C.Holland

except that in 1960-1990 there were WAYYYY less activity options for kids to do. So drum corps was a monopoly. Now we have sports on sports on sports on sports, dance, ballet, studio art camps, music camps, STEM camps, coding camps... there's an endless list of activities for kids. Many of which cost less than drum corps. In the 2010 all the way up until my last teaching season i had to schedule students time's when they COULD be at drum corps versus when there were are (insert name of the plethora of other things they wanted to do in summer). its a struggle. and even at school now, there's no rules about how many sports or activities that they can do, so they just do it all.

you've likely read this many times here, non-profit arts are incredibly hard. They're twice as hard when you already have another career, and are trying to do this "for the good of the kids". When an ED leaves their post, it leave everyone else scrambling. I don't know how large their board is, or their Volunteer team that's handling operations, but the website shows 1 ED and 1 CD (both are interim). Even if its a paid position, this isn't a 40 hour job, its a 90 hour job. You've got to corral the board, the fundraising, the operations, the staff, the budget, and you have to do it all in spite of a time when there's a hundred million other arts orgs applying and fighting for the same grants and donors. Depending on where your org is, you may only have a few large donors to even be able to hit up. While the ED works for the board, they need to steer the board in the proper directions, assigning tasks and timelines. Often in non profit arts, when the ED leaves, the board is then left rudderless. The previous Admin's plans are often put aside, and any operations put on hold since there's no one steering the ship. There's this idea that without an ED, the board often won't do anything for fear of doing the wrong thing. They'll often wait for the next ED to come in, so that they can work with the programming of the new administration. Even on things as small is this. So without someone in that role, its not surprising that social media, ops, and likely fundraising are all sitting on hold.

its all BS. move them back to Open and let them have to do what put Shadow, Legends, and the rest into hardships.

This was what Magic was forced to do. Was it not? Come back as a (then Div 2) Open corps and then be allowed into World class after a successful season. A slap in the face to anyone who's has to go through the process.

many due, because they charge per spot for events. tailgating is a huge moneymaker due to the spot rental for 'merican football

https://westfaironline.com/combined/20m-stadium-and-pool-project-gaining-ground-in-kingston/ wish i'd have known about this. would have bid on it for design scope. bah.

i think without someone as the head of the corps operations, those left to be "interim" are often scrambling to handle everything, and thus other marketing and such items get missed. you can't do it all by yourself. certainly not if you have a career elsewhere and drum corps is your side gig.

have they announced anything new? Last things I saw was that they were searching for a Corps Director, and they had an interim, and had solidified the 2023 design staff. But finding someone who wants to jump on the non-profit arts wheel of death is hard. Working with boards to create revenue streams and continually bring in those donations and grants is incredibly tough and life consuming.

Download more than one corps audition packet. You can google many of the old ones, and download them, FOR FREE. So download, practice, practice some more, and also practice being MUSICAL with them. Find your favorite recordings, and try to play along. heck, you can find transcriptions online, as well as youtube. good luck. have fun. dont stress. go practice.

if the event is run by DCI, dci keeps the cash made. But that means fewer events because well, they're not exactly Aurora Productions. (look them up. you'll understand the reference) They don't have the resources or the workforce to put a show in every city every night of the week. In fact, by creating scarcity, they can drive up ticket prices of the flagship events.

they werent given a choice. there were TOLD "This is what it is, take it and shut up, or go make your own circuit not associated with DCI".

I think they should swap appearance fees for more housing and fields. If you let the show promoter keep that cash, you would have more show operators. Let them instead provide an extra day of housing and fields for the corps instead of the single day.

sure. ECJ and Lake Erie Regiment often were in the black. But when came time to pass them to other directors, or they couldnt fill the ranks, it no longer was viable to stay active. I do understand this. i also understand these examples were rare.

its a wasteland fighting for gasoline. And yes. appearance fees are $%&^# compared to the costs of operations. They barely fill one diesel tank, let along pay for tomorrows school. The idea was there's no reason to give that to a group that can't raise their own cash to even match that $500-1500 appearance fee. And i tend to agree. Many of the Div 2/3 never bothered to fundraise, or understand operating within means. and thus directors came back from a tour having to cash in their 401K to get the members home. They couldn't create a budget, or operate within it, or worse, ignored the math and said "we'll figure it out". Its the same issue with SCV. They can't seam to help themselves, so why should anyone else throw money or time at it when all these other groups seam to have figured out how to maintain funding?

A and A-60 (eventually div 2/3) got paid a small sum for performances. Many up the food chain thought that was a drain on the rest of the collective organization (DCI) and now open class only shows pay $0. Mixed bill shows they do get a small sum. Technically even BD gets a "small sum" based on what it costs to get a bus down the road these days or the several 1000s a night it costs to use a school. here's the thing. as a nonprofit it really doesnt matter if you collect an small appearance fee or not. (in regional theatre we don't count tickets sales into operational revenue for the season... that's spare money we MIGHT get to use next season) you still need to have a development team that's good at grant writing, finding major donors, running funding campaigns, and in general funding the machine.

Madison had a pipeline from the Black Star drumline and MadBrass Soundsport group move up into the corps.

and has money to burn.

its the same ED that started Music city. Keith Hall (Band Hall). Using the Bill cook method of using services others pay for in the activity, and putting that cash from profit back into the activity... ish.

oh get that out of here. soundsport is supposed to be a cheap way to introduce performers to the activity. by design it's intended to bring back a little of that 1960s and 1970s spirit of the activity in that "SoundSport® encourages performance ensembles to be community based and to keep costs low for participants." 5-7 min performances, any instrumentation you want/can find (so you don't need to buy lots of extra gear), and less requirements so that your group can patch something together that's fun, entertaining, and budget friendly. and in case you haven't been in awhile... there's some small DCA groups, with longer seasons, more performances, and less cost per day.

I've seen DCA for as much as $1200. (however, see again cost per day) I think the average is somewhere around $750 for a season. Which just makes this look like a money grab. Granted Soundsport is a money grab (pay to play, pay to attend), but still, this feels not right.

A new ED has to first come in and evaluate every bit of the picture, finances, operations, etc. you then gotta start building relationships for development, while you're trying to dig out of the hole already your org is in. while youre trying to staff it all. you also have to cut costs... and you have to find board types to come in gung ho who are BOTH talented and excited to help you dig out of the hole... whoever gets this... good luck.

No $%&T you say? WC, if they fail, deserve to fail. OC corps have no safety net, and no support from the rest of the org. these are corps that actually need more support that WC. WC, to reach their level, need to be able to have their development figured out. if their boards and admin can't get it together then they deserve to fold.

legends, bdb, scvc, shadow.

they likely did. there's plenty of group rates for school bands. and it makes sense that they do since all the KY, IN, OH, MO, IL, TN bands are in session during finals week.

i think this depends on who the end client is. If the client is the student that the corps want to entice to march, then shows are overflowing with kids looking to march the next season. At the regionals there load ands loads of band students who are there. And, in theory, those students will come audition next season. But this may not be sustainable. Because your ticket buyer, is also the person you need to fill the ranks next season. Who then eventually ages out, and MIGHT come to a show after they age out, but they are paying the cash to come to finals week. If you mean the aging former member, age out, or casual drum corps lover, then yes. Those fans are dying out. Either because of the programming on the field, or age in general.