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Drum Corps in the Post-Covid World - What Role Does DCI Have?


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5 hours ago, GUARDLING said:

Kids do actually look to those corps. I hear it all the time..but i got ya..i was just talking about the DCI  name with kids was like us  saying we march drum corps

Understood... 10 years back I was reading people going to their dream corps or not marching. Now I read from some here kids just want to “march DCI” as if which corps they are with doesn’t matter. Sure there is a mix and not all one or the other.

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Say I am a nonprofit arts/education organization and I have the resources. I'm not DCI.  I organize 3-5 shows, set up the venues, invite 7-9 corps to perform, arrange for housing and rehearsal sites (and pay for any associated expenses). I manage all other logistics, marketing, ticket sales. All the relevant cash (such as it might be) comes to me. I pay the corps performance fees and prizes. The geography of the shows obviously matters, but ignore that issue for now.

Can I do this? That's mostly asking, can corps that are members of DCI accept my invitations and perform? If allowed, would corps have an interest in participating in my shows?

But also, is there a meaningful difference to how corps operate if my nonprofit demonstrates it can effectively manage everything about the shows, and the corps simply need to show up, do their thing, and collect their money?

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8 minutes ago, mjoakes said:

Say I am a nonprofit arts/education organization and I have the resources. I'm not DCI.  I organize 3-5 shows, set up the venues, invite 7-9 corps to perform, arrange for housing and rehearsal sites (and pay for any associated expenses). I manage all other logistics, marketing, ticket sales. All the relevant cash (such as it might be) comes to me. I pay the corps performance fees and prizes. The geography of the shows obviously matters, but ignore that issue for now.

Can I do this? That's mostly asking, can corps that are members of DCI accept my invitations and perform? If allowed, would corps have an interest in participating in my shows?

But also, is there a meaningful difference to how corps operate if my nonprofit demonstrates it can effectively manage everything about the shows, and the corps simply need to show up, do their thing, and collect their money?

Thinking back to what was an approved DCA show in the mid to late 70s. All I can remember is 1) prize money at the minimum set by DCA 2) invite corps in a certain order (finalists first, associate next, then any other corps), have DCA approved judges. 

Wish Tom Peasey was still here to correct me 😆

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1 hour ago, mjoakes said:

Say I am a nonprofit arts/education organization and I have the resources. I'm not DCI.  I organize 3-5 shows, set up the venues, invite 7-9 corps to perform, arrange for housing and rehearsal sites (and pay for any associated expenses). I manage all other logistics, marketing, ticket sales. All the relevant cash (such as it might be) comes to me. I pay the corps performance fees and prizes. The geography of the shows obviously matters, but ignore that issue for now.

Can I do this? That's mostly asking, can corps that are members of DCI accept my invitations and perform? If allowed, would corps have an interest in participating in my shows?

But also, is there a meaningful difference to how corps operate if my nonprofit demonstrates it can effectively manage everything about the shows, and the corps simply need to show up, do their thing, and collect their money?

In the Brass Roots video,, Don Warren, Dave Kampschroeder, Geo. Bonfiglio, et al discuss the formation of DCI (via the Combines) to avoid just the scenario you describe.  The big gripe was that they would bring the 'Show (Jim Jones' term)'; and the organization running it would get all the money.  I recognize the fact that you will probably pay the 'DCI rate' to the Corps, but the idea was that DCI would let the Corps control their own destiny.

Corps controlling their own destiny has now come home to roost.  The activity still has a Bonfiglio in a direct decision making role, but where are the Warrens, Kampschroeders, and perhaps most of all, the current Jim Jones?

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6 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

because DCI HQ and the manufacturers market them that way! I believe there is often better at the bottom of the rankings, and my ### is in the seats to watch them....but the place is half full til INT. 

Which proves what?

The most watched NFL game of last season was when Kansas City met San Francisco in the Super Bowl.  Does that mean Kansas City and San Francisco are "the draw"?  Should we pull them aside and have them play each other every week, and eliminate the other 30 teams for optimal success?

At the theater, there are more butts in seats for the third act than the first act.  Is the third act "the draw"?  If we take just the third acts of 7 plays, and present them on their own tour, will that be more successful?

Way more people tune in to see what happens at the 18th hole of the golf tournament.  If we renumber all the holes #18, will we get 18 times the fan interest?

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No one markets those first corps on like they do the corps at the end of the shows, and you get that straight on DCI's site, Facebook, DCP, Twitter, Reddit...pick your poison. let me know when Vic Firth in the Lot covers Surf ok?

Jersey Surf - In the Lot (Vic Firth)

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and the corps with the power continue to make it stay that way, as opposed to working for the good of all. without the other corps, the top dogs will wither and die,

So we agree... 

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but they still don't believe thats the case.

Oh, they make it sound like that.  But as I have to keep reminding myself... if they really believed that, they would have left DCI long ago.

Its just a negotiating tactic, like you so often see wherever egos and money collide.

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granted Phantom and Cadets aren't exactly lighting the world on fire these days. But DCI themselves allow this to happen, at the expense of those corps not at the top. You'd think marketing would see thats not best for business. They claim they want more corps...but do they actually do anything to promote that? Nope.

Because they do not really want more corps.  Was that not clear enough from the barrier-to-entry policy changes made in the fall?

(By the way, do they even still claim they want more corps?  Refresh my memory if they have said any such thing in the past 10 years.)

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26 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

 

Oh, they make it sound like that.  But as I have to keep reminding myself... if they really believed that, they would have left DCI long ago.

Its just a negotiating tactic, like you so often see wherever egos and money collide.

 

Methinks we may be about to see what happens when egos and lack of money collide

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20 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

Methinks we may be about to see what happens when egos and lack of money collide

And the ability/inability to think outside the box, change the paradigm, pick your own buzz phrase (in other words ####### change) comes into play. 

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Thinking how this applies to my other addiction, old cars. Belong to Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA). Last I checked 400 or so local chapters (think corps) and 60k members with overall National BoD (think DCI). Like drum corps all nationally sanctioned activities are cancelled and whole activity is in wait and see mode. Some local chapters (like mine) will take a big money hit by not hosting events so have that hanging over their heads.

At this point little info on how national and local chapters will get past this. But there will be push back if national wants to do something that will hurt the locals ability to recover. Let’s face it the BoDs for the local chapters were elected to do what is best for the chapter and not national. National BoD members are also members of local chapters, just like DCI BoD with corps directors.
 

Apply to DCI and individual corps as fits...

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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To promote and manage event operations, I believe it best if the group putting it all together looks at the task at hand independently of any one, specific corps competitor.  

We all can believe a Blue Devils,  or a Carolina Crown-type, office staff could take over the entire DCI operation as an adjunct. But, is that a good scenario? I think not.

I can tell you, the week before major events, like Regionals and Championship, the Corps Directors are totally focused just on their own group. I have seen them become laser-focused, bull-headed, near monsters. Each looking for an ‘edge’ over all others.

So who will keep the patient, steady, even hand?

🤔
 

 

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