Salem Creative Network

We have plenty of local, one-of-a-kind art at Pop Up in the Salem Center Mall. In just a few weeks, 25 artists, writers, filmmakers, photographers and designers have been juried and their work is on exhibit at the 1500 sq ft gallery facing the food court. Our First Contact event, held Friday, November 11, drew 80 people to the gallery and we sold two paintings and lots of smaller merchandise. T-shirts, earrings, photocards and other affordable art are the fastest movers.
Our store hours vary daily but we are open Noon to 6. Want to get in on the fun? Sign up to exhibit, volunteer or perform at http://popupartworld.com.

Localize Black Friday
Join us at Pop Up for 20 hours of creative goodness. Live painting, music, poetry, cooking demonstrations await shoppers from Midnight to 8:00 p.m. on Friday, November 25 at Pop Up. Office Diving is scheduled to kick off the madness with alcohol service until 2:00 a.m. when the open mic starts. We’ll offer hourly specials with featured artists and winter beer and wine tasting.

Nite Market
Do you have a creative service or product that you would like to share with others at Nite Market, an adventure in creativity from midnight to 4 a.m. Sign up for Nite Market at popupartworld.com.

Support local art at Pop Up!

2011 Cherry City Music Festival
More than 100 bands descend on the hospitality zone to entertain in 13 venues over the three day event. Most performances are free. We will be broadcasting live from downtown on Comcast Channel 22 for 12 hours during the festival. Watch us online at livestream.com/dougsworld.
We need volunteers for band hospitality. Help us out and volunteer here.

Noise ordinance
On Monday April 11, the Salem City Council will conduct the first hearing for the proposed noise ordinance, which will consider the downtown parking district as commercial and set the decibel level at 65 between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. We think 65 dB is a step in the right direction. There are others, however, that adamantly oppose this and want the levels set at 45dB! Show up at 6:30 to show your support for a hospitality zone.

Creative Pub Crawl – Saturday Night Fever Friday April 15
Get down tonight! We have two new stops on the crawl this month, Magoo’s and Cherry City Cafe. And we’ll see what Half Time’s got for us, too. Bring your disco balls and platform shoes!
6:00 Venti’s cafe and Basement Bar
6:45 Copperjohn’s
7:30 Magoo’s
8:15 Pete’s
9:00 Cherry City Cafe
9:45 HalfTime
10:30 FlipSide!

Clean Energy Rally and Lobby Day
We’re celebrating Earth Day on Friday April 22 with a Clean Energy Rally and Lobby Day at the State Capitol. Please volunteer to talk to your elected officials about the importance of Oregon-produced power for Oregonians.
Friday April 22
9:30 Training at Local Government Center 1201 Court St NE
11:00 Rally on Capitol Steps
12-4 Lobby your elected officials

Reply if you’re interested and email jamie@climatesolutions.org to coordinate the lobbying effort.

See you downtown!

Wear some green or expect some pinching.

6;00 Venti’s Cafe and Basement Bar
6:45 Copperjohn’s
7:30 Downtown Market and Deli
8:15 Crawler’s Choice
9:00 Pete’s Place
10:00 Flipside!

It seems that changes are happening faster than ever and we’re doing what we can to keep up! This Salem Creative Network update will cover:

1) Salem Downtown
2) Megawatt Project
3) social engagements
4) volunteer opportunities
5) board meeting

Downtown
We recently hosted the Responsible Hospitality Institute for a Sociable City seminar. More than 20 downtown and city leaders attended to discuss the process of developing a hospitality economy downtown that would address the inter-generational and inter-cultural need for a third place to socialize outside of home and work. With the current Economic Improvement District structure in question, it may become necessary to develop and implement our plan independently.
We will have a follow up meeting in mid-March to discuss our options.

Megawatt
The Megawatt Project is off to a surprisingly good start. We submitted our first project (Magoo’s!) to the Department of Energy for the Business Energy Tax Credit. It’s a lottery process, so we’ll know soon if we are moving forward. We have 266 kW of renewable energy projects and 7 businesses interested in energy upgrades for lighting, HVAC and refrigeration. Contact us if you are interested in the program.

Upcoming Events
February 24-26 8th Mid-Valley Video Festival at Northern Lights Theatre Pub, F-stop Fitzgerald’s and CCTV.
March 18 Creative Pub Crawl – Leprechauns
April 7, 8, 9 Cherry City Music Festival

Volunteer Opportunities
We are looking for volunteers for Salem Downtown programs, Megawatt Project, Doug’s World television production and Cherry City Music Festival. Email ross@salemdowntown.net.

