Chris,
I can tell you that in GR we have two dances. The
first is backed by the folk arts society and so
members get a discounted price, and I thought there
was a student and senior discount. The bands and
callers typically come from out of town and the hall
(gym) is more expensive.
The cost just went up to $8. The attendance has gone
down significantly over the past year. I don't think
it has much to do with price.
I'm more involved with the second dance which I helped
develop. We started with a $5 fee across the board.
We also started with a lead fiddler at $50 a night and
we paid the caller/ programmer/ mentor $50. We started
with a $75 fee for the hall but its gone up. We
raised the price to $6 to accommodate. The newer
callers took over calling the dances as a group for a
year without fees, it worked for both our benefits.
The programmer for the evening, or the main caller (it
still is a shared night), is paid $50 starting this
past spring. The main band are students of the
fiddler/ mando musicians, or musicians that like to
play for a dance but rarely have an opportunity, or
those that want to learn. They are unpaid. there is a
music sheet they try to keep to, it develops as the
musicians grow. (we also have an "icky" jam (slow
jam) some of these same folks come to monthly.)
An hour away in Kalamazoo the fee is $8 dollars, but
as a member of that community or a neighboring
community, you get a discount of $2. Students are $4
and families with more than three kids may get
discounts. Advanced dances are $2 more across the
board.
An hour another way is the HOlland community. They
have just raised their price to a flat $8 admission
ages 5 and under: free $5:full-time students (13+ with
current ID), seniors (60+) $20 family (all in the same
household)
volunteers $2 discount, other scholarships available
Lansing has two dances. One is $7 for Looking Glass
Members, $8 for the public, and $4 for students ( high
school, college) with ID. Children under 15 are
admitted for free! the other is - $8 / General
Admission
- $7 / Lansing Area Folksong Society Members
- $4 / First-time dancers and Students.
All the dances give discounts for volunteering at the
desk or doing other tasks. For a while GR and maybe
Holland gave $1 off to encourage treat sharing (we all
have snacks at break), but we were able to build it
back up as part of sharing community.
I don't feel at liberty to talk about the costs
associated with the dance but if anyone is interested
in comparisons, I will ask the two other West MI dance
communities, and the two in Lansing, if they would be
willing to share that information. There are also
dance communities in Goshen, IN and a small one in
Remus, MI.
I know that none of the dances really make money, as
far as I know, as a general rule. Pretty much its at
best break even or a little more, when there is excess
it goes back into the pot to help with scholarships or
a big band or caller or other events, or just to float
the boat when things go dry.
Does that help?
Laurie
--- organizers-request(a)sharedweight.net wrote:
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Price (Chris Weiler)
> 2. Re: Price (astro46(a)apricoto.com)
>
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:09:18 -0400
> From: Chris Weiler <chris.weiler(a)weirdtable.org>
> Subject: [Organizers] Price
> To: organizers(a)sharedweight.net
> Message-ID: <4714558E.20505(a)weirdtable.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1;
> format=flowed
>
> Some of you may recognize this question from the
> PVCD (Pioneer Valley
> Contra Dance) list on Yahoo Groups.
>
> How do you balance the price you charge for the
> evening of dancing with
> attendance? Charge too much and you loose people.
> Charge too little and
> you have trouble paying the performers and the hall.
> Do you charge a
> sliding scale based on ability to pay? Or
> student/senior status?
>
> On the PVCD list, a student sent a message
> complaining about the rising
> prices at some dances and the lack of a student rate
> at others. She
> complained that she and her friends could not dance
> as much as they
> wanted to. The response ranged from "right on!" to
> "think about the
> musicians!" to "grow up and decide how to spend your
> money". (I'm
> paraphrasing.)
>
> Last month (after much deliberation) I raised the
> price of my Mill City
> dance from $7 to $8, but added a "young person"
> price of $5. It's too
> soon to know if it's had any affect or not. Last
> month I had a couple
> less people than usual, but due to the price
> increase, the amount that I
> had to pay the band was the same. The other dance in
> town is still
> charging $7 as well. When I took a survey in the
> sign-in book earlier in
> the summer, I asked if people were willing to pay
> the new price
> structure. I got about 10 yeas and 2 nays. I should
> also mention that I
> do not have a gate person and payment is on the
> honor system. However,
> the tally pretty closely matches my quick count from
> the microphone
> during the evening.
>
> Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
>
> Chris Weiler
> Goffstown, NH
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:56:39 -0500
> From: astro46(a)apricoto.com
> Subject: Re: [Organizers] Price
> To: "'A list for dance organizers'"
> <organizers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Message-ID: <000e01c81004$c291d570$5685fea9@jmr>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> chicago charges $6 per person. no discounts for
> students, though young kids
> (below 12, as i remember) don't pay. it has been
> this rate for several
> years. local musicians get $50 each with a band max
> of $200, and caller
> gets $50. no one else is paid. hall is $150. in the
> past some evenings would
> make money, some lose. there are occasional grants.
