23 Sep
2025
23 Sep
'25
9:29 p.m.
Hi,
Wondering if any of you offer a periodic or seasonal subscription to your
dancers? If so, how is that priced relative to your standard admission?
I'm guessing some form of discount is given, e.g.: a season of 26 dances is
offered for the equivalent of, say, 20 dances or so?
If you offer a sliding scale admission typically, do you offer
subscriptions at different levels?
And, on a practical basis, how do you administer such admissions at the
entry table? Name list, token, etc?
Thanks,
Don Veino
Monday Contras at the Concord, MA Scout House
25 Sep
25 Sep
1:47 p.m.
Hi Sarah,
In Lenox, we have found that subscribers (sustainers) actually pay more on
average as very few of them attend every dance in a year. So they may pay
for 10 dances at the start of the year but only attend 8 or 9. We also
offer a sliding scale and a lower price for students and a "second dance
free" policy to encourage new dancers to return.
- Jon Greene
On Wed, Sep 24, 2025 at 10:15 PM Sarah Gowan via Organizers <
organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
One thing to consider is that a subscription/discount
is great if you have
the money to put up front, but for those who are low income, it may be out
of reach. It doesn’t sit well with me that the people who have money to buy
a subscription benefit from a discounted admission fee and the
cash-strapped end up paying more because they can’t afford the lump-sum
subscription. On the other hand, sliding scale allows more low-income folks
access to the dance and the opportunity for financially advantaged to
donate to support the dance. I’m pretty sure our dance has done quite well
with a sliding scale admission policy. We also do an annual fund-raiser to
keep cash flow healthy, but that’s a whole other discussion!
Sarah
Mt Airy Contra, Philadelphia, PA
*From: *Emily Addison via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
*Reply-To: *Emily Addison <emilyladdison(a)gmail.com>
*Date: *Wednesday, September 24, 2025 at 7:46 AM
*To: *Don Veino <sharedweight_net(a)veino.com>
*Cc: *organizers shared weight <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
*Subject: *[Organizers] Re: Series Subscription Offering
Hi Don,
Cool question!
The Ottawa Contra did this before the pandemic. I've attached a PDF
explaining it.
However, when they came back from the pandemic, they moved to sliding
scale and got rid of the membership/subscription.
I almost feel as though groups that do that approach might end up feeling
a bit more like a club. I know that's definitely the case with the Ottawa
English Country Dance club.
Curious what others are doing.
Emily
On Tue, Sep 23, 2025 at 5:30 PM Don Veino via Organizers <
organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Hi,
Wondering if any of you offer a periodic or seasonal subscription to your
dancers? If so, how is that priced relative to your standard admission?
I'm guessing some form of discount is given, e.g.: a season of 26 dances
is offered for the equivalent of, say, 20 dances or so?
If you offer a sliding scale admission typically, do you offer
subscriptions at different levels?
And, on a practical basis, how do you administer such admissions at the
entry table? Name list, token, etc?
Thanks,
Don Veino
Monday Contras at the Concord, MA Scout House
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2:10 a.m.
One thing to consider is that a subscription/discount is great if you have the money to
put up front, but for those who are low income, it may be out of reach. It doesn’t sit
well with me that the people who have money to buy a subscription benefit from a
discounted admission fee and the cash-strapped end up paying more because they can’t
afford the lump-sum subscription. On the other hand, sliding scale allows more low-income
folks access to the dance and the opportunity for financially advantaged to donate to
support the dance. I’m pretty sure our dance has done quite well with a sliding scale
admission policy. We also do an annual fund-raiser to keep cash flow healthy, but that’s a
whole other discussion!
Sarah
Mt Airy Contra, Philadelphia, PA
From: Emily Addison via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Reply-To: Emily Addison <emilyladdison(a)gmail.com>
Date: Wednesday, September 24, 2025 at 7:46 AM
To: Don Veino <sharedweight_net(a)veino.com>
Cc: organizers shared weight <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Organizers] Re: Series Subscription Offering
Hi Don,
Cool question!
