A day of heavy rain didn’t dampen the spirits of the Vermont Access Network (VAN) as they hosted their annual meeting in St. Albans for the first time. With our new building we were able to fill the studio and classroom with 80 attendees on May 3rd.
VAN is a statewide professional collective of 25 community media centers. We gathered with these leaders to share ideas and innovations for serving up media opportunities in every corner of Vermont. The day kicked off with a business meeting that focused on current regulatory initiatives, including work on the federal court case between Comcast and the State of Vermont. Updates were also provided on the FCC’s proposed new regulation that threatens funding for community media centers.
The group broke for lunch with a favorite local taco truck, the Traveling Canteen. Workshops on advocacy and tech flowed throughout the afternoon. This part of the day included a brainstorming session with the Action Circles advocacy group. Action Circles is assisting VAN in securing alternative funding sources.
Many thanks to the support partners who made this meeting possible and joined us as vendors for the day: Access A/V, Audio Video Corp, Barbizon Lighting, Telvue, Tightrope Media, and Unique Media Systems