DCI Januals 2024

[Jeff Ream]

6 hours ago, cixelsyd said:

Since it is you asking, this probably is not just a rhetorical question so I will try to answer.

If I were in a position where the people in that boardroom asked me that question... I would start by revisiting the premise that "most corps don't see making it beyond 5 years and that the existing model cannot sustain itself" as many times as necessary to get through the five stages of grief.  Why?  Because we have heard this refrain over and over since 1971.  Nine times out of ten, it ends without passing the denial phase.  

This fall on this forum, we demonstrated how denial works.  Numerous people denied there even is a cost problem, and some were so determined to deny it that they would rather stop the conversation than admit that much.  I expect nothing different this time.

There are really only three choices here - decrease cost, increase revenue, or ignore the iceberg/full speed ahead.  

1.  If it is as bad as you say, bickering over cost cuts will not fix it.  The one BIG way to make the activity more sustainable would be to have far more corps.  We have so few now that national touring is virtually mandatory just to provide enough of an experience to make it worth the time and money participants put into it.  Of course, to grow the activity from the top down would require the top corps to make sacrifices for greater inclusion.  The first step should be to grant membership to what few full-fledged corps still persevere in the rugged wilderness of open-class, and world-class non-member status.  (Yes, I know - that will NEVER HAPPEN, and therefore, this whole paragraph will NEVER HAPPEN.)

2.  In similar fashion, bickering over revenue ideas which are mostly already in play and maxed out will not be an adequate fix either.  The one BIG way to address the revenue side of the equation would be to raise member fees.  Arguably, the activity currently charges about half of what elite room-and-board summer arts camps cost.  Provide a comparable quality experience, and charge a comparable price.  Of course, our activity is rooted in the idea of providing opportunities for people of limited economic means, and the fact that corps compete among each other for applicants probably drives fee levels down, so this would be a difficult transition to make.

3.  If real change like the above is still unpalatable, there is always the founding DCI philosophy to fall back on.  If the current model is unsustainable, divide the activity into "haves" and "have-nots", and make it sustainable only for the "haves".  If it is still unsustainable, move more corps out of the "haves" into the "have-nots".  Keep throwing deck chairs off the Titanic until it floats again.

there's 4.....decrease costs and increase revenue. but that takes planning

[mjoakes]

18 hours ago, MarimbaManiac said:

I feel like the answer here is pretty obvious, but because it would put a limit on the ability for a corps to buy a better shot at a championship, they won't agree to it. 

• Regional tours only, with each corps staying in their region until the week before finals. Then have a number of shows in an easy driving distance from the finals site. Corps fly in and then bus around the area. 
• Regional MEMBERSHIP only, negating the need for housing during spring training or pre-season. 
• Hard spending cap on things like equipment, uniforms, props, staff, design, anything that isn't related to feeding or housing the corps. 

Clearly this would be a major change to the activity, but it would allow for each corps to spend FAR less money on a season and extend the life of the activity as a whole. It would also make sure that less fortunate corps weren't competing with corps that are spending way more money than they are on flashy gimmicks. 

So the Texas kids who really, really want to march Cavies just have to suck it up and manage the disappointment?

[scheherazadesghost]

40 minutes ago, mjoakes said:

So the Texas kids who really, really want to march Cavies just have to suck it up and manage the disappointment?

lol, i thought of the Texas kids as well, being one originally myself. naw, we'll just remain the talented wildcards we are and go wherever we want. seems fair since we have so much support and talent, but not enough to create a sustainable corps like other regions. how very Texan.

although re: Cavies, that's what I had to do... suck it up and manage the disappointment. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[MarimbaManiac]

51 minutes ago, mjoakes said:

So the Texas kids who really, really want to march Cavies just have to suck it up and manage the disappointment?

Unless they can afford to move to the region and pay for room and board on their own dime, then yes. Eliminating 3 months of housing and feeding 200 people will cut down on the costs tremendously. The current model of creating your own nomadic city from May to August just isn't sustainable in the current world.

[scheherazadesghost]

15 minutes ago, MarimbaManiac said:

Unless they can afford to move to the region and pay for room and board on their own dime, then yes. Eliminating 3 months of housing and feeding 200 people will cut down on the costs tremendously. The current model of creating your own nomadic city from May to August just isn't sustainable in the current world.

I'm digging this idea. And ya know, I'd be fine with corps/alumni families hosting international and extra-regional members so long as they underwent some kind of background check and basic training... and maybe provided resources by the org for troubleshooting any potential issues that can naturally arise with housing. If most members were in-region, this would be minimal.

[OldSnareDrummer]

41 minutes ago, MarimbaManiac said:

Unless they can afford to move to the region and pay for room and board on their own dime, then yes. Eliminating 3 months of housing and feeding 200 people will cut down on the costs tremendously. The current model of creating your own nomadic city from May to August just isn't sustainable in the current world.

That was the very common thing BITD for kids who wanted to march with an out of town corps. You got a job, worked when you were able, paid for R&B unless a corps-mate and their folks was putting you up for little or nothing. Different times now, I get it, but if you want something bad enough, find a way. 

[MarimbaManiac]

30 minutes ago, OldSnareDrummer said:

That was the very common thing BITD for kids who wanted to march with an out of town corps. You got a job, worked when you were able, paid for R&B unless a corps-mate and their folks was putting you up for little or nothing. Different times now, I get it, but if you want something bad enough, find a way. 