> over the last 8 months
> attendance as fallen, so now most evening lose
> money. remains to be seen
> what will happen with this situation.
>
> in chicago, considering the general cost of
> entertainment (a beer is $3-$5),
> there hasn't been much comment about the price. more
> of an issue here is
> transportation. more students might come, but don't
> have cars to get to the
> dance. taking combinations of trains and busses at
> 11:30pm can be
> discouraging. or living 1-1.5 hours drive away can
> seem daunting after a
> days work.
>
> jeffrey
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: organizers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net
> > [mailto:organizers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On
> Behalf Of Chris Weiler
> > Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 1:09 AM
> > To: organizers(a)sharedweight.net
> > Subject: [Organizers] Price
> >
> > Some of you may recognize this question from the
> PVCD
> > (Pioneer Valley Contra Dance) list on Yahoo
> Groups.
> >
> > How do you balance the price you charge for the
> evening of
> > dancing with attendance? Charge too much and you
> loose
> > people. Charge too little and you have trouble
> paying the
> > performers and the hall. Do you charge a sliding
> scale based
> > on ability to pay? Or student/senior status?
> >
> > On the PVCD list, a student sent a message
> complaining about
> > the rising prices at some dances and the lack of a
> student
> > rate at others. She complained that she and her
> friends could
> > not dance as much as they wanted to. The response
> ranged from
> > "right on!" to "think about the musicians!" to
> "grow up and
> > decide how to spend your money". (I'm
> > paraphrasing.)
> >
> > Last month (after much deliberation) I raised the
> price of my
> > Mill City dance from $7 to $8, but added a "young
> person"
> > price of $5. It's too soon to know if it's had any
> affect or
> > not. Last month I had a couple less people than
> usual, but
> > due to the price increase, the amount that I had
> to pay the
> > band was the same. The other dance in town is
> still charging
> > $7 as well. When I took a survey in the sign-in
> book earlier
> > in the summer, I asked if people were willing to
> pay the new
> > price structure. I got about 10 yeas and 2 nays. I
> should
> > also mention that I do not have a gate person and
> payment is
> > on the honor system. However, the tally pretty
> closely
> > matches my quick count from the microphone during
> the evening.
> >
> > Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
> >
> > Chris Weiler
> > Goffstown, NH
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Organizers mailing list
> > Organizers(a)sharedweight.net
> >
>
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers
>
=== message truncated ===
____________________________________________________________________________________
Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your story. Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games.
http://sims.yahoo.com/
this reply is quite a bit delayed. i just came across this list, and was
looking through the archives.
we dance in a gym. same lousy acoustics as most gyms. we tried numerous
setups, with different numbers of speakers in different places, and
different models of speakers. at one point we were trying the old standby
arrangement: one speaker on each side of the stage with one speaker on each
side of the hall, halfway down the hall, on delays. luckily, a person who
had a lot of experience with sound for rock bands offered to help. he dumped
the delays, took all 4 speakers and moved them into a clump, on the floor,
partially off to the side. pointing diagonally down the hall. the difference
in sound was impressive. we have modified this setup to 2 speakers (don't
want to haul 4 speakers.) at the center of the hall, only to bring the sound
source closer to the band which sits to one side of the stage in our case.
when i am running sound i drop one speaker to just above head height and cut
the volume on it (separate volume control for that speaker) to just hardly
audible. the idea is that it is fill for the front. the other speaker is up
around 8 feet. both are on tilters. i won't go into the theory about why
this works.
you may also, depending on the number of dancers/noise level, try just using
one speaker,instead of two. tilters are a good idea.
i don't know why this arrangement is not more widely used. it seems to be a
vast improvement, in this sort of hall, over the traditional, speaker on
each side arrangement.
a further improvement can be made by moving the monitors to behind the
musicians, set up at head height, right behind their ears. obviously you
have to be very careful of sound volume with this arrangement. and have
enough, small speakers to get one between pairs of musicians, on stands,
assuming that they are sitting in row or small semi-circle. this arrangement
allows the musicians to hear themselves with lower monitor volume, hence
lower stage noise bleeding into the stage mics, causing more degradation of
hall sound. frankly, even though it does make a small improvement in hall
sound and monitor sound, we don't use this much because it seems to make the
musicians uncomfortable. they generally opt to have the monitors in from of
them.
Jeffrey
Hello everyone!