Board Meeting
Our next board meeting is 4:30 p.m., Thursday, March 3 at F-stop-Fitzgerald’s. We’re working on a few housekeeping issues including changing the nonprofit from a member to a non-member organization. We are also looking to build the board, so attend if you’re interested.

Hey you Wild and Crazy guys! The schedule has been finalized for tonight’s Saturday Night Live pub crawl. We have a new venue, Coffee House Cafe. They just got their license and are creating a happy hour just for us – $2 Caldera IPA, Bear Republic Red Rocket and Racer 5 PLUS $1 off all beer and wine. Let’s show them some love, Pub Crawl style.

Here’s this month’s list:

6:00 p.m. Venti’s Basement Bar

6:45 p.m. Copperjohn’s

7:30 p.m. Coffee House Cafe

8:15 p.m. Pete’s Place

9:15 p.m. Brown’s Towne Lounge

10:15 p.m. FlipSide!

Here we are at the end of a whirlwind year making Salem a better place to live. Join us 6:00 p.m. Friday, December 10 at Coffee house Cafe for a Salem Creative Network holiday party! The all-ages event will offer an opportunity to reflect on the old year and plan for the future. Let’s celebrate!

Here’s a run down of what’s going on with the Salem Creative Network:

Upcoming dates:
Monday, December 6 – Noise ordinance 1st reading
6:30 City Council Chambers
The staff re-write of the noise ordinance has a first reading tomorrow night. We hope this is approved quickly so we can begin to develop the hospitality zone downtown. It allows a commercial noise level of 65 dB  everywhere downtown until 10 p.m. Please attend the council meeting to watch the action.

Thursday, December 9 – Megawatt Project Launch
11:45 a.m. SEDCOR luncheon  Mission Mill Museum Spinning Room
Salem Creative Network will present the Megawatt Project at the monthly SEDCOR luncheon this week. We’ve arranged for some electric vehicle manufacturers (Brammo, BugE, RYNO) to bring their eye candy so people can get a glimpse of the future while learning about biomass, smart grid, financing and Megawatt.
Please attend and support the Network at the area’s largest business luncheon.

Register here

Friday, December 10 – Willamette Valley Wine Walk – Network Holiday Party
6:00 p.m. Coffee House Cafe

Our final wine walk of 2010 will feature hot-spiced wine at downtown’s newest watering hole – Coffee House Cafe. Lari DeLapp is excited to finally receive his OLCC credentials and will host us for a soft launch beer and wine service at Coffee House Cafe. We will be there until 9:00 p.m. and then move on to DaVinci’s, Orupa and Bentley’s. Minors allowed until 8:00 p.m. at CHC.

Tuesday, December 14 Cherry City Music Festival planning meeting
7:00 p.m. Coffee House Cafe
We are organizing the 2011 Cherry City Music Festival with Mid-Valley Video Festival. They received a $7500 grant from the city and need help planning and hosting the festival. Please attend if you’re interested in volunteering.

Friday, December 17 Creative Pub Crawl – Naughty Elves in Fugly Sweaters
6:00 Venti’s Cafe and Basement Bar
Whew! Has it been a year already? Wear a fugly sweater and/or bring your naughty elf gear for another night of economic development downtown.

2011 volunteer opportunities:
Tuesday, January 11 Salem Creative Network board meeting
Thursday, February 10 Ignite Salem 5 – Global Ignite Week
April 7, 8, 9 – Cherry City Music Festival
2010 program summaries

Greening Salem

Solarize Salem
Solarize Salem wrapped up on October 31. The bulk solar installation program attracted more than 400 interested homeowners with workshops, events and the lowest price for Oregon-made solar systems. The program was featured on 1A of the Statesman Journal twice, KATU-TV, KGW-TV and nationally on page 3 of USA Today

During the three-month program, 52 homeowners installed 165 mW of renewable energy on their roofs. In 2009, just 10 systems were installed in Salem. Our contractors, Solar City and RS Energy, were very satisfied with the program and other communities (Seattle, Beaverton) are using our program modifications in their current efforts. Also, Adam Stephens Middle School will receive the donation of a 3 kW system ($17,000) from the contractors for educational purposes.

Thanks to all the volunteers, partners and participants that made this  program so successful!

Megawatt Project

Our newest program for Greening Salem is the Megawatt Project, a renewable energy and resource management program for commercial, institutional and nonprofit clients. We are partnering with Sanyo Solar of Oregon and local contractors to offer bulk pricing for solar installations and energy efficiency retrofits. We are also creating a workforce development training module with Chemeketa Community College to prepare for the anticipated demand for services. We need volunteers for the advisory committee and program implementation.

Salem Green Professionals

Salem Green Professionals meets every two month at sustainable businesses in the Salem area. We are meeting this week to discuss the future of this program.

