Tenoris4Jazz Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 1 minute ago, scheherazadesghost said: I'm under the impression that they have started a rental program for the rigs. Apparently there are other groups who do this too. Leaving them unused for most of the year would be problematic for numerous, obvious reasons. That was the genius of Bill Cook's plan to fund Star. Use the buses and trucks for 3 months and then have someone else pay for them the other 9 months and fund the corps' operations. It took a few years, but by the time they made a push for a title, they were self sustaining financially. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcifanforlife Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 (edited) 4 hours ago, Tenoris4Jazz said: If they are willing to risk the viability of the entire operation just to keep their design staff, that tells me they needed to fail. There is a HARD reset needed in the attitude out there. What the 2023 contracted design staff needs to do is donate back to VMAPA all or part of their salary for the year and take a tax deduction. None of this group is living paycheck to paycheck. One year of work and four years of pay is hard for most people to comprehend. Edited January 13, 2023 by dcifanforlife 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slingerland Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 7 hours ago, Jeff Ream said: they don't want the designers to go elsewhere. They don't get their 💩 together, there'll be nothing for anyone to design. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabMaster Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 4 hours ago, dcifanforlife said: What the 2023 contracted design staff needs to do is donate back to VMAPA all or part of their salary for the year and take a tax deduction. None of this group is living paycheck to paycheck. One year of work and four years of pay is hard for most people to comprehend. I’m sure no one has been paid anything for 2023. You don’t get paid in advance. And if someone is expected to be exclusive to and org, then they are kind of living for those paychecks. If it’s their only gig. But, we do not know what their contracts say. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slingerland Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 (edited) 9 hours ago, Tenoris4Jazz said: That was the genius of Bill Cook's plan to fund Star. Use the buses and trucks for 3 months and then have someone else pay for them the other 9 months and fund the corps' operations. It took a few years, but by the time they made a push for a title, they were self sustaining financially. Bill was a businessman with very deep pockets who understood everything that went in to funding and managing a start up company. Star's transport line was well funded, had a professional team in place to manage the charters, etc, etc, etc. Vanguard, right now, can't seem to manage keeping an operation they already own and have been running for 40 years operating effectively and profitably. The idea that they'd be able to rent the rigs out often enough to make it worth burning thru a huge chunk of cash to acquire them was not a good one. To be clear, I don't assume bad intent on anyone's part. I'm sure their Board and management team thought they had this, but the results indicate they needed other more experienced eyes reviewing the decisions and giving them some advice. I'm hopeful that within the community there are some people who can help them put the train back on the tracks. Edited January 13, 2023 by Slingerland 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slingerland Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 (edited) Dupe.... Edited January 13, 2023 by Slingerland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scheherazadesghost Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 (edited) . Edited June 12, 2023 by scheherazadesghost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenoris4Jazz Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 55 minutes ago, scheherazadesghost said: Listen, few folks are tougher on this corps than me. I attended the alumni meeting where they explained as much as they could. Pretty much confirmed what I already knew: it's complicated and, as far as I can tell, no one on DCP is informed enough to so hardly judge their decisions, not that I can do anything about it. I get that everyone's mad about decisions made, but dang, there seem to be few solutions this group finds acceptable. I won't be sharing any of the others proposed in the meeting. I appreciate what you are saying, but this goes back to before you were born. The details specific to Vanguard's failures are varied, I'm sure. But this has been a contention among those of us who have been looking at the financial aspects of DCI since we first got involved, back to DCI's origin in some cases. Ballet companies and orchestras don't have backup dancers and cellists handling the finances, and the prima ballerina or the principle conductor don't get the final say on how money is spent. The CEO and CFO of these NP's should be telling the corps director and design team what they are allowed to spend and then design a show that fits into that profile, not the other way around. The BoD isn't supposed to be a rubber stamp for the artistic director. Too many people have been trying to turn what was once a military veterans backed drum and bugle corps show for their annual conferences into a two-month long off-Broadway musical production lasting only 11 minutes. The entire business model should have changed along with the show designs and judging criteria during the '80s and '90s, but it didn't. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcifanforlife Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said: Listen, few folks are tougher on this corps than me. I attended the alumni meeting where they explained as much as they could. Pretty much confirmed what I already knew: it's complicated and, as far as I can tell, no one on DCP is informed enough to so hardly judge their decisions, not that I can do anything about it. I get that everyone's mad about decisions made, but dang, there seem to be few solutions this group finds acceptable. I won't be sharing any of the others proposed in the meeting. It is not complicated VAMPA has debt that they need to pay off and they have little revenue coming in to pay off the debt. Cut costs and increase revenue coming in. Solutions that they have proposed will not got get they job done per many that have seen them. Granted we are early in the process and VAMPA has promised transparency. Hopefully we should get at least bimonthly updates. They have only nine months to right the ship. End of September is when corps need to commit for the 2024 tour. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scheherazadesghost Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 (edited) . Edited June 13, 2023 by scheherazadesghost 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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