The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies has formed a Design & Production Committee, which will plan programming for the annual convention and the two current regional staff training conferences, AAN East and AAN West. The committee will also investigate programs and procedures to help design and production personnel do their jobs more effectively.

Ellen Meany, creative director of Isthmus in Madison, Wis., is the chairperson. “I hope this committee will raise the profile of art, design and production in the view of all AAN members, and generate a renewed — or in many cases, new — respect for the integral part we play in creating great papers,” she says.

Meany says she hopes to “act on some realistic ideas — the kind that get tossed around at roundtables and parties at AAN conventions but never seem to get past that stage. Maybe all some of these things need is an action plan and some national muscle.”

The committee also includes Bingo Barnes, editor-in-chief of Boise Weekly; Liz Holm, editorial art director of Independent Weekly; Mike Kalyan, production manager of Washington City Paper, Joe MacLeod, art director of Baltimore City Paper, Deborah Redmond, chief operations officer of News & Review; and Dora Sison, production director of Gambit Weekly.

Meany says the committee plans to meet in October in Washington, D.C.