Per the California Attorney General Vanguard is operating illegally as a non profit

[Richard Lesher]

9 hours ago, Tenoris4Jazz said:

Don't get me wrong... I'm not for handing them a dime.  I just understand the idea of an organization with the historical significance of Vanguard closing up shop making people think "Can't something be done to prevent this?"  Well, yeah, but the time for that is long gone.  It's like watching what happens in nature in your back yard versus on TV.  TV doesn't show you the brutal reality of the way things work for real.  What's going on with VMAPA is pulling back the curtain on the reality of running a drum corps and how easily a few people can permanently mess things up, even with an organization with the historical standing of Vanguard.

So to that end, there was no shortage of folks lining up to help them out. 

There is an underlying culture in the organization that is preventing that help from getting in the right place. This sort of baffles me, because where they stand now the rats should be leaving the ship, but they are not. So I conclude they are digging there heals in because we don't know the worst of it. 

I was originally building a narrative around a different aspect about SCV, and the aspect of the dark politics going on with how things have unfolded. I'll probably air that dirty launder out in the future, but when I found these letters from the CA Dept of Justice it was just too powerful to ignore. 

These DOJ AG letters going back to 2020 and continuing into future years, and then finding out that the attorney that SCV used to contact me regarding Bingo was sitting on the board of directors during the period of missing audited financials just hit me light a train. 

I realized that moment oh........no one is ever getting in there to help them that isn't directly aligned with the inner circle of the decision making body of SCV. 

It's just not going to happen. 

So, we all sit here and wonder. I generally have what I think is a viable theory, but the internet of Drum Corps will think I'm nuts. 

Remember that flipping the bird picture folks.............. that's just the tip of the iceberg. I decided to skip that for now. The power of using correspondence from the California State Attorney General is just impossible to tinfoil hat ignore for even the most staunch of current SCV leadership supporters. 

[Richard Lesher]

3 hours ago, greg_orangecounty said:

As a mayor, I would imagine Lisa Gillmore's seat is ceremonial.  Amy Lipshy, I don't know how long she's been there.  I don't know either personally as they were there wayyy after me.  

Yes, Gillmore is ceremonial. When I sent an e-mail to the entire board I didn't know their e-mail addresses. So I used a presumed known system SCV uses for assigning e-mails to board members and employees. 

first initial . last name 

When I did that, of all the e-mail addresses I assumed ONLY Gilmore's got kicked back. So I presume she doesn't even get SCV board correspondence. 

I am tempted to attend a Santa Clara City Hall meeting, and get on the schedule of speakers in an open forum to simply ask what her association is with a Delinquent Non Profit lacking audited financial statements, with a multi million dollar bingo operation in the city, as a board member etc.....

 

[Richard Lesher]

13 hours ago, LabMaster said:

Historical standing means nothing in the managing of an organization.  DCI corps could help one another, if they wanted to.  But they don’t always play nice with one another.  Some of it is ego.  Maybe much of it is ego where some corps orgs think they are better than another. 

I also feel that Drum Corps and DCI are the bottom feeders of youth based activities. Meaning, they are precariously close for the whole thing imploding. Scouts, Schools, Religious organizations are staring to be much more effective in covering their collective rear ends against fiscal and physical abuses. Drum Corps is barely starting to take it seriously, and certainly not across the entire activity. 

The whole activity is shrinking, and has been ever since DCI was created. 

I don't know this, but can anyone dig up the data that shows the number of DCI affiliated corps increased from the previous year? Did that ever happen since 1972? 

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Richard Lesher

[C.Holland]

15 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:

VMAPA claimed yesterday in a closed alum Fb group that they plan to be out of debt early, by the end of this month.

Totally agree with the essence of your statement though.

I still strongly believe that VMAPA should reopen all positions to the public for application. And bring in an outside recruiter to oversee the process. Prevent any further JSS potentials. That's how SoA found their current CEO...I know bc I originally applied.

💯

I'm only just now realizing how few people understand this.

Burnout in the sector is a serious problem. It's why I left.

do they have numbers to prove this?  otherwise... its all BS.  I've seen more than a few make the same claims. (arts orgs, not drum corps arts orgs) and it was all smoke blown up your orifice of choice. 

