Kyle Russell 2003-2007 multi-Annual Report (submitted 2/1/08) Performing Artists Coordinator & Interim Executive Director After the turn of the Millennium, I became active again in Reggae Ambassadors Worldwide (my original join-date, I believe, was prior to 1995). I took on the customary duties of Performing Artists’ Coordinator in 2002. See my Annual Report of that year regarding our efforts to have a RAW event through the Monterey Bay Reggae Festival in the summer of 2002 (which I attended on my own dime, but in my capacity as an officer of RAW: had the pleasure of meeting Daniel Frankston; Wendy Russell; and others). That year also saw my initial plans hatched for the Conference which was to take place in 2003. Since 2003, I have not explicitly or exclusively performed in my capacity as Performing Artists’ Coordinator because of the greater responsibilities I have since taken on for the organization as a whole. I hope the rest of this Report will serve to reveal the ways in which my having done so have been of benefit to both RAW Artists, and the Membership as a whole. I am ceding my Performers’ Coordinator position to very welcome "new blood." It will be good to once again have a dedicated officer catering to Artists exclusively. As with all Board positions, my advice is to lead, but to also create sub-committees and encourage the membership’s involvement: reach out to me and others for advice. Stay the course while becoming actively involved in the inter- & extra-Board email banter that produces tangible results in spite of the occasionally torturous process. It’s amazing what can happen with constructive & collaborative effort. I have really enjoyed working with the Board that’s been in place since roughly 2002, and hope the new Board (to be instated in 2008) can be as responsive and positive in their efforts as the previous Board. This same ‘old’ Board has been maligned, I think without just cause, by a vocal few and others less visible (who’ve not stood up to be identified). Though several Board members have strayed in terms of their time and availability to participate actively the organization, their hearts have without fail been in the right place, and their involvement has been without exception a benefit to our overall evolution. By 2003, after the acceptance by the Board of my 10th Anniversary Conference proposal, I organized the event, hosted in my "home town" of Boston, alongside my own KRucial Nu Roots Reggae Festival. We featured all-RAW artists (applications were open to any and all, with performers hailing from California and Jamaica, to Bermuda), backed by my "own" house band Dub Station, and transpiring with daytime meetings and 3 nights’ shows in 3 clubs. Midnite performed, as did Ras Michael & the Sons of Negus. It was a worthy and, to my mind, necessary undertaking. I did lose money, over all, but RAW helped me defray some of the costs, for which I was grateful. Moving on to 2004, one thing that had come from the 2002 Monterey Meeting AND the 2003 Conference, was a demand by several outside the Board, and a feeling of responsibility within the Board that we should produce official ByLaws for the operation of Organization going forward. While some had offered to help previously, nobody actually did, and I stepped forward to make it happen. While I had a co-chair for the project at first, who brought us the Peace Corps ByLaws as a template, he dropped out pretty quickly, and I was on my own - building what have become our current ByLaws - essentially from scratch. In order to have the authority & support to pursue the ByLaws project, I was elected by the Board to take on the Interim Executive Director position (as previous ED Tom Pearson had scaled back his own duties to include only the Membership & Online Coordinator responsibilities). My role was exclusively to bring the ByLaws to completion. It took about 18 months and a dozen versions anyway to come up with something everyone could agree on. There were debates on numerous topics, and though the document could be worked-over ad infinitum, what we have is pretty solid. Still, the ByLaws called for some more, big steps to be taken. They needed to be put into practice. The end of 2006 and the start of 2007 saw very little movement on the part of RAW. The ByLaws were complete, but we needed to relieve some of the exhausted Boardies; nominate & elect much desired fresh ones; have an Annual Meeting, and usher in the 15th year of RAW’s existence with purpose. Again, nobody stepped forward. I did. Considering my IED position expended (though, by default, extended), I sought a new role or means to fulfill the necessary goals at hand. Having lost time & resources in the two previous (and mammoth) undertakings I’d already volunteered for (the Conference & the ByLaws), I proposed (in May of ’07) that I be hired as an organizational consultant, apart from my role as Board member, to cover at least part of the time and expertise it would take to put the ByLaws into action. My proposal was debated and accepted by the Board. Post-facto misgivings and calls for benchmarks and service-before-compensation cast doubt on whether or how I would proceed. Yet the trust in me was not misplaced. I had come through for RAW before, and I have done so since. In the fall, we orchestrated a nomination, or application process by which candidates could submit their interest in the available positions (which first had to be identified). I used my own emailed newsletter & networks to attract new members & candidates. Towards the end of the year, we sent out ballots. It is now the start of 2008, and all filed ballots have been received. The new Board make-up is known, and I hope to continue in my service as a volunteer, soon to be the official Executive Director of RAW. The Annual Meeting is scheduled for mid-March, but we still need to finalize exactly how it will be conducted, as well as what the final Agenda will be. But we have an excellent crew on Board and every reason to believe the Meeting will come and go, ushering in our 15th year with success and optimism for the future.