Invitation to help the Melissa Arena Project

by **rmrenfield** on Sat Feb 06, 2010 3:21 pm

Hello Fellow Melissa Fans,

I have been a long time fan of Melissa Etheridge, yet I have only been
attending concerts and connecting with other fans in the last few years.
The strength, the depth, and the breadth of this world-wide community has
been astounding to me. Prior to making this connection personally, this
incredible community was totally invisible to me. In this community, I see
a connection through music that transcends space, time, culture, gender,
politics, and religion.

I am writing today to invite you to help me do a little project for one
of my graduate school courses in Arts and Consciousness. I am enrolled in a
Community Arts class where the objective is to work with people in a
community to artistically document or raise awareness about a social
issue. My personal interest in social issues, as an artist, is to
highlight relationships between people, and between people and the
environments they live in.

Please join me in celebrating Melissa's new album, Fearless Love, by
contributing to my community arts project as part of my graduate school
requirements. Participating is simple. Just answer as many of the
questions as possible that I have made available at the SurveyMonkey
website. I've set up the SurveyMonkey page to provide freedom of
anonymity so not to infringe on anyone's privacy.

I'd to collect everyone's response and use them to put together a creative
map illustrating something about the relationships between fans and
Melissa. I am calling my project the Melissa Arena Project (MAP). I have
to do a little presentation in my course in early March, so I'll work with
whatever responses I get until the end of February. If anyone is
interested, I'll think about a way to post something about the resulting
map and presentation where you can see it online.

The Melissa Arena Project Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NHHS6GW

Your help would be super fun for me, and much, much appreciated!

Peace,
Ren

by **nybabe58** on Sat Feb 06, 2010 3:29 pm

I found it quite interesting!! Good luck with the project!

by **Camille** on Sat Feb 06, 2010 3:31 pm

Very cool project, Ren! Glad to have participated. :peace:

by **toomuchgirl** on Sat Feb 06, 2010 7:57 pm

Done. Please remember to come back and let us see the results! 8-)

by **justagirl** on Sat Feb 06, 2010 8:12 pm

rmrenfield wrote:Hello Fellow Melissa Fans,

I have been a long time fan of Melissa Etheridge, yet I have only been
attending concerts and connecting with other fans in the last few years.
The strength, the depth, and the breadth of this world-wide community has
been astounding to me. Prior to making this connection personally, this
incredible community was totally invisible to me. In this community, I see
a connection through music that transcends space, time, culture, gender,
politics, and religion.

I am writing today to invite you to help me do a little project for one
of my graduate school courses in Arts and Consciousness. I am enrolled in a
Community Arts class where the objective is to work with people in a
community to artistically document or raise awareness about a social
issue. My personal interest in social issues, as an artist, is to
highlight relationships between people, and between people and the
environments they live in.

Please join me in celebrating Melissa's new album, Fearless Love, by
contributing to my community arts project as part of my graduate school
requirements. Participating is simple. Just answer as many of the
questions as possible that I have made available at the SurveyMonkey
website. I've set up the SurveyMonkey page to provide freedom of
anonymity so not to infringe on anyone's privacy.

I'd to collect everyone's response and use them to put together a creative
map illustrating something about the relationships between fans and
Melissa. I am calling my project the Melissa Arena Project (MAP). I have
to do a little presentation in my course in early March, so I'll work with
whatever responses I get until the end of February. If anyone is
interested, I'll think about a way to post something about the resulting
map and presentation where you can see it online.

The Melissa Arena Project Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NHHS6GW

Your help would be super fun for me, and much, much appreciated!

Peace,
Ren

is this the ren i met in oklahoma????

by **Silent Legacy/Born 2 RN** on Sat Feb 06, 2010 8:50 pm

Very interesting and I look forward to hearing the results. Good luck and enjoy!

by **Spud** on Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:20 pm

I just spent the last 4 hrs doing this survey....lol It made me really think about things and I'm glad I did it. I wasn't slow, just thorough :lol:

Good luck, and yes....let us know what the results are!!

by **endie17** on Sun Feb 07, 2010 11:40 am

Thanks for posting this Ren. I was a really fun and enlightening way to spend my snowy sunday. Trying to remember all the Melissa concerts that I have been to brought up lots of fun memories. Thanks poking my memory.

by **rmrenfield** on Sun Feb 07, 2010 9:21 pm

toomuchgirl wrote:Done. Please remember to come back and let us see the results!

