Color guard instructors!

[Misty Goins-Custodio]

Okay, so i was sent here in hope to get some serious help! I was wondering if there is any men or women out there that will help me start an Independent winter guard for Henderson, Nevada. Please please please please help!!!!

[lindap]

Okay, so i was sent here in hope to get some serious help! I was wondering if there is any men or women out there that will help me start an Independent winter guard for Henderson, Nevada. Please please please please help!!!!

I'm kinda in the same boat as you

In March of 2010 and 2011, I attended local guard contests, first time in 22 years. Apparently there’re 14 guards in Alberta that I’m trying to list and locate. I also searched the web high and low to find out how to start a guard from the bottom up. I found some information on WGI, Colorguard Historical Society and Colorguard Educators. Since this is a forum with like minds, could DCPers contribute answers to some of my questions please?

Do you have good keywords for a mission statement? Sport of the Arts is good to procure funding from sport and art grants. Performing Arts can encompass colour guard, dance, music, musical theatre. I’d like to include the word youth but what about all age?

The intent is to align the mission statement to a need and to funding opportunities.

Is there a good governance model for colorguards? Should it be one director with staff, one board of directors with the traditional President, Secretary, Treasurer or 2 boards, 1 for decision making and procuring capital while the other is operational only? Is there another governance model to consider?

The intent is to align the mission statement and governance model to build the bylaws.

What are the approximate capital startup costs in building a guard? What is the 2011 cost of sabres, rifles, flagpoles, flags, costumes, shoes and where would one buy these items? What is the floor made of, where can it be found, what paint is needed for a floor and what are a floor’s dimensions? What additional supplies are required, tape, pole caps?

What are the approximate manpower costs? Are there teaching videos, are there instructors that specialize in teaching new kids and is there a mentoring program? Keep in mind, we’re in northern Alberta and the winters are crisp.

The intent is to prepare a business plan to determine capital funding requirements for startup.

I have a few questions regarding sustainability. What is the average depreciation rate of the equipment? Are there other instructor training programs besides SpinFest and WGI videos? What issues arise regarding rental of space and storage of equipment? Keep in mind we have 6 months of snow. What types of fundraising are effective? How can one promote the activity other than football games and parades? Are there effective recruiting methods like bring a friend to practise or free food and watch a guard video afternoon?

Thanking you in advance for your consideration in this matter. Sincerely, lindap

[ATXguard]

I'm kinda in the same boat as you

In March of 2010 and 2011, I attended local guard contests, first time in 22 years. Apparently there're 14 guards in Alberta that I'm trying to list and locate. I also searched the web high and low to find out how to start a guard from the bottom up. I found some information on WGI, Colorguard Historical Society and Colorguard Educators. Since this is a forum with like minds, could DCPers contribute answers to some of my questions please?

Do you have good keywords for a mission statement? Sport of the Arts is good to procure funding from sport and art grants. Performing Arts can encompass colour guard, dance, music, musical theatre. I'd like to include the word youth but what about all age?

I can only speak for ourselves, but after talking to many directors who have started or taken over independent guard units, we discovered the same thing: A mission statement embracing education, youth, and performance (rather than specifically stating "colorguard" or "winterguard") will take you further in procuring funding and grants.

However, you generally need a 501©(3) to acquire these things as well. The process for a 501©(3) is not particularly difficult, but it does cost Money (about $500 for federal), and if you hire a lawyer/accountant, it can increase the cost significantly.

One method that I've seen other programs take on is to somehow become affilitated/associated with the Boy Scouts "Venturing" program. By doing this, you can get non-profit status, and insurance for greater savings, you also get the pluses (and minuses) affiliated with being a Boy Scout organization.

The amazing South Shore Drill team is affiliated with a Chicago Boys and Girls Club, I believe. You may also look into Kiwanis, VFW, Moose Lodge, or other similar organizations for support.

Is there a good governance model for colorguards? Should it be one director with staff, one board of directors with the traditional President, Secretary, Treasurer or 2 boards, 1 for decision making and procuring capital while the other is operational only? Is there another governance model to consider?

Following what I said above. If you do the "Venture Scout" route, you will need a 3-person board. If you create a 501©(3), you will also need a board of directors (I think at least 3 people).

