Every quarter, we gather as a community to meet and share important updates and enjoy some comedy fellowship.
Whether you were in attendance or couldn’t make it this time around, we’ve made a comprehensive recap of the most recent All-Hands Meeting with information for you to read at your leisure.
Announcements
- We’re hosting our first-ever Neurodiverse Dating Social in February! Please sign up or help us get the word out by sharing.
- Only Staff Members are allowed in the Box Office and allowed to use the Point of Sale/register. Non-Staff Members should not be trained to use the Point of Sale to ring up concessions.
- Reminder that the 48 Hour Laugh-A-Thon, our biggest fundraiser of the year, will be April 17-19. Please save the date because we will need a lot of hands and a lot of performers!
- Reminder that you never know what is going on in the building after your class, rehearsal, or show; there could be a corporate workshop or an Improv for Life class. SG is a shared community space, and we don’t have a cleaning person who comes each night. Please be mindful to clean up after yourself, throw away trash, and put furniture and supplies back in their homes.
- As a business, we have legal rights if ICE visits our building. Those legal rights are now posted in multiple areas of the building for our staff, students, and performers. Please be sure to read through them next time you visit.
- We will likely be looking for a Marketing Intern or two very soon. If you’re interested in this opportunity please keep your eyes on our Student Newsletter and Slack.
Volunteer Opportunities
- The second annual Dallas Youth Improv Festival is set for March 27-29. If you would like to volunteer please let John Gerhardt know! He will be coordinating this year’s festival. (john@stompinggroundcomedy.org).
Performer Opportunities
- House Team Auditions will be happening Sunday, February 22 from 12-2 pm for Improv and Musical Improv! Pre-registration is now up. Pre-register here: https://stompinggroundcomedy.org/audition/house-team-auditions/
- Our Thursday Improv Jam (second Thursdays) and Thursday Musical Improv Jam (fourth Thursdays) will now be more robust, with more opportunities for our amazing students to take the stage! We’re excited to tell you about Extra Credit Jam & Student Showcase, which kicks off in February! Here’s how the night will go each second and fourth Thursday starting next month:
- 7-8:30 pm: FREE Improv Jam and Student Spotlight lottery sign-up
- 8:45 pm: FREE Show featuring two indie student team sets
- 9:15/9:20 pm: Final set of the night (Student Spotlight), where four students are chosen from the lottery to play with seasoned improv vets
- Starting in March, there will be open submissions for indie student teams interested in playing in the Extra Credit Show (see previous bulletpoint for details about the show)
Community Conversation
At every Community Meeting, we try to spend some time in an open discussion about topics relevant to our community. In today’s Community Meeting we discussed the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Below are just a few bullet points from that discussion (which was purposely held in-person due to the range of opinions and nuance):
- AI is a new and fast-growing technology. Stomping Ground, and the arts and culture industry at large, is under pressure to keep up with its rapid evolution, which includes weighing environmental impacts and reckoning with the varying opinions from our staff and community.
- As a policy, Stomping Ground does not use AI-generated graphics or images to promote shows. We do not impose limitations or prohibit AI use for independent team graphics, but it is discouraged.
- Independent teams may use SG resources to find and secure cost-effective graphic designers.
- We ask that individuals who do choose to use AI, do so thoughtfully. We can’t lose what makes us human. Any copy, meeting recaps, or creative brainstorming curated with AI must be carefully reviewed and reworked by you. Do not share personal staff, student, or volunteer information with any LLMs.
We truly appreciated hearing everyone’s thoughts on the subject, and we hope to continue having meaningful conversations like this with our community. Thank you!
Thank you to everyone for attending. Community Meetings are typically held each quarter, but the next date falls on the day before the 48 Hour Laugh-A-Thon; therefore, the next Community Meeting date is TBD and will be announced as soon as it is determined.
The SG Team