[scheherazadesghost]

9 hours ago, Richard Lesher said:

So to that end, there was no shortage of folks lining up to help them out. 

There is an underlying culture in the organization that is preventing that help from getting in the right place.

For example...

My opinions regarding internal culture redacted by request here.

Nevermind that I have been an arts education np fundraiser, educator and director outside of drum corps with nationally and internationally known legacy nps, and continue to participate in dialogue in hopes of supporting sustainable growth and alumni engagement. Nevermind that the CA DOJ's charity registry status and communications with VMAPA are publicly available, I essentially said "hey this is upsetting, what's going on here?"

It's increasingly emotionally laborious for me when my attempts to help from the outside are misinterpreted, yet few alum can actually accept that the institution harmed me and others first, leaving us with lasting effects on our adult lives that go beyond a bum knee, arthritic hands or a bruised ego. (Seriously, web search the long term effects of overtraining and you might as well discover my picture next to what you find. Then pile on the effects of bullying, harassment, and medical neglect to that, which were all internally corroborated by VMAPA.) To this day I still get elder alumni responses like, "yeah my instructor was mean too" or "didn't we join Vanguard cause we wanted to do something difficult?"

The harm described in my report make those responses look like a toddler's booboo. It took me nearly 20 years to understand the difference.  Seriously, if your first response is "it couldn't have been that bad" you might want to check yourself before your wreck yourself cause I have receipts. I need them because people across this industry are too quick to gaslight survivors.

None of my report would matter to anyone except me if I didn't also have testimony from alum who report that members, staff, and alum faced similar risks and retaliation as recently as last season. In both corps.

Providing critical feedback at a critical time is more hurtful apparently.

And yet I'm still here trying because our younger alum deserve better.

Edited April 19, 2023 by scheherazadesghost
grammar

[scheherazadesghost]

26 minutes ago, C.Holland said:

do they have numbers to prove this?  otherwise... its all BS.  I've seen more than a few make the same claims. (arts orgs, not drum corps arts orgs) and it was all smoke blown up your orifice of choice. 

I can only speak to the statement being made.

[Tenoris4Jazz]

13 hours ago, greg_orangecounty said:

I'm going to say YES because they have two Trojans on their Board; Amy Lipshy (President) and Lisa Gillmore (Mayor of Santa Clara).  We get things done. 

Like Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart and Pete Carroll?  Isn't that a perfect parallel to what's happening in Santa Clara?

[Tenoris4Jazz]

10 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

sadly they leave jerry jones in place

JJ has 1) too much money to fight, 2) nothing else to do with his time, and 3) he HAS to know where the bodies are buried, or he wouldn't be getting away with the stuff he does

[scheherazadesghost]

28 minutes ago, Tenoris4Jazz said:

JJ

Since we're talking about my home team, I'll just leave this here:

https://www.sportscasting.com/troy-aikmans-biggest-regret-is-how-he-overtrained-throughout-his-cowboys-career-i-just-got-obsessed/

"Aikman clearly wishes he’d had somebody to guide him toward a more sustainable model of conditioning. Who knows how many seasons that might’ve added to his legendary career?"

And lest I am accused of being OT, I've always said that mismanagement in any area can easily affect the member experience negatively.

Edited April 19, 2023 by scheherazadesghost

[cixelsyd]

7 hours ago, Richard Lesher said:

The whole activity is shrinking, and has been ever since DCI was created. 

I don't know this, but can anyone dig up the data that shows the number of DCI affiliated corps increased from the previous year? Did that ever happen since 1972? 

This should be close to what you are asking for... a count of how many corps competed in DCI events each year.  The earlier numbers are probably too low because I only counted championships and regionals, missing other sanctioned tour shows.  

1972	39
1973	54
1974	70
1975	92
1976	102
1977	94
1978	88
1979	88
1980	95
1981	105
1982	108
1983	78
1984	76
1985	76
1986	69
1987	70
1988	68
1989	66
1990	73
1991	67
1992	73
1993	65
1994	75
1995	73
1996	70
1997	72
1998	65
1999	72
2000	68
2001	57
2002	61
2003	61
2004	68
2005	69
2006	61
2007	50
2008	48
2009	46
2010	47
2011	47
2012	44
2013	42
2014	47
2015	51
2016	47
2017	47
2018	47
2019	46
2022	40