We are interested in building a more active board. Currently Craig Lawrence and myself Rick Fellows are the only Oly based directors. Jimmy Mateson our founder and nominal president does participate through frequent telephone or e-mail discussions and by a speakerphone at board meetings. For a while we have been meeting on an as needed basis due to frequent requests for fiscal sponsorships. These discussions usually involve the forwarding of applications and making sure none of us have or see reasons to question approval. Our fiscal sponsorship committee involves Chris Carson and sometimes our legal advisor. 

The day to day affairs of the resource and networking center at 816 Adams St. are supposed to be handled by a spokescouncil of groups and individuals using the house for activist purposes. These weekly meetings, tuesdays at 7pm, are a good way to get involved in Media Island as the house is the focus point of what folks in Olympia expect of Media Island. We also need help at this level because by far the task of administering the house outweighs everything else we do. If we had the bills paid each month we could put effort into board of directors related efforts. Long term planning and such are essential, but when you only have time for paying the bills by doing presentations and showing films for donations you can only dream of the day a successful grant writer will finally show up.

We are currently moving to bring one new member to the board. For purposes of grants and as a matter of principle we have always sought after a diverse board. Getting where Media Island has been coming from is essential as well. Control of media by large corporations is an issue that brings together all the issues which have driven us. The underreported news of forced relocation of 14 thousand Dineh (Navaho) families, the unreported statistics on high-level nuclear waste shipments, the deep corruption of "national security" and the numerous secret agencies it legitimizes. We also are compelled by the positive stories which are underreported, the energy solutions which aren't happening enough, agricultural approaches which are buried by corporate control of food, more inclusive definitions of "human rights".

If anyone is interested in serving on our board of directors they should let us know. We operate on consensus and our current by-laws allow up to 10 board members. Our meetings have historically been open to spokescouncil participants, house caretakers and people making proposals in person.