Beta 1.0 Activity Kits Update
Cal Aspen
This Wednesday—November 22nd—will mark one week since I distributed the beta round of the Yes, And! activity kits around Lawrence. I delivered them to four separate locations: Grounded Coffee, the Lawrence Public Library, the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity at KU's Kansas Union, and the Sabatini Multicultural Center (directly north of the Kansas Union).
As of this morning (Monday, November 20th), I was becoming worried that I would not recieve any engagement whatsoever, and that this whole round of engagement would be a complete wash. Such are the anxieties of a new project.
In order to assuage some of my concerns, I decided to pay a couple of the distribution locations a check-in visit–I'm glad I did.
My first stop was the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity. Some of my old friends from Gaymer Night were there when I stopped by, which was a pleasant surprise. We caught up for a bit before I turned the conversation to the business of the activity kits. Cori, the SGD's signature program coordinator and an old scholarship hall staff member, overheard the conversation from their office and got my attention; the reason I've had no responses from the SGD is likely due to how quiet it's been there for the past week. Most of their usual regulars have been absent from the Center this week for one reason or another; many started their holiday early and have already gone home for Thanksgiving. Cori told me to expect more engagement in the next couple of weeks or so; I do hope it's sooner rather than later, as I'm worried the later in the semester it gets, the less likely people are going to feel they have a few minutes to spare for my little project.
Stop two of the day was the Lawrence Public Library; I harbored a little more hope for this location due to the sheer number of locals who visit it daily. Unfortunately, upon meeting with Margot, the teen librarian there, I learned that convincing teenagers to do activity kits with few tangible rewards is...difficult. That's understandable, since the beta kits were designed with an adult audience in mind. While the news that four more of my kits have been sitting dormant for a week was mildly disappointing, Margot assured me that if I was okay with adult participation, they would "bully some of their coworkers into doing them." While I hope the kits are interesting enough that they don't warrant bullying, I can appreciate their dedication. I hope that the folks they persuade to complete the kits get something out of their work, even if it's just some time thinking about the places they spend time in.
The other two locations I distributed kits to remain a mystery, for now. I'll be checking in with them by Wednesday, with luck. I hope to hear good things from Grounded Coffee, at least; it's the place where I feel I have the most established presence and community network. I suppose we'll find out; only time will tell how much engagement the first round of kits gets. That's why it's a test round.
In the meantime, one major lesson learned is that I need to make the kits more visually appealing or interesting, and the activities need to be less daunting. Maybe I need to reduce the number of tasks, or the complexity of the tasks; however, I don't want the kits to feel like a waste of time to myself or to others.
If the kits turn out to be a bust altogether, I have some backup ideas. After all, this project isn't limited to brown paper bags sitting on tables without someone to advocate for their usefulness. My backup plans include gathering folks to do short interviews in podcast-like sessions, which can be transcribed into zines. I've also thought about setting up shop in places where spontaneous conversation is common, and putting up signage that allows people to approach me as they are comfortable doing so. These ideas involve me playing a more active part in the community network, something that is both exciting and incredibly daunting. Additionally, they require a more concrete time committment that may be difficult for me to pin down, what with my final year of graduate school, an internship, sleeping and eating.
For now, there's not much more for me to do than sit, wait, and see what happens with the activity kits...and maybe start putting together a backup plan.