[Organizers] 2 Questions

Hi all, 2 Questions; one easy one not so easy. (1) Easy question: I am involved in trying to restart the dance that takes place in Deerfield, NH on the first Saturday of the month. It was started and maintained by Marianne Taylor for 7 or 8 years before her recent death, and it for her as well as for the dance that we want to continue the event. We have a little seed money (I am not sure how much) and hope to attract callers, musicians and perhaps a sound person for a share of the gate. It seems to me that as organizers we probably should not give the talent all of the gate. There might be gas money, but if I understand the current situation correctly, that might be the only guarantee. Anything else will probably be a share of the gate. What percent of the gate would you give to the talent? Would you retain any for the organization? (2) Realizing a vision: There are other dances within an hour or so at the same time. These have tended to attract serious dance gypsies. The Deerfield dance had always been a more low key dance with some older dancers, some pretty young dancers and a larger share of beginners. We need to attract a solid core of dancers but do not want to hurt attendance at these other dances. Speaking just for myself, we may want to try to continue to fill the niche that this dance always used to. If in fact this is the vision that others helping to organize this wan,t how do you recommend we convey that to potential dancers? I am asking about how to realize a vision once that vision has been developed? This is a big question and one that I hope those of us going to the "Puttin' On the Dance" conference might discuss. But I would love to hear your thoughts on this here as well. So, one small fairly urgent question that we need to settle very soon, and one larger question that we will probably need to work at for a while. Thanks for being there, Cheers, Rickey Holt, Fremont, NH