BREAKING NEWS: AMA Members Petition for Meeting to Address Creation of Executive Director Position

[Richard Kaufman]

EDIT: The original petition lacked an option for a member signature, which it seems is necessary. If you have already signed, please do so again (the first one you did will be replaced automatically with the new one).

BREAKING NEWS: This just popped into my inbox. This QR code will lead AMA members to a petition requesting, per AMA rules, a public meeting with the Board of Directors of the Academy of Magical Arts regarding the apparent non-competitive hiring of Chuck Martinez in the newly created position of Executive Director of The Magic Castle at a salary rumored to be over $350,000 a year, all of which comes out of your dues. I love The Magic Castle. I have signed it. I strongly urge you to sign it if you care about what is happening to our Academy and The Magic Castle.

NEW URL for the Petition: https://amasm.aidaform.com/AMA_Special_ ... xZPj2QBSmc

[John Signa]

Who sent it?

[Robert77]

$350k per year. Nice work if you can get it.

[JHostler]

Many college and university presidents, running much more complex organizations than the Magic Castle, don't make $350K/yr.

[Richard Kaufman]

BUMP: Please see my edited post above and repeat the process for the stated reason.

[erdnasephile]

I just saw an announcement from the people behind the petition that provided the following informaiton:

There is a meeting with the Board of Directors scheduled for Sunday (May, 19th) at 1:30 pm PST in the Inner Circle of The Magic Castle to discuss the circumstances surrounding the creation of the Executive Director position and the hiring of Chuck Martinez.

They state that Magic Castle Enterprises (Randy Pitchford, Kristy Pitchford & Erika Larsen) will be in attendance to address their concerns over this.

They note that at least 50 members must be in attendance to constitute a quorum. They are concerned that voting remotely will not be allowed and are requesting that all members show up in person at 1:30 pm at The Magic Castle to be able to vote.

They have provided the following link to reserve a seat at the meeting: https://www.sevenrooms.com/events/themagiccastle

(I cannot independently verify any of the above information, but thought I'd pass it along in case any interested parties missed it.)

[erdnasephile]

**SIGH** What a mess that meeting was.
Biggest takeaway for me was that if AMA doesn't cut ties with Chuck Martinez, MCE may cut ties with AMA.
As PB used to say: "Stay tooned..."

[Tom Moore]

The only things certain in life are Death, Taxes and drama at the castle!

[CraigMitchell]

Far too many competing agendas here ... with Chuck Martinez being the diversion / scapegoat it appears.

Still fascinates me that MCE expects the AMA to simply hand over its revenue generating operations with an apparent gun of eviction being held to their head if they don't.

I do enjoy the irony of the Magic Castle FB page stating "With deep appreciation to the MCE ... The support and encouragement we’ve received from MCE has been extremely meaningful to all of us."

WW3 is taking place behind the scenes and everyone is pretending its happy families

[Brad Henderson]

Now that rent is no longer an issue - what expenses (other than talent and administration) does the AMA actually incur?