Yep, I will definitely be back around! Thanks for joining in!

by **rmrenfield** on Sun Feb 07, 2010 9:25 pm

justagirl wrote: is this the ren i met in oklahoma????

I was indeed in Oklahoma, and I met a whole bunch of people there, so most likely yes. I didn't really catch everyone's forums/online name though...

by **justagirl** on Mon Feb 08, 2010 5:26 am

rmrenfield wrote:
justagirl wrote: is this the ren i met in oklahoma????

I was indeed in Oklahoma, and I met a whole bunch of people there, so most likely yes. I didn't really catch everyone's forums/online name though...

i was in your group for meet & greet...you 2 were just awesome!! had a blast! survey looks fun,will do for sure!

by **rmrenfield** on Mon Feb 08, 2010 10:12 am

justagirl wrote:i was in your group for meet & greet...you 2 were just awesome!! had a blast! survey looks fun,will do for sure!

Yes! I remember now! It was a great group and a great time together. Thanks for joining in...lmk how the survey was when you're done. It's been a trip just preparing it! :lol:

by **Kel** on Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:31 am

I think I missed on the survey the question ... "will she stay in her assigned seat or will she be buying my drinks tonight?" LOL!!!

GREAT GREAT GREAT idea Ren. I posted this on the street team to see if perhaps you can get more folks to participate as well. I will sit back later this evening and totally take the survey. Very interesting ... much like your question to MLE in Oklahoma. I still ponder that and enjoy the intelligence of it.

You rock and yes I am still looking for that picture!

Hugs to N and the furry babies.

by **rmrenfield** on Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:48 am

Spud wrote:I just spent the last 4 hrs doing this survey....lol It made me really think about things and I'm glad I did it. I wasn't slow, just thorough
Good luck, and yes....let us know what the results are!!

Ya know, that is damn funny. :lol:

I re-wrote the survey about 4 or 5 times I think. The first few just trying to sort out what is fascinating about the community and interactions with each other and Melissa, right. Then I realized I needed to answer my own questions. Holy cow! :idea:

That gave me a whole new perspective. I too went down a journey of thinking about things ... in new ways that I had not thought about, and I will acknowledge that most of that was triggered by really pondering how following Melissa's life and listening, really deeply listening, to her music had been informing, effecting, and changing my own thoughts and feelings about my life. Very powerful stuff.

So thank you for going in there and seeing whatever there was too see! And thank you for sharing what you chose to share in your survey answers. Its great to hear these little tidbits about your's and other's experience with the survey.

Peace,
Ren

by **rmrenfield** on Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:55 am

Kel wrote:I think I missed on the survey the question ... "will she stay in her assigned seat or will she be buying my drinks tonight?" LOL!!!

Hey Kel, ROTFLOL! I can pretty much count on drinks from you as long as you're still silly enough to bet me you'll stay in your assigned seat. Maybe we'll have to change it up to "how long before she leaves her assigned seat?" Haha! And muchos gracias for cross-posting to the street team.

Please feel free, folks reading this thread, to cross-post to where ever other Melissa followers/admirers may be reached. This is about the whole Melissa community. I'm just working with what I know, and am totally into assistance in spreading the word as widely as possible.

by **justagirl** on Sun Feb 14, 2010 8:19 am

done.

by **rmrenfield** on Thu Feb 18, 2010 12:30 pm

I am working on imagining how to translate all the wonderful words people are contributing into some sort of visual map. I've thought about ways to use color, or symbols, or strings and lines. I've considered ways to use traditional geographic maps, and I've pondered what it might look like to use images associated with words.

These are all just ideas rattling around in my head though. I really wonder what you folks, whether you have contributed via the questionnaire already or not (or even if you don't want to at all), would do?

These are some of my burning questions --

How would you imagine doing it? When you think of it, what do you expect you might see if went to see it in a small display area?

Help! Tell me what you see!

Peace,
Ren

by **rmrenfield** on Thu Feb 18, 2010 12:44 pm

The other burning topic in my mind about this project is this.....

