Mr_Moto

Academy announced Michael Weber as brass caption head. https://www.arizonaacademy.org/staff/2024-brass-staff/?fbclid=IwAR1UqWg9veAu3LbtFt52j3_pzs2V-DLpEXaCQSQATeeE4YyqxPQLxFe4zf0

Great grant writers are worth the investment, rather than going through the trial and error of trying to write your own. A great grant writer is going to more than pay for the investment. They also will likely know of grants that corps aren’t necessarily aware of.

Everyone is being very emotional, and I get that, two legacy corps in 2 years going down is obviously a sign something is broken. At the same time, you have to take the emotion out of it and look at all the options. This is just me sitting down for 30 minutes and thinking while typing, just think of the ideas a group of actual stakeholders in a corps could come up with in 2-3 hours if they got into the same room.

We’re looking at the activity as a whole, and I think there are some ways that everyone is affected equally. Ultimately though we’re talking about a small group of non-profits that all operate on a slightly different business model. There are 3 big levers that are what we need to look at in how to fix the problem. 1.) Operating Expenses 2.) Revenue 3.) Fundraising. It’s not going to be a one size fits all solution, it’s going to be a bunch of small little tweaks and investments that are going to help right the ship, and each corps will have to figure out what is going to work best for them. This is going to require corps to really workshop and try to look at their operation holistically and through a different lens. This requires creative problem solving, and is going to take several iterations to figure out what will work, create the metrics, and make it happen. This process has to be collaborative and operated from a flat hierarchy in order for it to not be steamrolled by one individual or small subset that might already be controlling power. What are the things that need to remain constant vs what can change? The member experience, which include competing, is the main draw for the competitors. So how do we keep that same, even if we’re looking at less shows or possibly fewer miles traveled, while figuring out other areas in the organization that can reduce operating expenses. Operating Expenses: Most corps are already minimizing camp attendance, some cutting to just brass for Feb and March already. One of the biggest expenses is flying in instructors and paying them. Can we use more local staff who aren’t necessarily on tour to help fill out the roster and who also might be willing to work for the same or less pay. Size of the convoy is a thing that adds up quickly. Vehicle rental + labor to drive + gas + insurance = This is 20-25% of the budget for most corps Souvies could be cut down. Mandarins is a great example of this. They weren’t making enough at most shows to cover the cost. How can we reduce operating expense while trying to maintain the same revenue? You could take the Souvie vehicle out of the fleet. Cut the foot print of soupiest for most shows to a small tent, samples of most/all items, and one person with a POS system. The foot print of this could fit in the back of one of the support vans that most corps have. All orders are then shipped from corps hall or 3rd party the next day. Yes, fans lose the instant gratification of getting the item that moment, but if you educate them on why they are doing this, most would understand. They could still do full size souvie setups at regionals and finals and this would exponentially cut down cost. With a smaller setup size for most shows you could have this run by one of the admin assistants as the size would only require 1-2 people to setup. DCI in recent years has created the relationship with Sysco to negotiate for a better deal for all corps for food. How can we leverage DCI to negotiate better rates on other things that all corps are doing. Could DCI negotiate with a bussing company or tractor/trailer rental company to do a larger rental contract for the season that corps opt in to. Revenue: Corps need new revenue streams. Many have realized this, but drum corps is not the money maker. These non-profits need to realign in serving their community to create opportunities to generate revenue, and qualify for more grant opportunities. This would take a lot of leg work in building relationships and initial infrastructure investment to get things up and running. Music lessons programs - Some corps have done this locally or virtually. Incorporating staff or local educators to improve local music education is a viable option. This could include student and adult performance groups as well. This could be a great opportunity for older members or recent age outs that are local to cut their teeth on teaching and to continue to have a relationship with the corps in the off-season. Music Store - with many local music shops closing down this could be an opportunity to create a hybrid opportunity, and have an instrument repair tech on staff that could be useful for the corps to keep repair costs down, and could be an opportunity to build great relationships in the community with local band directors by offering repair services and bid on local school contracts. This could be starting their own or investing into a percentage of a local company to help support them and make sure the community has music instrument inventory and repair resources. Create a service that the corps has been outsourcing. Phantom has done great with this by creating a march printing business that is available to other corps or the local community. Cross pollination - Corps could use this to co-op to use their buying power together to support each other and make sure that they’re getting the best possible price. Entertainment Companies - We’ve already seen this with corps in certain locations especially where pro sports are. Advertising these services and having local members. Fundraising: Fundraising is such an integral piece to making drum corps happen. We’re at a place in time where everyone is being stretched thin financially with the current rate of inflation. If we consider the recession of 2008-2010, how did that affect fundraising for drum corps? Are we looking at something similar now where we could potentially see a downturn in dollars raised for corps? Or is that a risk to be considered? Exposure of the Activity: If we’re ultimately looking for more corporate sponsorships to help offset costs, then the activity needs more exposure and that is going to take an investment. This is where the PBS broadcast used to be super helpful in getting this niche activity in front of a larger audience. DCI should be investing in larger media advertising campaign to help promote the activity as a whole. Hopefully this is something the new DCI CEO will be looking to focus on.