I completely agree. A lot of smaller corps already do this, even very good open class corps like SCVC and BDB (at least as late as 2015 when I stopped actively teaching). Rehearsals are local, they take 3-5 day weekend tours early summer around the state, and then head out for a truncated midwest tour. 

With gas, housing, and food costs, the current model just isn't sustainable. 

1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said:

I'm digging this idea. And ya know, I'd be fine with corps/alumni families hosting international and extra-regional members so long as they underwent some kind of background check and basic training... and maybe provided resources by the org for troubleshooting any potential issues that can naturally arise with housing. If most members were in-region, this would be minimal.

Yes that too. I know plenty of people who did that back in the late 90s and early 2000's. You can even discount a member's fees if they host an out of towner. 

[2muchcoffeeman]

21 hours ago, MarimbaManiac said:

• Regional tours only, with each corps staying in their region until the week before finals. Then have a number of shows in an easy driving distance from the finals site. Corps fly in and then bus around the area. 
• Regional MEMBERSHIP only, negating the need for housing during spring training or pre-season. 
• Hard spending cap on things like equipment, uniforms, props, staff, design, anything that isn't related to feeding or housing the corps. 

With rules comes the need to have processes in place to enforce them. When it comes to membership and spending caps, the cure being prescribed here may be worse than the disease.

Imagine the IR$-like infra$tructure and auditing muscle that would be necessary to keep the Crossmen satisfied that the Colts didn't spend too much on their mellophone techs. And when SoA lodges a complaint in mid-July about the suspiciously extravagant Mandarins props, how to (quickly! before the regional!) adjudicate it in a way that doesn't crater the season for the members of the Mandarins? We're going to punish the tuition-paying sons for the sins of the father?

Just how "regional" is regional? For geographically isolated corps such as the Troopers, the recruiting region will need to be the Mountain Time Zone. For urban-center corps such as BD, it may need to be constrained to a few Bay-Area ZIP codes. And, again, imagine the administrative overhead that would be required to authenticate the geographic coordinates of the authentically full-time residences of a famously nomadic college-aged population. The member corps would spend more money on monitoring compliance with the rule -- and adjudicating the inevitable and probably numerous complaints -- than they would save on tour costs.

I know it seems, here on DCP, that the only response to genuinely earnest suggestions offered in good faith is to dump all over them. If I'm guilty in this case, I will say in defense that the nature of the challenges to the activity defy anything less than fundamental reconsideration of . . . the nature of the activity. Everything else comes up short. This is why, of the 3 remedies being suggested here, I believe the one that considers the tour model is the only one with potential to have impact.

 

Edited January 9 by 2muchcoffeeman

[Terri Schehr]

54 minutes ago, OldSnareDrummer said:

That was the very common thing BITD for kids who wanted to march with an out of town corps. You got a job, worked when you were able, paid for R&B unless a corps-mate and their folks was putting you up for little or nothing. Different times now, I get it, but if you want something bad enough, find a way. 

Jim did it with Kilties.  He moved to Racine, rented a place with three other guys, worked at snap on tool. 

[MarimbaManiac]

2 minutes ago, 2muchcoffeeman said:

With rules comes the need to have processes in place to enforce them. When it comes to membership and spending caps, the cure being prescribed here may be worse than the disease.

Imagine the IR$-like infra$tructure and auditing muscle that would be necessary to keep the Crossmen satisfied that the Colts didn't spend too much on their mellophone techs. And when SoA lodges a complaint in mid-July about the suspiciously extravagant Mandarins props, how to (quickly! before the regional!) adjudicate it in a way that doesn't crater the season for the members of the Mandarins? We're going to punish the tuition-paying sons for the sins of the father?

Just how "regional" is regional? For geographically isolated corps such as the Troopers, the recruiting region will need to be the Mountain Time Zone. For urban-center corps such as BD, it may need to be constrained to a few Bay-Area ZIP codes. And, again, imagine the administrative overhead that would be required to authenticate the geographic coordinates of the authentically full-time residences of a famously nomadic college-aged population. The member corps would spend more money on monitoring compliance with the rule -- and adjudicating the inevitable and probably numerous complaints -- than they would save on tour costs.

I know it seems, here on DCP, that the only response to genuinely earnest suggestions offered in good faith is to dump all over them. If I'm guilty in this case, I will say in defense that the nature of the challenges to the activity defy anything less than fundamental reconsideration of . . . the nature of the activity. Everything else comes up short. This is why, of the 3 remedies being suggested here, I believe only the one that considers the tour model has any potential to have impact.

 

With respect, none of these issues are novel or unique to drumcorps. Corps are already keeping track of their expenses, especially when it comes to purchasing equipment or paying staff. Mandating quarterly reporting of expenses to DCI shouldn't be a huge lift, and checking those submitted expenses against the EOY tax forms wouldn't be either. As a bonus, this would require corps that are less than stellar at managing their finances (AHEM, VMAPA), to be more proactive and transparent. 

The regional issue also has history in the activity. This culture of creating a nomadic city for 4 months is something that wasn't always the norm. Rather than restricting by specific areas or time zones, it could be accomplished simply by mandating that corps do not provide housing or food services for spring and summer rehearsals. If a member wants to travel out of their region, they are free to do so as long as they pay for their own expenses, or as another poster mentioned, finding a host family willing to sponsor them for the summer. 

Yes it means more process, but the alternative is that this behemoth model will collapse under its own weight.