Re: IMPORTANT--Rhizome.org Has a New Membership Policy!

http://www.screenfull.net/stadium/2005/05/cocaine-hangover.html



—– Original Message —–
From: Rhizome.org
To: abe
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 8:04 PM
Subject: IMPORTANT–Rhizome.org Has a New Membership Policy!


Hi abe,

First of all, thank you for being a member of Rhizome.org! Your support h=
as
been instrumental to the success of all our programs, and we hope you will
continue to be an active part of the Rhizome community.

This email is intended to explain our *new* membership policy and how you
fit into it as a valued Rhizome supporter.

+ + +

Rhizome.org is a member-supported non-profit organization. We depend on o=
ur
community for financial support, but we also need their active participat=
ion
in our programs. When we enacted a $5 membership requirement in January
2003, we thought that such a policy would balance our need for a stable
revenue source with our mission to serve new media arts communities around
the world. However, having reviewed Rhizome's usage and subscription
statistics and having recognized that online communities now rely on blogs
and Google, we have concluded that our membership policy was stifling
wide-scale participation in our online programs. We have rethought and
restructured our membership policy to make Rhizome more inclusive, releva=
nt,
and open.

As of today, anyone, regardless of whether they have donated to Rhizome or
not, will be able to post or access Rhizome content from the last year
simply by signing up for free. This content includes artworks in the
ArtBase, or texts published on Rhizome Raw, or Rare; anyone will be able =
to
subscribe to Raw, Rare and Rhizome Digest, and review discussions from the
last year. Artworks and texts that are *more than one year old* will resi=
de
in Rhizome Archives. Only Rhizome Members will be able to access the Rhiz=
ome
Archives. From now on, site users will have to make an annual contributio=
n of
$25 to be considered a Rhizome Member.

You are exempt from this requirement until your current membership expire=
s.
You made a contribution of $5.00 to Rhizome on February 19, 2005,
and we honor and appreciate your commitment and generosity.

When your existing membership expires on February 19, 2006 your
subscriptions to Rhizome email lists will still work. You will still be a=
ble
to post and read content published over the last twelve months. You will
still be able to view projects in the ArtBase added in the last year.

However, if you want to access the Rhizome Archives, maintain your Member
Page in the Community Directory or create Member-Curated Exhibits, you wi=
ll
need to renew your Membership at a level of $25. Rhizome Members will also
have access to Advanced Search and other Member Tools for sharing content.
We are continually adding innovative features to keep our Membership
program dynamic and worthwhile.

We are interested in your feedback and thoughts on our new membership
structure, and we appreciate your commitment and interest. We are confide=
nt
that you will benefit from Rhizome's expanded availability.

We would also like to note that the terms of our Member agreement have
changed in accordance with our new policy. You can read a copy of the
current Member agreement at the following link:
http://rhizome.org/info/membership_agreement.rhiz.

If you know you'll want to retain your Membership privileges into the
following year, you can extend your membership one year from its expirati=
on
date of February 19, 2006 today by giving a minimum of $25 at
http://rhizome.org/support.

Thank you for reading, and for sticking with us as we try to find the best
system to support our programs and organization.


Sincerely,

Rhizome.org


+ + +

Happening @ Rhizome.org today:

New media art in the ArtBase: http://rhizome.org/art

Exhibitions Curated by new media art luminaries from around the world at
Exhibitions: http://rhizome.org/art/exhibition/

Theory, politics, and gossip of the new media art community in Fresh Text=
s:
http://rhizome.org/text

Rhizomers in the Community Directory:
http://rhizome.org/community/directory.rhiz

Email lists: http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz


+ + +

Rhizome.org is a not-for-profit 501©(3) organization. For U.S. taxpayer=
s,
contributions to Rhizome are tax-deductible, minus the value of any goods=
or
services received, to the extent allowed by law.