Our organization has a 3 person board, of which one of our directors is a member. The board only helps us make financial decisions and helps sponsor events for us, but ultimate decisions on scheduling, fundraising, show design, etc. are made by our directors with input from design staff.

What are the approximate capital startup costs in building a guard? What is the 2011 cost of sabres, rifles, flagpoles, flags, costumes, shoes and where would one buy these items? What is the floor made of, where can it be found, what paint is needed for a floor and what are a floor's dimensions? What additional supplies are required, tape, pole caps?

This will vary wildly depending on the resources in your area. And yes, you will need all these things, but you'll need to prioritize accordingly.

1) Make sure you have a place you can rehearse. Find a place you feel you can comfortably afford, and that will accommodate your schedule, or that you can work around their schedule.

2) You will need, at minimum, double the number of flag poles you want the size of the guard to be, and each flag pole needs 2 end caps that need to be taped on. Carriage bolts can be found at Home Depot and Lowes, and make excellent weights. There is also a new flag pole that came out recently that has weights that you can screw in and come as part of the pole.

3) Floor is made of poly-vinyl. Generally anywhere from 12 oz to 18 oz per square inch. The higher the number, the heavier thefloor, but the more durable it is. Most groups use a 13 or 14 oz floor. Standard size is 50' x 70'. Of course, you can choose any size floor you want up to this size, and if you are a World Class guard, you can go larger.

4) If you choose to paint your floor - use Deck and Floor paint as your base. It's durable, less prone to chipping/flaking, and excellent for heavy traffic it will get during rehearsals and performances. Assuming you are only painting the floor 1 color, you will need enough to cover the area of the floor. If you are using multiple colors, it depends how large an area you want to paint in that color.

You can always purchase a digital floor. For the price of the floor and paint (plus the man hours to paint the floor, buy paint supplies, etc.) plus a little extra (and don't forget shipping) you can get a digital floor.

Our largest costs are rehearsal facility, costuming, floor/stage, and flags/equipment. However, there are ways to cut down on these expenses. And, unfortunately, you're probably going to need to charge your performers/members some type of fee to help pay the costs.

Cost cutting: See if you can find staff of a local high school program to work with you. Often times they can help you get into a local HS or MS gym for free or reduced prices. Look into private schools as well. They generally have more openings for facility use. Be sure to look at local military armories, convention centers/warehouse spaces as well. One guard we know of gets free use of an unused area of their local Performing Arts Center.

Our first two years we got FREE Vinyl from a local billboard company, and made our floors from that. We got some of the paint and supplies donated by the kids and by local hardware/paint stores and supporters; since we have a 501©(3), they could claim these purchases as donations to us. We used 2 sets of borrowed flags and poles in our show, but purchased nice, custom-made uniforms. Kids had to provide their own rifles, and we borrowed sabres from some friends who were selling them (ended up buying them at end of season).

What are the approximate manpower costs? Are there teaching videos, are there instructors that specialize in teaching new kids and is there a mentoring program? Keep in mind, we're in northern Alberta and the winters are crisp.

Manpower costs will vary by region and by who you have teaching your guard. We are lucky in that our staff volunteers their time to us, in exchange we try to offer little perks like providing transportation to the WGI regionals, buying them dinner after some rehearsals, etc. There are teaching videos, but your best bet is to hire solid staff who will train the kids in technique and buy into the particular style and identity that you want to create for your guard. If you have a local winterguard circuit, drum corps, or strong marching band program in the area, approach them about working with your group.

Be prepared to hear "no" or "I'm not sure I have time." Many people have trepidations about helping to start/working with a new, unproven program.

I have a few questions regarding sustainability. What is the average depreciation rate of the equipment? Are there other instructor training programs besides SpinFest and WGI videos? What issues arise regarding rental of space and storage of equipment? Keep in mind we have 6 months of snow. What types of fundraising are effective? How can one promote the activity other than football games and parades? Are there effective recruiting methods like bring a friend to practise or free food and watch a guard video afternoon?

Always assume you're going to have to replace all non-metal material (Flags, end caps, rifles, costumes, floor/stage) at the end of each season. You will probably be able to sell some or all of them to a local school at a reduced price, but you may have to hold onto them for some time also.