I am stuck on is the confinement and invisibility of the SurveyMonkey tool that I've used to put the questions for this project out to you with. It feels isolated to have the answers hidden way from everyone. :cry:

I bet there's some other questionnaire or quiz tool I could have used -- I've certainly taken those ones on web pages where you answer than see the results via a link. Alas!

Perhaps I can post the answers from everyone somewhere for folks to see? How do folks that have answered feel about that? If anyone is against it, I want to know that too.

As Number 5 says in the movie Short Circuit, "Need input. Input!"

Peace,
Ren

by **Camille** on Thu Feb 18, 2010 2:49 pm

rmrenfield wrote:As Number 5 says in the movie Short Circuit, "Need input. Input!"

"No dead! No disassemble!"

You may post my responses if you like. I leeeeeeeeeeeerv writing about my Melisser memories and sharing them with everyone. It's all good. :peace:

Did you find my post on the Concert Review board about the 100 concerts I've attended? That has loads of memories associated with loads of concert locations.

by **endie17** on Fri Feb 19, 2010 6:31 pm

Posting my answers would be way cool...I thoroughly enjoyed the survey..and actually would like to add more to my answers as I thought of a few shows that I attended that I omitted and some other connections that I made. Thanks for the opportunity to reflect Melissa's impact on my life.

by **rmrenfield** on Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:59 pm

Camille wrote:Did you find my post on the Concert Review board about the 100 concerts I've attended? That has loads of memories associated with loads of concert locations.

Yeah that is a great post. Gotta read it again! So many great visuals there...

by **rmrenfield** on Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:06 pm

endie17 wrote:Posting my answers would be way cool...I thoroughly enjoyed the survey..and actually would like to add more to my answers as I thought of a few shows that I attended that I omitted and some other connections that I made. Thanks for the opportunity to reflect Melissa's impact on my life.

Coolio!

Someone else said they thought of more later also. Not sure how make a survey editable for someone. I guess you could just go through it again using the same alias, and then just writing that you already answered certain questions and fill-in the additional stuff where ever it fits.

Also you could just post here!

Thanks for sharing.

by **justagirl** on Sun Feb 21, 2010 2:51 pm

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REN!!! :birthday:

hope the project is coming alone well!!!

by **rmrenfield** on Mon Feb 22, 2010 10:00 pm

Howdy Folks,

I'll be closing down the questionnaire link in the next day or so.

Just a heads up to anyone who still wants to contribute answers!

Thanks again folks. 34 questionnaires filled out.

Peace,
Ren

by **Superfreakin' Sweet** on Tue Feb 23, 2010 1:48 am

Hey there Ren...I've been meaning to do this and will now...seems like a great project and you seem like a cool person. Best of luck to you in your endeavors and you can count on my support and participation. Take care SS 8-)

by **rmrenfield** on Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:25 pm

Hello folks,

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my quarky questions!

I've closed the questionnaire. Let's see what evolves next.

Peace,
Ren

by **Kel** on Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:53 am

Thank you Ren for letting us all help and be involved with your project. It was very thought prevoking and chillaxed.

So guess what I would have totally won last week on the drink dealiyo. I stayed in my seat at both shows.

I know Mardell is probably floored too!

by **mardell** on Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:46 am

Kel wrote:Thank you Ren for letting us all help and be involved with your project. It was very thought prevoking and chillaxed. So guess what I would have totally won last week on the drink dealiyo. I stayed in my seat at both shows. I know Mardell is probably floored too!

Kel,

I'd say that I definitely owe you a drink.

But, I'm sure that you're going to owe me about 50 before this tour is over!! :lol:

by **Kel** on Thu Feb 25, 2010 11:07 am

mardell wrote:
Kel,

I'd say that I definitely owe you a drink. But, I'm sure that you're going to owe me about 50 before this tour is over!!

Perhaps you are correct indeed. :kiss:

Also it may have gone great with this survey ... I call it a SCOOP OF GRAVITATIONAL PULL and 5 footish of thar she goes.

What! I love to shake my GROOVE THANG.

by **rmrenfield** on Mon Mar 08, 2010 4:25 pm

Kel wrote:Thank you Ren for letting us all help and be involved with your project. It was very thought prevoking and chillaxed. So guess what I would have totally won last week on the drink dealiyo. I stayed in my seat at both shows. I know Mardell is probably floored too!

