Achilles Posted May 15, 2023 Share Posted May 15, 2023 21 hours ago, LabMaster said: Another factor that helps with BAC’s BOD success is its unusual size for a BOD. It is quite large with over 40 members. This enables unavoidable visibility of its function. It is quite diverse in talent and skills as well as personal successes of each member. There is much to draw on, to IAM’s and BAC’s benefit as well as the other groups IAM supports. Interesting. That suggests that at the top of the organization is someone strong and wise enough to herd that many cats. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DudleytheWest Posted May 15, 2023 Share Posted May 15, 2023 On 4/17/2023 at 5:44 AM, Terri Schehr said: My late father in law said decades ago that this tour model wasn’t sustainable. It’s good that they’ve pared down the schedule and it seems to be a bit more regional. Some groups are taking it upon themselves, like Jersey Surf, to do the fiscally responsible thing and cut way back. It’s like a top spinning out of control. I once asked a board member of a corps who was complaining about being bullied by staff to spend more and more money why he just didn’t say no? He just looked at me in a confused way. You can just say no. Treat them like spoiled children. One of the most misguided things they did was raise membership to 165. That is a real head scratcher. I asked Jim “Is this what smart people do?” Good points all around. It's not sustainable. The beginning of the end was in the 80s or 90s. We've reached the end of the end. It's spun out of control. The corps shouldn't have the control they have in DCI. Increasing to 165 was just stupid. Another policy to benefit the top corps to the detriment of the lower tier corps. Pretty soon there is only going to be a handful of corps left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted May 15, 2023 Share Posted May 15, 2023 28 minutes ago, DudleytheWest said: Good points all around. It's not sustainable. The beginning of the end was in the 80s or 90s. We've reached the end of the end. It's spun out of control. The corps shouldn't have the control they have in DCI. Increasing to 165 was just stupid. Another policy to benefit the top corps to the detriment of the lower tier corps. Pretty soon there is only going to be a handful of corps left. My dad came over about 10 years ago for lunch. Was watching DCA Prelims online. His quote was “with the money and time needed to do this, surprised drum corps is still around”. End of the year will be 50 years 🤮 since I first joined a corps. From my long viewpoint we have been at that handful of corps for a while. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Posted May 15, 2023 Share Posted May 15, 2023 (edited) On 4/17/2023 at 8:44 AM, Terri Schehr said: [...] I once asked a board member of a corps who was complaining about being bullied by staff to spend more and more money why he just didn’t say no? He just looked at me in a confused way. You can just say no. Treat them like spoiled children. [...] That's one way...but perhaps not the best way. The entire statement here kinda surprises me...Do the caption heads not have a budget (an allocation of the corps' overall budget), one for which they are involved in the process of setting the value thereof, and are they then held accountable to stick to? Otherwise...no accountability, and chaos and 'bullying' ensue. Edited May 15, 2023 by Achilles 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craiga Posted May 15, 2023 Share Posted May 15, 2023 Too much doom and gloom. If someone really believes that drum corps is either dying or already dead, why on earth would they even bother to come onto DCP and post? Just move along, seriously. People have been saying drum corps is dying since the 70s and they are still here, even after a pandemic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradF Posted May 15, 2023 Share Posted May 15, 2023 1 hour ago, DudleytheWest said: Increasing to 165 was just stupid. I keep reading some version of this and I don't really understand the sentiment. Every seat on the bus costs the same whether there is a member in it or not. So it is in the corps' - and the members' - best interest to have a member in every seat. Even when the max size was 155 most corps still had 165 members on the buses. They were called alternates. So the "top" corps are not taking any more people down the road. Every seat has a paying member in it. And now every person on the bus can be on the field in a performance role (it's up to each corps if that's what they want to do). What part of that is stupid? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terri Schehr Posted May 15, 2023 Share Posted May 15, 2023 42 minutes ago, craiga said: Too much doom and gloom. If someone really believes that drum corps is either dying or already dead, why on earth would they even bother to come onto DCP and post? Just move along, seriously. People have been saying drum corps is dying since the 70s and they are still here, even after a pandemic. I don’t know. I just know what I heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terri Schehr Posted May 15, 2023 Share Posted May 15, 2023 1 hour ago, DudleytheWest said: Good points all around. It's not sustainable. The beginning of the end was in the 80s or 90s. We've reached the end of the end. It's spun out of control. The corps shouldn't have the control they have in DCI. Increasing to 165 was just stupid. Another policy to benefit the top corps to the detriment of the lower tier corps. Pretty soon there is only going to be a handful of corps left. That was the ultimate goal. Six or seven “Supercorps”. It wasn’t exactly a secret in the 90’s. They were out-and-out saying it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scheherazadesghost Posted May 15, 2023 Share Posted May 15, 2023 A nuanced, researched take on overhead and donor expectations in the arts np sector: https://www.philanthropy.com/article/nonprofits-may-need-to-spend-a-third-of-their-budget-on-overhead-to-thrive-contradicting-a-donor-rule-of-thumb?utm_content=buffer73641&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabMaster Posted May 15, 2023 Share Posted May 15, 2023 6 hours ago, Achilles said: Interesting. That suggests that at the top of the organization is someone strong and wise enough to herd that many cats. There are key people in key positions who guide the corps and the IAM organization. There is a strong CEO who is a great manager of a diverse group of people and the skills that support the goals and objectives of IAM. With the help of select people they look for other skilled smart people who are willing to offer additional skills and experience in a variety of roles beneficial to all elements of IAM. BAC is one group in the IAM structure. As an example, the COO/ED of BAC, is a lawyer and has a music degree and has been with the corps for well over 20 years. He has a team under him that strives for operational excellence in their operational and financial roles. There are similar people managing the HYPE group and its daily function. The same for Great East Music Festivals and the music store. It took a lot of years building the org, and was done so no one person, or faction within, could control the organization. Yes it’s a lot of cats, but these are cats are happy doing what it is asked of them. And no doubt there are watchers of the cats in the mix too. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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