It was three years ago that Seth and I started SharedWeight. The first
invitations went out on September 19th and the first messages went out
shortly afterwards. We'd like to thank everyone for sharing their
thoughts, material, opinions and attention. It's been our privilege to
see you take our vision for what these lists could be and make them a
reality.
This next year is going to be an exciting one as well. As the Musicians
and Organizers lists get going, there are more plans in the works for
SharedWeight.
Happy Dancing!!
Chris Weiler
Sorry, I sent this post to the callers list and it should have gone to the organizers list. Thanks for your help!
Our dance group in Charlotte NC is considering a long-term lease on an unused gym. Terms are great, we have a strong lead on a temporary portable floor while we raise money for a better floor. Acoustics, however, are horrendous. It's a big concrete box. What are some relatively quick and cheap ways we can get the acoustics to an OK level while we do the fundraising to do the job right? We need to move in fast as we presently have no better alternatives for our weekly dance. We're thinking about hanging quilts and heavy curtains from ropes along the walls and maybe up in the high ceiling.
Any ideas? Suggestions?
Thanks.
Gretchen Caldwell
gretchendance(a)yahoo.com
Charlotte NC
At the Thursday Concord MA dance our standard rate is $8, with students ("full time 21 and under") $5. Starting at the break, everyone pays $3. When the door tender goes away (with about 45 minutes to go in the dance) we put out an honor box requesting $2. Non-dancers do not pay.
The student rate is a relatively recent addition to us, and we don't sweat the numbers too much even though the percentage of students varies from evening to evening. We don't keep tallys.
My impression is that we started getting more students at our regular rate. Then we instituted the student rate. Then more students came. No way of knowing if this had anything to do with the student rate. I think that having a student discount, even if is just a buck, puts out a psychological welcome mat to students.
Hay Chris,
Though not part of this list, I hope I can input :-)
(having organized a dance in the past)
Most community dances, that I have attended, esp. in collage towns
Do have student rates, some offer the same as Senior discount.
This is perfectly legitimate.
What I have found is that any price increase will be met
With a certain amount of grousing.... And for the loudest grousers
I will quietly remind them about the cost of pizza or movies or other
Forms of entertainment.....
I think you'll find that loyal dancers will not mind paying the extra
Dollar....and as long as the dance is of consistent good quality
Even the grousers will continue to attend (though grudgingly)
Hope to get to Manchester soon!
Thanks Gale
the Old Fiddler's Club of Rhode Island is the oldest fiddling club in the
USA, continuously meeting since 1929 for concerts and, back in the day, for
dances. There have been no dances for many years and we are interested in
starting a new contradance in the Providence area. Our intention is to use
this as a recruiting tool for new musicians and possibly new/beginner
callers.
We have a couple big advantages in starting out, I think, because we are a
tax exempt organization, we have good musicians to anchor a members and
sit-in house band, and we have a $grant. We are looking for a hall, and have
spoken to some very experienced callers in SE New England.
We would be grateful for any advice or encouragement and will be watching
carefully to see what kind of problems and solutions everyone has at their
dances.
Hi Organizers!
I'll start things off. My dance in Manchester, NH is having problems
with falling attendance. A lot of this was due to my inability to spend
time promoting the dance. I have since recruited one of my regular
dancers to help and she's doing a great job of spreading fliers around
and getting notices in newspapers.
We have 3 colleges in the greater Manchester area. One idea that I had
was to change the admission price from $7 for 12 and up to $8 for adults
and $5 for students. I put the question to my dancers in the form of a
survey question in the book I keep on the welcome table. I was surprised
when 2 people (out of 10 or 12) said that they would not be willing to
pay the new price. Because the format was anonymous, I don't know who
said no, but I'd be very curious to know.
What are people's experiences with having a student rate? Any luck in
attracting students? Did it help the adult attendance, too?
I should also note that the increase is also intended to help me cover
increased hall costs and be able to offer a better guarantee to
musicians. I'm not planning on making this change until September.
Thanks for your input!
Chris Weiler
Mill City Contra Dance
Manchester, NH
http://www.nhdances.org/millcity/
Hello everyone!
Welcome to the Organizer's list on SharedWeight. Thank you for signing up!
We have more than 20 people signed up for this list from all sorts of
backgrounds, so let's pick each other's brains!
While I hope that this list will be similar to the tone and community
built on the Caller's list, it'll be up to all of us to shape the
discussion here. So let's get started!
Chris Weiler
Mill City Contra Dance
Manchester, NH
http://www.nhdances.org/millcity/
Thanks for not just having a great idea with your lists, but for following through on them. I heard about your effort from Chris Page, here in San Diego where I'm living. If you do pull together an organizers' list, I'd love to be added to it:
Pat Stark pstark(a)sciti.com 619-896-2513
Thanks!