If you have a garage, use it! If you don't have room in your garage, MAKE SOME! You (or someone on the board/staff) may already have the space, so use it and save money! If not, find a climate-controlled storage facility and pay the $ to store everything in there. A 5x5x10 space is big enough to store a few years worth of flags, poles, a cart for the floor (oh yeah, get one. your back and legs will thank you), and other miscellaneous things (signs, fundraisers supplies, etc). And Make sure you have insurance on the storage space! Renters insurance policies are pretty cheap and will cover the cost of replacing anything that might get damaged.

Promote online! Promote at local Winterguard Circuit meetings! Promote at local Marching Band Competitions! Promote at local High Schools who may not have a winter program! Tell your friends to tell their friends, their kids, their kids friends, their dogs, etc! Promote on WGI's website! Use Facebook! Find a social media club in your area (one geared toward nonprofits would be fantastic), and meet with them to get some great ideas.

Just so you know, we've found that free food and guard video afternoons don't really work all that well, unless you have them at a local school, but if you want to hold them at a college/university they may charge you or deny you unless you're affiliated in some way with the school.

Honestly, the best promotion is to create an engaging program that people like, and show that your kids can be successful (not necessarily win).

Feel free to email us if you have any questions! Since we're a fairly new program, we get lots of questions about how we did it, and how we plan to continue the program, etc.

Edited September 2, 2011 by ATXguard

[ATXguard]

Oh, and I almost forgot: DO NOT HESITATE to contact SHIRLEE WHITCOMB (s.whitcomb@wgi.org), who is an invaluable source of help!!

[lindap]

I can only speak for ourselves, but after talking to many directors who have started or taken over independent guard units, we discovered the same thing: A mission statement embracing education, youth, and performance (rather than specifically stating "colorguard" or "winterguard") will take you further in procuring funding and grants.

However, you generally need a 501©(3) to acquire these things as well. The process for a 501©(3) is not particularly difficult, but it does cost Money (about $500 for federal), and if you hire a lawyer/accountant, it can increase the cost significantly.

One method that I've seen other programs take on is to somehow become affilitated/associated with the Boy Scouts "Venturing" program. By doing this, you can get non-profit status, and insurance for greater savings, you also get the pluses (and minuses) affiliated with being a Boy Scout organization.

The amazing South Shore Drill team is affiliated with a Chicago Boys and Girls Club, I believe. You may also look into Kiwanis, VFW, Moose Lodge, or other similar organizations for support.

Following what I said above. If you do the "Venture Scout" route, you will need a 3-person board. If you create a 501©(3), you will also need a board of directors (I think at least 3 people).

Our organization has a 3 person board, of which one of our directors is a member. The board only helps us make financial decisions and helps sponsor events for us, but ultimate decisions on scheduling, fundraising, show design, etc. are made by our directors with input from design staff.

This will vary wildly depending on the resources in your area. And yes, you will need all these things, but you'll need to prioritize accordingly.

1) Make sure you have a place you can rehearse. Find a place you feel you can comfortably afford, and that will accommodate your schedule, or that you can work around their schedule.

2) You will need, at minimum, double the number of flag poles you want the size of the guard to be, and each flag pole needs 2 end caps that need to be taped on. Carriage bolts can be found at Home Depot and Lowes, and make excellent weights. There is also a new flag pole that came out recently that has weights that you can screw in and come as part of the pole.

3) Floor is made of poly-vinyl. Generally anywhere from 12 oz to 18 oz per square inch. The higher the number, the heavier thefloor, but the more durable it is. Most groups use a 13 or 14 oz floor. Standard size is 50' x 70'. Of course, you can choose any size floor you want up to this size, and if you are a World Class guard, you can go larger.

4) If you choose to paint your floor - use Deck and Floor paint as your base. It's durable, less prone to chipping/flaking, and excellent for heavy traffic it will get during rehearsals and performances. Assuming you are only painting the floor 1 color, you will need enough to cover the area of the floor. If you are using multiple colors, it depends how large an area you want to paint in that color.

You can always purchase a digital floor. For the price of the floor and paint (plus the man hours to paint the floor, buy paint supplies, etc.) plus a little extra (and don't forget shipping) you can get a digital floor.