Salem Downtown
Creative Pub Crawl
We are planning themes for 2011. Send ‘em if you have them!

Willamette Valley Wine Walk
The wine walk is over a year old now and we’re looking to expand the program to First Wesdnedays. We’ll keep you updated.

Downtown Hospitality Zone
We are working with the Responsible Hospitality Institute, downtown venues, entertainers, patrons and the City of Salem to establish a hospitality zone downtown. RHI was instrumental in crafting policy in Austin, Seattle, Phoenix and other cities to improve the nighttime economy of downtowns. Our mentoring city is Lexington, KY where they just transitioned through similar circumstances involving noise issues and expanding retail opportunities.

Creative Culture

Ignite Salem
We are in the process of facilitating the administration of cultural programming from Mid-Valley Video Festival. Ignite Salem 5 will be held during Global Ignite Week with 100 other cities in all seven continents and antarctica. We need presenters. Sign up at ignitesalem.com.

Cherry City Music Festival
The 5th Cherry City Music Festival occurs April 7-9 in downtown Salem. More than 100 bands will perform in 15 venues.

Creative Pub Crawl White T-shirt
Friday, August 13
Wear a t-shirt we can write on and bring some WATER-SOLUBLE markers to share.
6:00 Venti’s
6:45 Copperjohn’s
7:30 Magoo’s
8:15 Pete’s Place
9:00 Brown’s Towne
9:45 Jonathan’s
10:30 FlipSide!

Willamette Valley Wine Walk – Rosé
Friday August 20

6:00 pm Coffee House Cafe

Solarize Salem
Since August 2, 219 people have registered for more information, 140 attended workshops and it looks like there will be 25 co-op members by today, Friday August 13.

Here are the upcoming free workshops:
7 pm Aug 16
Nuts and Bolts
Sean Larkin, SolarCity
South Salem Senior Center
6450 Fairway Av. SE

6:30 Aug 17
Net-metering
PGE Auditorium
4245 Kale St. NE
Bruce Barney
Manager of Dispatchable Generation for Portland General Electric

6:30 Aug 24
Financial Workshop
Lizzie Rubado Energy Trust of Oregon Residential Program
Salem Public Library Loucks Auditorium
585 Liberty St NE

Aug 26
Nuts and Bolts
David Richards – RS Energy
633 7th Street NW

Making friends at the pub crawl.

Creative Pub Crawl ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY – Life’s a Beach

YooHoo! The Creative Pub Crawl turns one year old this Friday, July 23 with Life’s a Beach. So slip on your beach clothes and enjoy some live music while you meet new people, network and vibrantify downtown. Here’s hte schedule:
6:00 Venti’s – Jewelia Owens
6:45 Copperjohn’s – Shy Seasons
7:30 Magoo’s – Foxtrot
8:15 Pete’s Place – Potatoe Famine
9:00 Brown’s Towne – Matthew Price Band
9:45 Jonathan’s – Bold Riley
10:30 Flipside – House DJ

Live music schedule subject to change.
RSVP here

Willamette Valley Wine Walk – Sparkling Wine edition at Rivers Condominiums
Friday, July 30
The format last month seemed to work well with visiting wineries at Coffee House Cafe Backspace, Blind Wine Tasting at a downtown residence and a relaxed walk to Allessandro’s and Bentley’s Grill.
Bring a bottle of your favorite bubbly for the blind wine tasting.

Friday July 30
6:00 Laurel Ridge Winery and Van Duzer Vineyards pour complimentary tastes at Coffee House Cafe
7:00 Sparkling Wine BLIND WINE TASTING and tours at Rivers Condominiums
9:00 Allessandro’s Ristorante
10:00 Bentley’s grill
11:00 Flipside!

RSVP here

Solarize Salem launch at Oregon State Capitol steps
12:00 pm, Monday, August 2
Salem Creative Network’s newest project, Solarize Salem, brings solar installation bulk pricing to Salem residents, businesses and institutions. Learn more about the project meet the selected contractors 12:00 pm, Monday, August 2.
Monday, August 2. A tour of the State Capitol solar installation will follow the presentation.

We are still looking for volunteers to help spread the word about solar energy to neighbors and businesses. Contact ross@solarizesalem.org or call 503-551-2818.

Until August, stay cool!

We did it! We now have more than 500 people on the list who are passionate about Salem and willing to support social innovation with the Salem Creative Network. Between the pub crawls and wine walks, 200 people are coming downtown monthly to socialize, network and stimulate the economy. This after only three months as a nonprofit!
Well, grab on, cuz we’re going for a ride. Here are a few events in the upcoming weeks:

TONIGHT April 23
Creative Pub Crawl – Flower Children
Celebrate Earth Day in style by composting food and drink specials in 7 downtown venues.

