350kitty
07-12-2006, 11:49 PM
Dear folks,
A friend of mine runs the Colorarts darkroom in San Francisco. As you know, it hasn't been economically viable to run a darkroom rental facility for a long time. In fact, all (or nearly all) of the ones in Sonoma County have closed, and there are few facilities in neighboring Marin County as well.
Rather than just close up shop and sell off the equipment, she dearly wants to donate the equipment to the city-run Photo Center to continue the spirit of Colararts providing an affordable, high quality darkroom rental facility to the community for the past 18 years.
The City of San Franciso's Photo Center program is very excited about the proposal to absorb the Colararts equipment and offerings but apparently the City budget officials need encouragement (letters of support) to approve Laura's very generous, community-oriented proposal.
As there are no more darkrooms for rent in Santa Rosa (or the whole of Sonoma County), Colararts and the City of San Francisco's Photo Center are among the few darkroom rentals available to San Francisco, Sonoma County, Marin and even East Bay amateur and professional photographers. Please support the Colararts proposal with a letter similar to the one at the bottom of this email.
The equipment she has is fantastic: color and black and white 60 seconds dry-to-dry processors, meaning instead of using darkroom trays, you use mechanical processors which take only one minute to process your prints, and you never have to deal with chemicals at all.
I've used the black and white processor and if you're a devotee of film photography, it's fast (almost totally reduces the wait to develop each print), affordable, and a great way to produce a lot of non-digital prints in a very short period of time.
For more information about Colorarts, go to https://www.colorarts-sf.com .
Thank you for your support!
_______________
[I am including Laura's letter of explanation but you can go straight to the sample letter if you want to.]
Hello loyal and concerned Colorarts friends,
I need a favor from you, and quickly...I am writing to update you on my situation. As you all know, due to the impact of digital technology, it is increasingly difficult for Colorarts to support the facility. However, a promising possibility has surfaced which will not only enable us to continue, but would result in an excellent opportunity for you to have increased access for considerably less money.
I have submitted a formal proposal to the City of SF’s Photo Center, which runs the B/W darkroom facility at the Harvey Milk Recreation Center. They will soon be temporarily vacating their premises for a year or more in order to renovate and upgrade the facility. We have discussed the possibility of their moving to the Colorarts location for that time period, and the director has expressed considerable interest in including Colorarts’ color darkrooms, the Ilford BW enlarging system, and our Macs and scanners to the newly redesigned City-run space.
It makes much better sense for a venue such as the not-for-profit, city-run facility to offer what Colorarts has for all these years. As a government organization, they can continue to make traditional photo methods affordable and available to the community while also offering access to the newer digital technology.
A major advantage to you in this scenario would be a significant reduction in price. The current annual membership fee there is $250 for unlimited use. Of course this would be higher if color and digital capabilities were included. But at double this yearly fee ($500), for unlimited access, you would be saving a lot of money.
I am making this specific point for a reason. I need your help now in showing your support in order to help persuade the City budget officials to agree to support what I, and the Photo Center director, want to happen. The director of the Center is completely in agreement, but we now have to confirm City support on a higher level.
I am asking that you write a letter similar to the sample attached to this email saying how you have intentions to continue to use a traditional color darkroom from film, as well as the Ilford BW system, and that you’d be willing to pay double their current fee for annual access. This would indeed represent about a 60% savings over our most inexpensive discount package. It would also be great if you would add a few words about how well-maintained Colorarts is and anything else you like about us. This will NOT mean that you are committing to purchasing anything from either Colorarts or the City...it will simply strengthen our position by showing that there are plenty of photographers who are interested in utilizing what Colorarts offers, uninterrupted.
Would you considering doing this, so I can forward a package of testimonials to follow-up my proposal? I very much want to ensure continuing access of this facility.
Please read the attached sample letter and instructions, print out the letter, sign your name, and mail to me. Do it TODAY!! I will need to have everything in hand by July 17th.
Thanks so much,
Laura
_______
SAMPLE LETTER AND INSTRUCTIONS:
Colorarts needs your help! Please use the following letter as a guide or template, editing as you see fit, and mail a signed, hard copy to Colorarts as soon as possible. If you are unable mail a letter within the next week or so, please send an email instead to me at:
[email protected].
I will forward a package of the collected letters to Mr. Towers to be presented to SF City officials during a meeting scheduled for July 21, 2006. It will make a big difference, particularly if there are many letters. Please make sure to include a reference to your willingness to pay their membership fee, which will result in significant savings to you all.
Thanks so much,
Laura Miller
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <o:p></o:p><!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <o:p></o:p><!--[endif]-->
To: Clarence Towers, Director
SF Photography Center
From: XXXXX XXXXX
Re: Colorarts Photographics
Date: July X, 2006
I have been a customer of Colorarts, and understand that you are considering absorbing most of its capabilities and equipment into your Center as part of your plans to renovate and upgrade the Center. I enthusiastically urge you to do so. Adding their professionally maintained color, digital and automated B/W RC printing capabilities to your center would greatly enhance your ability to serve many more photographers’ needs than you do currently. Furthermore, it would serve to preserve the currently disappearing traditional methods while also embracing the newer digital technology.
If you do proceed with this plan, I definitely would be happy to become a member. I do not want to lose access to the kind of services Colorarts has provided and would welcome a membership that would enable unlimited access for specified time period. Even doubling your current $250 membership fee to include color and digital capabilities would result in significant savings over the hourly fee Colorarts charges, and I would be glad to join at that rate ($500).
I urge you to take advantage of this opportunity which can only greatly benefit your center as well as all photographers in the San Francisco area.
