The issue of BASA paying speakers' fares/accom. is v. difficult. We would
have to charge a fee that covers such costs.

As for the aims: these arise fromt he petition I had circulated at the last
conf. What I would like is not only to discuss the issue raised, but to
arrive at conclusions about what actions to take and how to take these. I
would be wholly against a conf. that was just about words....

I attach a copy of an article of mine which has just appeared. This ends by
listing the points in the petition.

Marika
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carolyn Abel" <[log in to unmask]>
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Cc: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2004 11:42 AM
Subject: RE: Re education conference


>
> Dear All
> Sorry to have not responded earlier but last week became extremely hectic.
>
> Lunch:  I agree with Caroline's comment that lunch in a dedicated space
> allows people to mingle/ network.  We know some very good local
(community)
> caters in the area who produce food that is much more reasonably priced
(and
> tastier) than anything the canteens could provide. Obviously the more
people
> that come the cheaper it becomes and since we are getting the daytime
> accommodation free we can try to work this into the ticket price.  I will
> investigate but from memory it is usually about £4per head and there is
> usually vast amounts so we can order less than the actual number of people
> (eg last year we had an event attended by 80 though we ordered for only 50
> and it was enough - I wasn't being a cheap skate it's just the other 30
> didn't tell us they were coming).
>
> Expenses:  I understand that BASA has a tradition of paying the expenses
of
> speakers but given that the proposal has been to have a two day event then
> this might be difficult.  One solution might be to ask those speakers who
> have the backing of an institution or funds to pay for them, cover their
own
> costs (afterall they are also promoting their institution and the
activities
> that they undertake) and those who do not have this kind of backing are
paid
> for by BASA.  Of course spreading the conference over two days does
increase
> the costs so the committee needs to decide if this is what they want to
do?
> Could it be done in one day, albeit it a relatively long one eg 10am -
7pm?
> There would obviously be concerns over fatigue but if we try and vary the
> type of speakers/ presentations then it might work eg performance (and we
> will have one ready for April).
>
> I think the really important to thing to bear in mind is that this is an
> opportunity to come outside of London and find a whole new range of people
> that might want to get involved with BASA.
>
> The other thing we need to decide is:
> what is the aim of the conference?
> why are we doing it?
> who is the audience?
>
> Then we can decide the nature of the speakers and structure of the
> conference.
> Is the aim for example, to highlight the need for teaching Black history
in
> schools?  Why?
> What should these materials look like?  Who should be involved in
developing
> the materials?
> How does this link to higher and further education attention to Black
> history?
>
> Has the management committee discussed the focus of the Education
conference
> or did others have ideas when they proposed the workshop approach?
>
> We have a number of speakers here that are potentially relevant but until
we
> decide the focus of the conference I'm reluctant to ask people.  They
> include for example, a woman from the Race Equality team in Education dept
> who deals with supplementary schools and race/ attainment issues; schools
> inspector who is promoting the inclusion agenda for schools (as specified
by
> Ofsted); our own consultant who will be producing a report identifying the
> needs and opportunities for including Black history within schools;
lecturer
> who is working with performance students and local artists to create a
> performance based on local Black history and oral history interviews.
>
>
> As to the local schools conference, we are hoping that we don't need to
> organise two - that we invite teachers etc to the BASA conference so that
> they can see the importance of Black history in a wider context.
>
> I am happy to try and pull some of this together, but I do need some
> clarification from the rest of the committe about what the expectations
are.
> Best wishes
> Carolyn
>
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