5 questions with Lovely Murrell
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| Lovely Murrell |
Lovely Murrell is one of four co-chairs of next year’s Creating Change Conference that will take place in downtown Dallas at the Sheraton Hotel on Feb. 3-7. The cost to attend is $250 and there are scholarships available. The last time the annual conference was held in Dallas was in 1994.
What is Creating Change?
Creating Change is an annual conference of community organizers and activists that work to create positive change in the lives of LGBT Americans. Its primary goal is to build political power starting at the local grassroots level and rising to the national level. The Creating Change conference is about LGBT folks gaining full equality, social justice and dignity in the United States.
How did you become involved Creating Change?
I became involved Creating Change when they held their first informational meeting in April (I believe) at the Resource Center. I’ve been a community organizer/activist in Denton and in my Buddhist community for more than 10 years.
What committees are currently forming where you still need help?
A number of committees are currently forming for Creating Change 2010. They include development, which has a lot of awesome fundraisers coming up, local promotion and outreach, and media.
What should attendees expect to gain from the conference?
An attendee can expect to gain a lot of training and skills in political organizing for the rights of LGBT people in America. They’ll gain leadership training and training in how to work in a non-profit. They will also be able to use these same skills in their professional lives and volunteer and political activities. They’ll learn how to talk to someone with conservative views. We also have several hospitality suites that will be held during the conference where people can take a break and connect with folks on a one-on-one level.
How does someone get involved in staging the conference?
Everyone is welcome to come to our monthly meetings which are held every fourth Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Resource Center of Dallas.
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Ms. Murrell, a few questions if I may.
I have heard many times via the national GLBT blogs and editorials that past Creating Change conferences were geared primarily to those folks who either had money or who had prominent positions in the media, corporate America, the non-profits or political “activism”. Everyone else didn’t seem to have a voice (not surprising since many could not afford the hundreds of dollars in fees or the travel costs to attend).
But yet we are seeing the same model here. $250 tickets. A multi-day event held at an upscale hotel, several hospitality “suites” so that the GLBT executive echelon can have a place to discuss corporate “sponsorship” dollars and political lobby money.
So is part of “Creating Change”, actually changing the way we as a GLBT community host these events or is it only about changing the world outside ours while we still live the same old status quo ???
Truly, all of the money that is going to be spent for such a lavish event could be put to better use to many in the GLBT community who don’t even have the money to come to your event……… Will their voice be heard at the various training seminars or is it all about the corporate /non-profit model and the esteemed “executives” which enforce it ??
Change starts with us as a GLBT community and how we do things. How on earth are we ever going to get conservative America to recognize our needs as a GLBT community when we can’t even meet the needs of our own people and continually shroud it with hypocritical rhetoric ??
Just a few thoughts.
GP, nice to hear from you again.
Cost: There are scholarships and housing available for anyone who would like to attend the conference. The goal of the Creating Change Host Committee is to make this experience accessible for everyone to attend. More information about scholarships will be available as we get closer to the event.
Getting Involved: If you help on the Host Committee, by serving in one of 14 Sub Committees, you can attend the event for free. Also, if you volunteer for part of the day you can attend the rest of the day for free.
Presentations/Seminars: If you have a topic you would like to present, or know someone that would be amazing, there will be a call for programs soon. An announcement will be made and proposals are open to anyone.
Hospitality Suites: We have many suites this year for targeted groups. These spaces serve as a place for people to get away from the crowd and meet other people. Such suites include spaces for youth, people of color and transgender communities.
As always, you are invited to join the next Host Committee meeting on Thursday, July 23rd at Resource Center Dallas.
I hope to see you there.
Beau
Mr. Heyen, thank you for the additional information for this event.
Sadly, even if I wanted to be a presentor, I don’t think that the topics I would present would go over too well, let alone be accepted at the conference. As you know, my views on community issues isn’t very popular and ruffles too many feathers in the circles, so I just feel it will be more of the same, defending the “status quo”.
Additionally, I’d like to touch on the topic of hospitality suites that you had explained.
From what I read, the Creating Change is supposed to center around welcoming everyone and grassroots community building, however according to your explanation, the hospitality suites will be segregated into community factions and people who want to get away from the crowd.
So my point is, how can we have inclusion and a concept of community unity when the conference will have a very system setup to create factions, the very opposite of the unity these organizations are suppose to foster……..
Anyway, just a different perspective here which attempts to “create change”.