Sincerely,
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <o:p></o:p><!--[endif]-->
XXXX XXXX
A friend of mine runs the Colorarts darkroom in San Francisco. As you know, it hasn't been economically viable to run a darkroom rental facility for a long time. In fact, all (or nearly all) of the ones in Sonoma County have closed, and there are few facilities in neighboring Marin County as well.
Rather than just close up shop and sell off the equipment, she dearly wants to donate the equipment to the city-run Photo Center to continue the spirit of Colararts providing an affordable, high quality darkroom rental facility to the community for the past 18 years.
The City of San Franciso's Photo Center program is very excited about the proposal to absorb the Colararts equipment and offerings but apparently the City budget officials need encouragement (letters of support) to approve Laura's very generous, community-oriented proposal.
As there are no more darkrooms for rent in Santa Rosa (or the whole of Sonoma County), Colararts and the City of San Francisco's Photo Center are among the few darkroom rentals available to San Francisco, Sonoma County, Marin and even East Bay amateur and professional photographers. Please support the Colararts proposal with a letter similar to the one at the bottom of this email.
The equipment she has is fantastic: color and black and white 60 seconds dry-to-dry processors, meaning instead of using darkroom trays, you use mechanical processors which take only one minute to process your prints, and you never have to deal with chemicals at all.
I've used the black and white processor and if you're a devotee of film photography, it's fast (almost totally reduces the wait to develop each print), affordable, and a great way to produce a lot of non-digital prints in a very short period of time.
For more information about Colorarts, go to https://www.colorarts-sf.com .
Thank you for your support!
_______________
[I am including Laura's letter of explanation but you can go straight to the sample letter if you want to.]
Hello loyal and concerned Colorarts friends,
I need a favor from you, and quickly...I am writing to update you on my situation. As you all know, due to the impact of digital technology, it is increasingly difficult for Colorarts to support the facility. However, a promising possibility has surfaced which will not only enable us to continue, but would result in an excellent opportunity for you to have increased access for considerably less money.
I have submitted a formal proposal to the City of SF’s Photo Center, which runs the B/W darkroom facility at the Harvey Milk Recreation Center. They will soon be temporarily vacating their premises for a year or more in order to renovate and upgrade the facility. We have discussed the possibility of their moving to the Colorarts location for that time period, and the director has expressed considerable interest in including Colorarts’ color darkrooms, the Ilford BW enlarging system, and our Macs and scanners to the newly redesigned City-run space.
It makes much better sense for a venue such as the not-for-profit, city-run facility to offer what Colorarts has for all these years. As a government organization, they can continue to make traditional photo methods affordable and available to the community while also offering access to the newer digital technology.
A major advantage to you in this scenario would be a significant reduction in price. The current annual membership fee there is $250 for unlimited use. Of course this would be higher if color and digital capabilities were included. But at double this yearly fee ($500), for unlimited access, you would be saving a lot of money.
I am making this specific point for a reason. I need your help now in showing your support in order to help persuade the City budget officials to agree to support what I, and the Photo Center director, want to happen. The director of the Center is completely in agreement, but we now have to confirm City support on a higher level.
I am asking that you write a letter similar to the sample attached to this email saying how you have intentions to continue to use a traditional color darkroom from film, as well as the Ilford BW system, and that you’d be willing to pay double their current fee for annual access. This would indeed represent about a 60% savings over our most inexpensive discount package. It would also be great if you would add a few words about how well-maintained Colorarts is and anything else you like about us. This will NOT mean that you are committing to purchasing anything from either Colorarts or the City...it will simply strengthen our position by showing that there are plenty of photographers who are interested in utilizing what Colorarts offers, uninterrupted.
Would you considering doing this, so I can forward a package of testimonials to follow-up my proposal? I very much want to ensure continuing access of this facility.
Please read the attached sample letter and instructions, print out the letter, sign your name, and mail to me. Do it TODAY!! I will need to have everything in hand by July 17th.
Thanks so much,
Laura
_______
SAMPLE LETTER AND INSTRUCTIONS:
Colorarts needs your help! Please use the following letter as a guide or template, editing as you see fit, and mail a signed, hard copy to Colorarts as soon as possible. If you are unable mail a letter within the next week or so, please send an email instead to me at:
[email protected].
I will forward a package of the collected letters to Mr. Towers to be presented to SF City officials during a meeting scheduled for July 21, 2006. It will make a big difference, particularly if there are many letters. Please make sure to include a reference to your willingness to pay their membership fee, which will result in significant savings to you all.
Thanks so much,
Laura Miller
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <o:p></o:p><!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <o:p></o:p><!--[endif]-->
To: Clarence Towers, Director
SF Photography Center
From: XXXXX XXXXX
Re: Colorarts Photographics
Date: July X, 2006
I have been a customer of Colorarts, and understand that you are considering absorbing most of its capabilities and equipment into your Center as part of your plans to renovate and upgrade the Center. I enthusiastically urge you to do so. Adding their professionally maintained color, digital and automated B/W RC printing capabilities to your center would greatly enhance your ability to serve many more photographers’ needs than you do currently. Furthermore, it would serve to preserve the currently disappearing traditional methods while also embracing the newer digital technology.
If you do proceed with this plan, I definitely would be happy to become a member. I do not want to lose access to the kind of services Colorarts has provided and would welcome a membership that would enable unlimited access for specified time period. Even doubling your current $250 membership fee to include color and digital capabilities would result in significant savings over the hourly fee Colorarts charges, and I would be glad to join at that rate ($500).
I urge you to take advantage of this opportunity which can only greatly benefit your center as well as all photographers in the San Francisco area.
Sincerely,
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <o:p></o:p><!--[endif]-->
XXXX XXXX