Fan Gallery Tour. Via e-mail, the SCIFI Board of Directors voted to approve subsidizing the shipment of the Fan Gallery to Boskone and Minicon, up to $100.00 per convention, as a "thank-you" to Boston and Minneapolis fandom for their part in the Fan Gallery's beginnings. We spent $44.37 on shipping it to Boston; Noel brought it back as luggage for free. We spent $100.00 on shipping charges to/from Minneapolis; Minicon is paying $26.19 for the remaining charges.
Reaction from the fans to the Fan Gallery has been positive. The Fan Gallery has been displayed in Art Show and Dealers Rooms, and many fans have been seen browsing the photos. The chair of Windycon (Chicago) has agreed to pay the freight in order to have the Fan Gallery appear at Windycon this year, assuming that a Director will be there to oversee it. The chair of Confusion (Detroit) is interested in exhibiting the Fan Gallery as well, and has asked us to drop her a line if that ever seems to be a possibility.
The Fan Gallery is growing. As of this weekend there are 267 photos (including 3 Worldcon Chairs group shots and 10 couple shots), in the Fan Gallery, which is 71 more than we had at the January 2002 Board Meeting, and 87 more than we displayed at the 2001 Worldcon. The "core collection" of NASFiC/Worldcon chairs, NASFiC/Worldcon fgohs, Fan Hugo Winners, and International Fan Fund Winners (plus a Worldcon Chairs group shot) currently stands at 94 photos (not counting couple shots). There are about 250 names on our "Wanted" list. $588.37 was spent since the last Board meeting on enlargements and frames, postage and shipping charges, office supplies, equipment, and related materials.
Apart from Chaz's digital camera, we have received photos from Erik V. Olson, Mark Olson, Jean Weber, and Steve Davies. We have also had individual photos sent us by their subjects. Printing from digital images is working just fine. (Incidentally a board member wanted to know if there were any SLR digital cameras available which would take interchangeable lenses. Canon and Nikon both have such cameras.)
Christian B. McGuire and Chaz Boston Baden have been relying heavily on Bruce Pelz's encylopedic (and sometimes acerbic) knowledge of fandom to decide who we should put on our "wanted" list. (We show him lists, he gives us "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" comments.)
Online Fan Gallery Project in Progress. We are slowly adding photos to the web page, www.scifiinc.org/gallery/ . Jerome Scott has scanned in two rolls of 35mm negatives from the archives (so far), so we can process both new additions and get the old photos uploaded as well. This project continues. We don't intend to set up a separate web page for the online photos; instead, the "Contents" page for entire Fan Gallery indicates which people have photos online.
/s/ Chaz Boston Baden