad


• Other Conventions or Field Trips

Budget
The New Media Arts Council is a non-profit group. Our members put in a lot of volunteer time into ensuring events remain [mostly] free and open to everyone, and sometimes expenses come out of our own pockets. Contact our Treasurer if you have any questions about expenditures or how NewMAC manages UNCA funding. Suggestions for investments in improving department resources are also welcomed.