Our largest costs are rehearsal facility, costuming, floor/stage, and flags/equipment. However, there are ways to cut down on these expenses. And, unfortunately, you're probably going to need to charge your performers/members some type of fee to help pay the costs.

Cost cutting: See if you can find staff of a local high school program to work with you. Often times they can help you get into a local HS or MS gym for free or reduced prices. Look into private schools as well. They generally have more openings for facility use. Be sure to look at local military armories, convention centers/warehouse spaces as well. One guard we know of gets free use of an unused area of their local Performing Arts Center.

Our first two years we got FREE Vinyl from a local billboard company, and made our floors from that. We got some of the paint and supplies donated by the kids and by local hardware/paint stores and supporters; since we have a 501©(3), they could claim these purchases as donations to us. We used 2 sets of borrowed flags and poles in our show, but purchased nice, custom-made uniforms. Kids had to provide their own rifles, and we borrowed sabres from some friends who were selling them (ended up buying them at end of season).

Manpower costs will vary by region and by who you have teaching your guard. We are lucky in that our staff volunteers their time to us, in exchange we try to offer little perks like providing transportation to the WGI regionals, buying them dinner after some rehearsals, etc. There are teaching videos, but your best bet is to hire solid staff who will train the kids in technique and buy into the particular style and identity that you want to create for your guard. If you have a local winterguard circuit, drum corps, or strong marching band program in the area, approach them about working with your group.

Be prepared to hear "no" or "I'm not sure I have time." Many people have trepidations about helping to start/working with a new, unproven program.

Always assume you're going to have to replace all non-metal material (Flags, end caps, rifles, costumes, floor/stage) at the end of each season. You will probably be able to sell some or all of them to a local school at a reduced price, but you may have to hold onto them for some time also.

If you have a garage, use it! If you don't have room in your garage, MAKE SOME! You (or someone on the board/staff) may already have the space, so use it and save money! If not, find a climate-controlled storage facility and pay the $ to store everything in there. A 5x5x10 space is big enough to store a few years worth of flags, poles, a cart for the floor (oh yeah, get one. your back and legs will thank you), and other miscellaneous things (signs, fundraisers supplies, etc). And Make sure you have insurance on the storage space! Renters insurance policies are pretty cheap and will cover the cost of replacing anything that might get damaged.

Promote online! Promote at local Winterguard Circuit meetings! Promote at local Marching Band Competitions! Promote at local High Schools who may not have a winter program! Tell your friends to tell their friends, their kids, their kids friends, their dogs, etc! Promote on WGI's website! Use Facebook! Find a social media club in your area (one geared toward nonprofits would be fantastic), and meet with them to get some great ideas.

Just so you know, we've found that free food and guard video afternoons don't really work all that well, unless you have them at a local school, but if you want to hold them at a college/university they may charge you or deny you unless you're affiliated in some way with the school.

Honestly, the best promotion is to create an engaging program that people like, and show that your kids can be successful (not necessarily win).

Feel free to email us if you have any questions! Since we're a fairly new program, we get lots of questions about how we did it, and how we plan to continue the program, etc.

Thank you so much for responding. I felt overwhelmed at first but your input provided inspiration, information and ideas. Not for profit incorporation is by province in my neck of the woods. I checked Alberta Registries and incorporation will require 3 executive, a memo, an article, notice of address, $75.00 and a name which must be approved by NUANS. I’ll need 2 more people with a like mind, a mission statement and a name. I’ll try to word our intent to include more than guard and youth as you suggested. As for a name, I was thinking of Alberta Pageantry and Performance Arts.

In the interim, I’ll go to the hardware store and pick up flagpole fixings at the Home Depot down the street. I have a double garage. This is also a good time to get a new sewing machine. Once I’ve built a prototype, I’ll try spinning again. I’m currently Treasurer of a community league hall that accommodates 75 for dinner, 30 for yoga and possibly 10 spinners. I might start a guard program there and if we expand we may be able to use the adjacent middle school’s 2 gyms for free. We have very few if any marching bands here but have an active cheerleading association. We could be the halftime show at a cheerleading competition and see what happens from there. Thanks again for the information and support. Truly appreciated

[lindap]

Oh, and I almost forgot: DO NOT HESITATE to contact SHIRLEE WHITCOMB (s.whitcomb@wgi.org), who is an invaluable source of help!!

