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 --- [email protected] wrote: > Today's Topics: > > 1. Price (Chris Weiler) > 2. Re: Price ([email protected]) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:09:18 -0400 > From: Chris Weiler <[email protected]> > Subject: [Organizers] Price > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > 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 $7 as well. When I took a survey in the > sign-in book earlier in > the summer, I asked if people were willing to pay > the new price > structure. I got about 10 yeas and 2 nays. I should > also mention that I > do not have a gate person and payment is on the > honor system. However, > the tally pretty closely matches my quick count from > the microphone > during the evening. > > Thanks in advance for your thoughts. > > Chris Weiler > Goffstown, NH > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:56:39 -0500 > From: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Organizers] Price > To: "'A list for dance organizers'" > <[email protected]> > Message-ID: <000e01c81004$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: [email protected] > > [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Chris Weiler > > Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 1:09 AM > > To: [email protected] > > 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 > > [email protected] > > > 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/
