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Documentary Photography Proposal for 2020 Season


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Hello, drum corps members!

My name is Nick Glimenakis and I am a documentary photographer based in New York City.  I am a proud drum corps alumni having marched four seasons between the East Coast Jazz and the Boston Crusaders.  I aged out with Boston in 2008 in the quad line.  I am addressing the 2020 prospective membership about a considered photo project exploring queerness in drum corps, specifically within the drumline.

I am hoping to profile a World Class member of the battery percussion in the 2020 season who identifies as queer regardless of sex or gender identity.  The project will include photographs and interviews throughout the upcoming season of what it’s like to march in a World Class drumline as queer.  

It is not my intention to out any individual or create an unsafe space within the drum corps or larger drum corps community.  My hopes for the project are to provide a personal narrative of a queer person in the battery percussion and convey an intimate and artistic look into the world of competitive drum and bugle corps.  I marched for four years in drumlines as someone who was gay but not out and hope to meet individuals who can provide different perspectives other than my own to tell a story of queerness within the activity.  And even as someone who was not out at the time, drum corps was and continues to be an incredibly diverse and welcoming community of people and I want to celebrate that in this project.

The selected member will be interviewed at an audition or early winter camp with the affiliated corps, throughout a week mid-tour, and during World Championships in Indianapolis.  All dates and locations are subject to approval and at the discretion of the consenting corps director. 

If interested, please submit a short bio, the corps you will be—or hope to be—marching with, and why you think you'd be a great candidate for this project to nick@nickglimenakis.com.

Best of luck in your auditions this season!

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3 hours ago, nickglimenakis said:

Hello, drum corps members!

My name is Nick Glimenakis and I am a documentary photographer based in New York City.  I am a proud drum corps alumni having marched four seasons between the East Coast Jazz and the Boston Crusaders.  I aged out with Boston in 2008 in the quad line.  I am addressing the 2020 prospective membership about a considered photo project exploring queerness in drum corps, specifically within the drumline.

I am hoping to profile a World Class member of the battery percussion in the 2020 season who identifies as queer regardless of sex or gender identity.  The project will include photographs and interviews throughout the upcoming season of what it’s like to march in a World Class drumline as queer.  

It is not my intention to out any individual or create an unsafe space within the drum corps or larger drum corps community.  My hopes for the project are to provide a personal narrative of a queer person in the battery percussion and convey an intimate and artistic look into the world of competitive drum and bugle corps.  I marched for four years in drumlines as someone who was gay but not out and hope to meet individuals who can provide different perspectives other than my own to tell a story of queerness within the activity.  And even as someone who was not out at the time, drum corps was and continues to be an incredibly diverse and welcoming community of people and I want to celebrate that in this project.

The selected member will be interviewed at an audition or early winter camp with the affiliated corps, throughout a week mid-tour, and during World Championships in Indianapolis.  All dates and locations are subject to approval and at the discretion of the consenting corps director. 

If interested, please submit a short bio, the corps you will be—or hope to be—marching with, and why you think you'd be a great candidate for this project to nick@nickglimenakis.com.

Best of luck in your auditions this season!

You weren't alone. A few years back ( wont say the year ) where I taught, at least 30-40%  of the drum line was gay...A lot has changed even in the past few years...thankfully

Question though: If you're not outing a person what photos are you taking? If you're following a person around how will you protect them ( If they want it ). . If you are  gay in this activity you know how the activity above many activities accepts their gay brothers and sisters. JMO but this may have been a great story maybe 20 years ago., Today, I think it's more  about normality and many look at it as just that. Is there and will there always be those who are threatened by someone different than them? YES , but I think every year THEY are the ones in the minority...JMO

It is interesting, don't get me wrong would love to hear more PM me if you like. I do think though most people ( all people ) in drum corps just want to do their thing and just are more interested in not so much being singled out BUT treated as normal as the next person. Thankfully I do think I see more of this than it was  say decades ago.