Did you reach out for a status, or did they send an email? I haven’t seen anything yet.

Noe Gomez in at Blue Knights as Visual Designer.

Academy picks up Chris Williams as corps director. https://www.arizonaacademy.org/2023/09/13/chris-williams-appointed-as-corps-director/?mibextid=Zxz2cZ&fbclid=IwAR3bvo8RUYwwxcZfq9eAfhaSi_tD2OWlzz0bP0PhBNO7ceQG55uIXV10ovo

Ah, got it. I had not seen the caption supervisor announcement.

Who are we talking about?

They went bent leg in 2007, prior to Gaines.

Artist Diploma. Additional study outside of a degree path, sometimes an opportunity to go in and work with a certain professor or take part in certain ensembles.

Tom Lukowicz in at MC as Brass CH according to GEM. That’s a solid upgrade for them.

I was around a bit with y’all this season. I can see why they are gone. I think y’all have a lot of potential, and can’t wait to see what is coming for staff in 2024.

Likewise, I’m also very curious about that.

I get that, but they don’t really focus on those announcements on the website/social media. The focus is around CEO/corps director/staff for announcements.

That’s not so much the issue for me personally. I understand CEO searches take time, and that the pay isn’t to scale with the amount of work demanded of these roles. My understanding is DCI had an offer out for a new CEO and that was declined. It may just be hard to find the quality right now. I also don’t remember ever really seeing any announcements about people leaving or joining the board, it’s not held to the same level of interest as CEO, corps director, and staff. Some transparency would be nice. I also understand that the board is really volunteer based, and they aren’t doing this full time, so you can’t expect new updates all the time. I’m just trying to be realistic in expectations. This has all been very frustrating to deal with, and I know that sentiment is shared with other alumni as well as the kids that were hoping to march with the corps in 23.

Yet again asking, where is the information that the board treasurer resigned? I have not seen that, and can’t find it anywhere. Can you please share a link/screenshot/other information? I’m trying to stay informed on the subject.

Where did you see the Treasurer resigned? I haven’t seen that.

Understood. That’s interesting.

Jim retired I believe. I feel like I saw quite a few things congratulating him on his long career with Crown.

They have all of their staff pages as “Coming Soon” so maybe big change ups are happening. Dan’s contact info gone was the big thing that I noticed when doing some research.

My understanding is that the Labor Day rule is playing an effect, but there is also possibly another vote or two required by DCI before things can be made official one way or another. Also, Dan Adams out at Academy? His contact info is no longer listed on their website.

I do think that mic’ing soloists and small ensembles makes sense, as it allows them to play with more nuance and musicality than was previously available when everything was solely acoustic. I agree that just micing sections of the hornline in order to amplify only a few individuals is garbage, and needs to go. They really need to re-evaluate the judging sheets for achievement to take these things into account, as we’re seeing less and less technicality in the full hornline, and less content (length of time playing) from the horn lines as more demand gets laid on soloists and small groups to play to the judging sheets.

Bump. Still looking

It just turns out that I’m going to be able to make Indy for a day or so. Looking for a friends of DCI ticket in the 339-341 or 439-441 sections. Willing to pay premium.