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Housing options as schools close


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47 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Is the bigger issue schools closing or schools not allowing corps to use their facilities due to liability issues, current member safety scandal, tax payers raising Hades due to costs, etc.

In short, LowBari, the allowance is the immediate issue, closing schools limits it further and is a problem rapidly looming on the horizon. Those who shut their eyes are doomed by the blindness.

The lessening of schools available for housing in areas where corps shows are held is one end of the spectrum; whether the available schools will allow the facilities to be used, particularly due to the awareness of the scandals is the other.  Both pivot on costs: to the corps and relative to the scandals, to the school (liability costs, legalities, etc.) It is not always a binary choice.

Shows in Greater Boston/R.I., N.J./N.Y./CT. and especially Allentown, PA are representative moments where options are fewer, availability even less. But by no means is the matter merely restricted to the North East, Mid-Atlantic, and New England. Florida, Colorado, and Wisconsin-Illinois are other areas where corps tours have already been touched by the trends, and DCI corps have had to adjust.

Where corps are able to hold Pre-Tour Preparations (PTP)/"Spring Training"/"Everydays" is getting harder to come by due to these factors; this is seen especially in what financial costs the corps must spend for the housing and use of campus facilities (whatever the high school/college/university/etc.) Designers have become more demanding (cf. matters about props, height and type of stadium and its field, etc.)  BD and Pioneer have had their own properties, but BD doesn't provide either housing nor all meals so cost outlays by mms need be adjusted.  Crown and a few other corps have investigated obtaining property for winter camps and PTP; obviously real estate costs (purchase, maintenance; insurance for example) have their own onus.

Closing schools and cost shifts by colleges is already effecting many engineering majors in drum corps as required courses and required internships become more restricted in rotation of courses offered.  No longer are universities offering every course every semester for the student to choose based on the student's convenience.  And the announcement of these shifts aren't often made to the students before they sign up and are contracted for a corps. This is one reason why you'll hear as late as April that so and so top corps has a hole in the battery or lead line. Of course, who follows through with timely paying for camps and tours eliminates some, but making the choice between giving up a semester or marching this corps this season has been heaped upon many well-intentioned, diligent mms. Hockey Dad will be glad to learn that the engineering majors particularly do drum corps for the personal challenge and the love of the activity. Their loss is felt worse it would seem as aging-out is not delayed.

 

Edited by xandandl
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Understood and wasn’t making light of the schools closing issue. Trying to bring up both issues and wondering which is affecting corps more for the present.

And to be clear I don’t live in an area where schools are closing so know little about how big that problem is.

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It would be interesting to me to hear from a tour director (past or present,) on the specifics of how housing is secured and what the requirements currently are for both the corps and the housing / practice site. I simply don't have the background in anything resembling that type of thing to see beyond the problem to, in turn, thing through possible solutions. 

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Jim - I was referring more to the notion of schools closing/bankruptcy, the growth of online education etc., not necessarily the scandals (though they of course play a factor). How does DCI respond and do they have the vision to look ahead if these come to being? I ask because I sure don't profess to have answers and honestly, these are thoughts that probably don't occur that frequently to everyday drum corps fans. It's the reason I thought the original post was so interesting. 

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26 minutes ago, OldSnareDrummer said:

Jim - I was referring more to the notion of schools closing/bankruptcy, the growth of online education etc., not necessarily the scandals (though they of course play a factor). How does DCI respond and do they have the vision to look ahead if these come to being? I ask because I sure don't profess to have answers and honestly, these are thoughts that probably don't occur that frequently to everyday drum corps fans. It's the reason I thought the original post was so interesting. 

Understood your point and good one especially with online (along with the home school part for younger ones). Just opening it up a bit to try to get a comparison 

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3 hours ago, Weaklefthand4ever said:

It would be interesting to me to hear from a tour director (past or present,) on the specifics of how housing is secured and what the requirements currently are for both the corps and the housing / practice site. I simply don't have the background in anything resembling that type of thing to see beyond the problem to, in turn, thing through possible solutions. 

 Ya, I don't really have much experience of this whole " school housing issue". I'm guessing however that the schools don't just give their gym, dorm rooms, fieldhouse, football field, practice fields, parking lots, etc  gratis to Corps. Schools don't ordinarily have every facility on campus being utilized in the summers. I'd imagine in many cases, they just sit there.. vacant in some cases. Schools don't make money when the only thing in the school facility is air. Many schools are strapped for cash. I'd imagine if a hugh traveling Drum Corps wants to rent their facilities during the low season of the summers, such schools are willing to make a buck in the process. As for scandals, unless there are more shoes to drop, at the moment, I'm not reading that a whole lot of schools are withholding their facilities ( and forgoing the rental income monies that presumably come with that ) over " scandals ". I have read some schools that have done so ( primarily in the PA/ NJ/ NY corridor ), but not a lot of schools so far that have nixed their facility rentals with Corps in DCI in any wholesale fashion. Maybe this becomes problematic for DCI in the future, who knows. But I'm not seeing such abandonment of DCI Corps by the schools so far in any large degree. And even the individual Corps beset by scandals in their own Corps have seemingly found suitable school, housing, practice fields, and Show stadiums, etc replacements without much trouble as well... as near as I can tell, anyway.
 

Edited by BRASSO
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On 2/11/2019 at 2:54 PM, Jeff Ream said:

i'd be more worried about the other issues facing the activity being a factor in housing

Exactly.  That said, if a Corps cannot get housing because of decisions and actions by their management, then they have no one but themselves to blame.

 

Is Morrison still director at Crossmen?  If so, why?

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5 hours ago, xandandl said:

 

Hockey Dad will be glad to learn that the engineering majors particularly do drum corps for the personal challenge and the love of the activity. Their loss is felt worse it would seem as aging-out is not delayed.

 

Now you're speaking my language!  You figured me out.  As an engineer, I can't relate to doing drum corps for.....future job prospects, etc.  I can't relate to doing it for anything other than love of the activity.  In fact, realizing that some do it for college credit, or to build a resume, takes some of the starry eyed luster off it for me 😞

And why am I an engineer?  Well, the summer I spent at the Interlochen Arts Academy that made me realize I was quite possibly the worst talented musician there, helped me with my focus.

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 MM's do Drum Corps probably for any number of reasons, some altruistic, some less so.

 I would imagine more than one " happy to do Drum Corps for the love of it " young MM found a " happy to help pay for your happy thing" when Mom and Pop found out Junior could get school graduation credits for doing the " Drum Corps happy thingy " in the summer.

 Nothing wrong with the MM getting their " Happy thing ", and Parents finding out that Junior got school credits with their " happy thing " completion in the process.   Overall, sounds like a win-win situation to me. That said, I can understand that for some parents/ MM's the costs of participation can be a real challenge for quite a few.

And don't even get me started on the jaw dropping costs of college these days for quite a few people... Talk about sticker shock.. yikes !!... haha!..

Edited by BRASSO
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49 minutes ago, HockeyDad said:


😞

And why am I an engineer?  Well, the summer I spent at the Interlochen Arts Academy that made me realize I was quite possibly the worst talented musician there, helped me with my focus.

Corps mate went to same college as me and was Criminology major and great middle horn player. He said he liked music too much to Major in it. “I might understand it and that might bleep things up”.

I was first one in the family in college besides some aunts who went to nursing school way back when. I got told “I don’t care what you take as long as you can make a living off of it”. Computer Science (now IT) fit the bill really well

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