Thank you. For historical purposes only, AWGA’s first proposal meeting was held on April 27, 1979. It was attended by 10 representatives from 5 drum corps. Wayne Harris, Richard Berthelsen and myself were the interim executive until formal elections were held in September. An additional planning meeting was held on May 25, 1979. Shirlee Whitcomb and Tom Wuetrich were our circuit’s evaluators at our first Evaluation Show on January 13, 1980. We had our first Provincial Championship on March 2, 1980 in which Seattle Imperials winter guard were guests and performed in Exhibition. Stanley Knaub was one of many of our circuit’s advisors. Our second evaluation was held on December 14, 1980 evaluated by Shirlee Whitcomb, Tom Wuetrich and Bryan Johnston.

I have a WGI newsletter dated June 1983 which has a paragragh on page 2 it states ‘WGI is in the process of formalizing an education department. Our hope is to help strengthen our activity where it exists and aid in the development where it does not exist’. I also have an invitation announcing the first Academy of Pageantry Arts session held at Dayton arena April 5-8, 1984. It was a 32 hour intensive program with clinicians Steve Brubaker, Michael Cesario, Stanley Knaub, George Linstrom, Clarke Williams, Shirlee Whitcomb. George Zingali and more. I wish I went.

[GUARDLING]

Thank you so much for responding. I felt overwhelmed at first but your input provided inspiration, information and ideas. Not for profit incorporation is by province in my neck of the woods. I checked Alberta Registries and incorporation will require 3 executive, a memo, an article, notice of address, $75.00 and a name which must be approved by NUANS. I’ll need 2 more people with a like mind, a mission statement and a name. I’ll try to word our intent to include more than guard and youth as you suggested. As for a name, I was thinking of Alberta Pageantry and Performance Arts.

In the interim, I’ll go to the hardware store and pick up flagpole fixings at the Home Depot down the street. I have a double garage. This is also a good time to get a new sewing machine. Once I’ve built a prototype, I’ll try spinning again. I’m currently Treasurer of a community league hall that accommodates 75 for dinner, 30 for yoga and possibly 10 spinners. I might start a guard program there and if we expand we may be able to use the adjacent middle school’s 2 gyms for free. We have very few if any marching bands here but have an active cheerleading association. We could be the halftime show at a cheerleading competition and see what happens from there. Thanks again for the information and support. Truly appreciated

free is good for a facuility I have paid up to 15 thousand for the winter and that seems to be average amoung some of my friends in many parts of the US...watch out for non paying kids ..it has killed many independent guards..especially in WC...seems to be an issue many places. Try also buying flag pole at an aluminum tubing co.. poles can be a little as $4.00 a piece and cut to order

[lindap]

free is good for a facuility I have paid up to 15 thousand for the winter and that seems to be average amoung some of my friends in many parts of the US...watch out for non paying kids ..it has killed many independent guards..especially in WC...seems to be an issue many places. Try also buying flag pole at an aluminum tubing co.. poles can be a little as $4.00 a piece and cut to order

Free facility is what we have to do considering 6 months of snow you know ;-) Aluminum tubing cut to order at 6 feet? Will try it. Should I use lining material for practise flags? What are flag dimensions? I still sew in yards even though we've been metric for years, lol. I`ll convert from yards to metres one of these days. If I go the community league way, fees will be subsidized. The cost will be affordable.

[GUARDLING]

Free facility is what we have to do considering 6 months of snow you know ;-) Aluminum tubing cut to order at 6 feet? Will try it. Should I use lining material for practise flags? What are flag dimensions? I still sew in yards even though we've been metric for years, lol. I`ll convert from yards to metres one of these days. If I go the community league way, fees will be subsidized. The cost will be affordable.

no use china silk.liming which we used bbacki in the day is way to heavy.you can get that pretty cheap..krishna fabrics in nj is one of many places..if you are looking for plain flags right now personally I would buy them you can get them made for as little as 6 or 8 dollars..if you get a free facility you are way ahead of the game...good luck