Now that might be interesting, Interview those who were gay in the 60s 70s or early 80sin Drum Corps compared to someone now. Now that's a culture shift.

I do hope your experience was a good one.

Edited by GUARDLING
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I'm struggling to see why this even needs to be bought up. We're all the same in DC whether we're straight or not. I've never been in a corps/band where a quote "queer" member has been given harsh treatment or made to feel any different to the next member. If anything this just singles them out. Just my opinion.

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1 hour ago, SiFrySopUK said:

 

I'm struggling to see why this even needs to be bought up. We're all the same in DC whether we're straight or not. I've never been in a corps/band where a quote "queer" member has been given harsh treatment or made to feel any different to the next member. If anything this just singles them out. Just my opinion.

Just the way our culture is currently. We have to create the perception that problems exist in places where they really don't. I'm all in for all people being treated equally...not all in for special treatment for certain groups of people. In my opinion, the best way to be inclusive is to treat all people the same.

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I’m looking at this from another way from the op and some responses. Everyone has different experiences and not quite honest presenting one persons experience as true for all places. Read and reread the op with that in mind and not sure where that fits in. 

As for gay experiences I live in PA where we have gay marriage but can be fired for being gay as that is not listed as a protected group. And a firing has happened and was upheld by state Supreme Court size does not fit all.... 

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1 hour ago, JimF-LowBari said:

I’m looking at this from another way from the op and some responses. Everyone has different experiences and not quite honest presenting one persons experience as true for all places. Read and reread the op with that in mind and not sure where that fits in. 

As for gay experiences I live in PA where we have gay marriage but can be fired for being gay as that is not listed as a protected group. And a firing has happened and was upheld by state Supreme Court size does not fit all.... 

Terrible...to say the least

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3 hours ago, SiFrySopUK said:

 

I'm struggling to see why this even needs to be bought up. We're all the same in DC whether we're straight or not. I've never been in a corps/band where a quote "queer" member has been given harsh treatment or made to feel any different to the next member. If anything this just singles them out. Just my opinion.

And why not ? Its also not about "creating a problem where one does not exist".   Every person has their own unique experience, its just another perspective. I agree that being gay and in drum corps is nonissue, but as my dad always told me, "Not everyone thinks like you do, nor do they see the world the same way you do, Not everyone fits nicely into the same square box like you think they should sometimes."

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3 hours ago, SiFrySopUK said:

 

I'm struggling to see why this even needs to be bought up. We're all the same in DC whether we're straight or not. I've never been in a corps/band where a quote "queer" member has been given harsh treatment or made to feel any different to the next member. If anything this just singles them out. Just my opinion.

I wish everyone could be so lucky as to not have seen or experience any homophobia during their marching career. 

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On 10/2/2019 at 10:00 PM, GUARDLING said:

You weren't alone. A few years back ( wont say the year ) where I taught, at least 30-40%  of the drum line was gay...A lot has changed even in the past few years...thankfully

Question though: If you're not outing a person what photos are you taking? If you're following a person around how will you protect them ( If they want it ). . If you are  gay in this activity you know how the activity above many activities accepts their gay brothers and sisters. JMO but this may have been a great story maybe 20 years ago., Today, I think it's more  about normality and many look at it as just that. Is there and will there always be those who are threatened by someone different than them? YES , but I think every year THEY are the ones in the minority...JMO

It is interesting, don't get me wrong would love to hear more PM me if you like. I do think though most people ( all people ) in drum corps just want to do their thing and just are more interested in not so much being singled out BUT treated as normal as the next person. Thankfully I do think I see more of this than it was  say decades ago.

Now that might be interesting, Interview those who were gay in the 60s 70s or early 80sin Drum Corps compared to someone now. Now that's a culture shift.

I do hope your experience was a good one.

I would love to answer these questions in a separate conversation!  I'm new to DCP so unsure of how to do that...!

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