Oh THANK YOU! It is a fascinating journey...more soon....
...and I am absolutely astonished that you stayed in your seat!

:jawdrop:

by **Kel** on Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:26 pm

rmrenfield wrote:
Kel wrote:Thank you Ren for letting us all help and be involved with your project. It was very thought prevoking and chillaxed. So guess what I would have totally won last week on the drink dealiyo. I stayed in my seat at both shows. I know Mardell is probably floored too!

Oh THANK YOU! It is a fascinating journey...more soon....
...and I am absolutely astonished that you stayed in your seat!

Ok ... Ok to be fair it was front and center both times. Ok the second round I was on a comfy chair with RAINDDA and was slightly to the left of front and center, but it's cool Melissa came over a smidge and rocked us silly. :biggrin:

I admit I lost my shizzle and sang my brains out.

Oh and you are so very welcome that was interesting and I look forward to some of the responses you did get back. :peace:

by **rmrenfield** on Mon Mar 22, 2010 1:28 pm

The good news is that we have -- what I think -- is an interesting video as a result of this project, and I want to share it with everyone!

I hope others find it interesting as well...

The bad news is that it is 30 minutes long and won't fit on YouTube! :bawling:

Surely there is someone who might be willing to host it??

Anyone? Kel? Camille? Bueller? :biggrin:

Peace,
Ren

by **rmrenfield** on Mon Mar 22, 2010 2:55 pm

It is here for now...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5536925/A_Commu ... _Music.m4v

Check it out and see if it works....

LMK!!

Thanks!

by **rmrenfield** on Mon Mar 22, 2010 2:59 pm

rmrenfield wrote:It is here for now...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5536925/A_Commu ... _Music.m4v

Wait, I just figured out the upload failed. Crikey!

by **Camille** on Mon Mar 22, 2010 3:08 pm

All I would know is try to post three ten minute segments on YouTube.

by **rmrenfield** on Mon Mar 22, 2010 3:33 pm

rmrenfield wrote:
rmrenfield wrote:It is here for now...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5536925/A_Commu ... _Music.m4v

Wait, I just figured out the upload failed. Crikey!

Ahhhhh! Success! The whole file is there now...

by **rmrenfield** on Mon Mar 22, 2010 7:54 pm

Camille wrote:All I would know is try to post three ten minute segments on YouTube.

I've gotten similar feedback from others and am trying to work out how to accomplish the splitting of the file.

I do not want to edit it into 3 segments, because good lord, I'd probably ruin it!

I don't have QuickTime Pro....

by **Kel** on Mon Mar 22, 2010 8:57 pm

Oh my goodness Ren ... that was so fantastic I do believe my eye leaked a bit. You really did an outstanding job with the Melissa Arena Project. I am soooooy proud of you and appreciate you to bits. I really am just absolutely grateful to have been a part of this project. It is surely one to be seen by all. The inspiration for being inspired by the commonality of one is simply beautiful, lovely and again WELL DONE!!

Now on another note I am getting my whizzle ready to get some wizardy done to get this on over to the street team STAT! Just an incredible 30 minutes of greatness. I need to watch it again and again. YOU ROCK! I can't remember the name of the drinks you drink (warm nekkid fuzzy things on a beach or whatever) I am gettin ya one and soon!

THANK YOU!!!! :peace:

by **rmrenfield** on Mon Mar 22, 2010 9:47 pm

Kel wrote:Now on another note I am getting my whizzle ready to get some wizardy done to get this on over to the street team STAT! Just an incredible 30 minutes of greatness.

Thanks! Glad it was so well received.

FYI....I think the file splitting is working. Just shortly I will start uploading to YouTube. With my connection that will probably still be another hour or so. Links as soon as I have them....might be tomorrow though.

by **toomuchgirl** on Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:51 am

What a beautiful project!!!!!!!!! You did such a wonderful job!!!!!! I hope Melissa sees this as I'm sure she would be moved by it.

by **ladybugkris** on Tue Mar 23, 2010 5:55 am

I know the project is over, but can we have the survey for fun? I never got a chance to take the survey. Thanks!

by **rmrenfield** on Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:46 am

ladybugkris wrote:I know the project is over, but can we have the survey for fun? I never got a chance to take the survey. Thanks!