The Ottawa Contra did this before the pandemic. I've attached a PDF explaining it.
However, when they came back from the pandemic, they moved to sliding scale and got rid of
the membership/subscription.
I almost feel as though groups that do that approach might end up feeling a bit more like
a club. I know that's definitely the case with the Ottawa English Country Dance
club.
Curious what others are doing.
Emily
On Tue, Sep 23, 2025 at 5:30 PM Don Veino via Organizers
<organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Hi,
Wondering if any of you offer a periodic or seasonal subscription to your dancers? If so,
how is that priced relative to your standard admission?
I'm guessing some form of discount is given, e.g.: a season of 26 dances is offered
for the equivalent of, say, 20 dances or so?
If you offer a sliding scale admission typically, do you offer subscriptions at different
levels?
And, on a practical basis, how do you administer such admissions at the entry table? Name
list, token, etc?
Thanks,
Don Veino
Monday Contras at the Concord, MA Scout House
_______________________________________________
Organizers mailing list -- organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
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24 Sep
24 Sep
10:54 p.m.
Atlanta has tried a lot of things at its two dances (!). One of them uses
sliding scale, and it strikes me as a good way to go for many groups.
Sliding scale avoids the need to define categories like "student" or
"minor" and to just say, use your heart. It has not been abused as far as I
can tell. The other dance uses $10/event--a nice, simple round number that
I hope covers the costs.
The older and bigger dance tried an annual subscription a few years ago,
while I was on the steering committee, and it was not continued after the
initial one-year experiment. I do not have the info on hand to say exactly
what did and didn't work, though I know there are polls and financial
analysis that are floating around. I better not reconstruct it just from
memory.
It isn't happening any more, but another group named Reframed offered the
best subscription approach I've ever seen. The subscription would grant
access to every event the organizer put together, which included a weekly
contra dance and also thirteen other dances at one extreme. An individual
event would either be free or would cost about $10, and I think the monthly
subscription was around $40, but I can't remember for sure. The simplicity
of it was wonderful for everyone involved, and it seems like it gave the
organizer the opportunity to do a lot of experiments in both the dance
line-up and in the role definition of quasi-volunteers within the group.
Reframed definitely had--has, I suppose--that club-like feel that I see
mentioned in other posts on this thread. People hang out on the Discord
with each other, and the subscribers would sometimes go to an event almost
every day of the week. So it was quite the social hub for many of the
members. Also, it struck me that these highest attendees were not at all
moochers but were more like volunteers doing a lot of free work. When they
would go to an additional dance or two a week, they don't really cost
anything since they wouldn't have gone if the subscription didn't exist.
Meanwhile, they do a lot to help out, including helping out the new
dancers. That factor is important to consider for a subscription and makes
it not as simple as ticket revenue minus operating costs.
Lex Spoon
11:45 a.m.
Hi Don,
Cool question!
The Ottawa Contra did this before the pandemic. I've attached a PDF
explaining it.
However, when they came back from the pandemic, they moved to sliding scale
and got rid of the membership/subscription.
I almost feel as though groups that do that approach might end up feeling a
bit more like a club. I know that's definitely the case with the Ottawa
English Country Dance club.
Curious what others are doing.
Emily
On Tue, Sep 23, 2025 at 5:30 PM Don Veino via Organizers <
organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Hi,
Wondering if any of you offer a periodic or seasonal subscription to your
dancers? If so, how is that priced relative to your standard admission?
I'm guessing some form of discount is given, e.g.: a season of 26 dances
is offered for the equivalent of, say, 20 dances or so?
If you offer a sliding scale admission typically, do you offer
subscriptions at different levels?
And, on a practical basis, how do you administer such admissions at the
entry table? Name list, token, etc?
Thanks,
Don Veino
Monday Contras at the Concord, MA Scout House
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6 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
Don Veino -
Emily Addison -
Jon Greene -
Lex Spoon -
Sarah Gowan -
Stephen Moore