Friday April 30
Willamette Valley Wine Walk - Life is a Cabernet
New venues! Blind wine tasting at Journey’s. Last month was a hoot so join the fun starting 6:00 pm at Grand Vines.

Wednesday, May 5
Member venue The Space is appealing their cease and desist noise violation order 4:00 pm at City Hall. We need you there to show support for our lobbying efforts on behalf of Salem nightlife advocates. After many discussions with the Mayor, City Councilors, Salem, Portland and Austin Noise Control officers, Advisory Boards and the like, we are getting a noise ordinance re-write. While the language of the new ordinance has yet to be initiated, we intend to insert allowances for louder music between the hours of 10 pm and midnight downtown.
Your presence is essential at Doug’s hearing to demonstrate support for a vibrant nightlife in Salem. Please attend! We will have an after-party at The Space.

Thursday, May 6
Salem Green Professionals Mahonia Vineyard tour 5-6 pm
jJ Travis Henry, LEED AP and Vice President of Wildwood, Inc., and Salem Green Professionals on May 6th for a tour of Mahonia Vineyards & Nursery and Wildwood’s AIA award-winning remodel of The Old Pringle Schoolhouse.

Solarize Salem
We are initiated the Solarize Salem project and need steering committee members. This effort will coordinate installation of solar panels in Salem residences in conjunction with Energy Trust of Oregon, Oregon Department of Energy and Solar Oregon. Our first steering committee meeting is Tuesday, April 27. Contact me for time, location.

That’s it for now, see you downtown.
Ross

Salem Creative Network meeting
6:00 pm April 19 Brown’s Towne

I sat down with Mayor Taylor to discuss Salem Creative Network projects and determine a plan to work together with the city. Here’s a short summary:

Creative Pub Crawl
Mayor Taylor has heard great things about the Creative Pub Crawl and appreciates SCN’s efforts to bring people downtown. Business owner feedback is positive as is the absence of incidents involving police. This programming is turning into an institution and we’re starting to plan the July-December schedule.

Next Crawl:
Creative Pub Crawl – Flower Children April 23
6:00 pm Venti’s

Willamette Valley Wine Walk
This project seemed more appealing to Mayor Taylor and she commented that she and her husband would be willing to attend. It was requested that the list of wine locales be expanded to include Allessandro’s, which we are working on for April 30. The attraction of establishing downtown Salem as a wine destination was received well and it was requested that we work together with Go Downtown.

Noise ordinance
SCN member Doug Hoffman has be delivered a Cease and Desist order concerning noise made at The Space past 10 pm. He is appealing the decision at the May 5th city council meeting. We need you to be there.
The defense looks good because there is no noise code written for mixed-use overlay zoning, only commercial, industrial and residential. This may provide an opportunity to create the new ordinance and grant a stay for The Space to continue making noise between 10 and midnight Fri, Sat.
Mayor Taylor seemed open to the idea of Fri, Sat noise increases between 10 and midnight. She asked how other cities handle it and promised to initiate a staff report comparing noise ordinances of Portland and Eugene.
You can help by scheduling a meeting with your councilor about the issue and attending Doug’s hearing on Monday, May 5th at City Hall.

Solarize Salem
We are starting a new project, Solarize Salem, which connects residential homeowners to finance for solar panel installations. We are working with EcoTrust, the Oregon Department of Energy, Solar Oregon and others in the area to launch this effort in June. Mayor Taylor is very interested in this project due to her recent visit to Japan and discovering that Sanyo’s new parent, Panasonic, is targeting the solar panel market and has set a goal of the largest worldwide manufacturer of panels by 2012. Salem may be on the list for a facility.
Contact me if you’re interested in participating.

Salem Green Professionals
I explained the need of promoting sustainability and Mayor Taylor agreed that more should be done in this area. The next Salem green Professionals informal social is Thursday, May 6 at Wildwood Nursery. Stay tuned for details.

Salem City Repair
With the creation of the new Public Arts Commission, SCN sees an opportunity to continue Salem City Repair natural building projects through the approval process of the Commission. Murals, sculptures and natural building will be legalized through the approval process. Mayor Taylor created the commission back in 2007 and it has finally made it through council, just in time for Salem City Repair projects.

Overall the meeting was successful and we’ll do a follow up in May.
Please attend the meeting on Monday, April 6:00 pm at Brown’s Towne.
We are planning a mayoral debate and need your feedback. Thanks again for being a part of the Salem Creative Network – we’re making a difference.

Ross