Of course! It'll take a fews until I have some time after this grad school quarter ends. I want to put it somewhere else more accessible than SurveyMonkey.

by **rmrenfield** on Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:53 am

Total running time for all four parts is about 35 minutes due to some contextual overlap in each segment.

Melissa Arena Project - A Community of Music Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82jNI_mSvbU

Melissa Arena Project - A Community of Music Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIfBhWgovuo

by **rmrenfield** on Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:54 am

Melissa Arena Project - A Community of Music Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT8VerKeGsA

Melissa Arena Project - A Community of Music Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baPbu5bMZJk

That's it ... four parts all under 10 minutes... :peace:

by **Kel** on Tue Mar 23, 2010 8:47 am

Very great Ren! Superb indeed. Again THANK YOU for doing this and taking the time to put it into parts.

I sent you another little note at your youtube page. :biggrin:

by **rmrenfield** on Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:00 pm

YouTube vids are now tagged. I put some words into the description field also.

by **rmrenfield** on Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:17 pm

Howdy Folks,

In the interest of "transparency" (the current business buzz word where I am working in my day job) I have decided to send out the brief proposal/report I am providing to the instructor for the culmination of this Community Arts course that led me to do this project. It has been quite a process for me as I have never done this kind of work before. I have always been a studio artist, and every assignment in this class really stretched me -- especially even this one which I had hoped would be pretty simple to do. Well, it was simple in this sense that so many folks here are so helpful and supportive, and that was part of why I went forward with this idea. This community is naturally very collaborative. Thank you all!!

P.S. The format and the six sections were instructor defined requirements for the report.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Melissa Arena Project - A Community of Music

1. Lead Statement: There is a community of people surrounding the music of contemporary artists. The influence of rock musician Melissa Etheridge among her fans is astounding, yet largely invisible. Likewise, Melissa Etheridge is strongly influenced by her fans. This project seeks to highlight these relationships made through the connection of music.

2. Mission Statement: The purpose of this project is to demonstrate the relationship between a contemporary musician and the people who follow that musician's performance, with emphasis on how the relationship is enriching to both, and how music creates community through role modeling, expression, social, and political action.

3. Project Description: Ten questions were collaboratively developed and posed to fans of rock-n-roll musician Melissa Etheridge through public forums, including the official fan club site the Melissa Etheridge Information Network, an unofficial fan site, the Melissa Etheridge Eco-Friendly Street Team, and "word-of-mouth" through the use of email. Responses were collected using a free online survey engine for anonymous collection and retrieval. Response was strong, deeply emotional, and often gregarious, so the final presentation for prototypical purposes includes a subset of responses semi-randomly selected. The power of words and expression was the most notable theme, so the final presentation format uses video for ease of distribution back into the community, and also emphasizes the dialog of both the fans and the performer simultaneously.

4. Project Objectives: This project uses video performance to present the written words of fans overlaid by the voice of the Grammy award winning, multi-platinum rock musician Melissa Etheridge as both speak about music and life, and the relationships of fans and performer.

5. Biographies of Core Personnel: This project was initiated by and carried out by people who have for many years admired and followed (aka "fans") Melissa Etheridge's illustrious career. We are nurses, animal caretakers, real estate workers, teachers, warehouse workers, parents, and technical engineers. We are lovers of music.

6. Long-term Impact: The best that can be wished for this project going into the future is that we all get a deeper look into how we are each moved, influenced, and changed by the music and life of one person who really puts themselves out there into the world -- in following their dreams, in sharing their passions, in taking risks, and in standing up for their truth. In this project Melissa Etheridge, yet it can be anyone.

by **Spud** on Tue Mar 23, 2010 6:52 pm

All I can say is WOW !!!! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to say what I already knew, and to make more discoveries along the way. What a wonderful project

by **Superfreakin' Sweet** on Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:13 pm

A+

Big Time

Thank you so much for the opportunity to participate...I was honored and enjoyed it greatly...it really turned out fanfreakintastic and you are very talented and passionate...totally awesome ((ren)) 8-)

Loved it