Dear Spudnik Community,

We have heard from many of you – both current and former community members and staff – on areas we need to improve to ensure Spudnik is an approachable, inclusive, respectful, and nurturing community space and workplace. Thank you for coming forward and speaking to us. Please know that we hear you and are working on moving the process forward.

Instrumental to this process will be a close working relationship with our staff, who are dedicated to making this transition effective.  We would like to state that the staff were not the subject of these concerns, and that they were not informed of the concerns brought to the board by former staff and community members when this news was initially announced. The staff are committed to collaborating with us as we work toward change.

As a largely new board, we are committed to positively shaping the culture at Spudnik to ensure we’re living our values across all facets of the organization. As part of these efforts, this year we’ll be adding two board seats dedicated to Spudnik community members, without annual dues. We are working on revising our grievance process to ensure that staff feel safe and supported, and we will revisit the salaries of current staff. We will also commit to engaging our community member base on more ways we can improve in the coming weeks.

As we begin our search for a new Executive Director, we are committed to finding a strong leader and team builder that shares our values. We have begun working with a search committee and dedicated members of staff that will be involved in the hiring process.

Please be patient with us as we work towards answering your queries. Emails addressed to boardofdirectors@spudnikpress.org will be answered in turn as we balance a number of tasks that require our immediate attention.

We thank all community members and staff for their patience during this time of transition. This is a difficult time for all of us. Please know that we will do what we can to move in a positive direction.

Sincerely,
Spudnik Press Board of Directors