USBands, The Cadets Ensembles and Drum Corps Recruiting from George Hopkins Since 1989, Youth Education in the Arts has been managing band events though a program called USBands. Actually, way back, the name of the program was the Cadets Marching Band Cooperative. Indeed, the offering was a natural extension of what we have done since 1934. The idea of the event company was to offer a high-level, band-director-oriented event to high school ensembles that we, as administrators of a drum corps, would approve of. So, we created a system with scholastic scoring, no penalties, supportive adjudication, great venues and awesome service. And… it worked. We ran one show in 1989, and now we run about 135 shows across the country. And now, we have added an indoor circuit in the winter and also manage concert band festivals in the spring. There is a definite connection we at YEA! want to make between USBands and The Cadets Ensembles: The Cadets Cadets2 Cadets Winter Percussion Cadets Winter Guard We want high school students, staff and directors to understand and appreciate the connection. Why would we not? And we work hard to make sure that every program we manage is excellent in every way. And yes, sometimes we are not as successful as we would like, but here we are, and we have every intention of doubling the depth and breadth of our programs in the coming years. Access for Drum Corps Recruiting, and an Adjustment to Our Policy Over the years, we have allowed other groups to recruit and participate at our events. Sometimes, folks traded volunteers for the chance to recruit. Other times, there was a fee. And sometimes folks just made their way to a specific high school. At the same time, we have worked to better systematize USBands events. We ask hosts to have USBands approve outside vendors so that we have clarity as to who is on-site. We want to be clear about sponsors, merchandise, and yes, even performing groups who are looking for members. In this day and age, as we attach our name to events, we need to be aware of most everything that occurs. We have to purchase insurance policies, we have financial auditing that occurs from time to time, and we have governmental regulations to which we adhere. Hosts also have concerns about events and who is on-site. Just today we had to fill out forms allowing for background checks on some of our critical staffers on site! Life is different! And we have tried to assist schools in managing their risk. New Policy In recent weeks, we have had a kickback from a few groups related to our policies regarding drum corps recruiting. In response, we DID offer all corps the opportunity to participate at the USBands New Jersey State Championship at Rutgers University on October 18 and 25. We had NO TAKERS. As we search for an amiable solution, we have settled on the following for 2014. We will review following the band season. Any marching band or indoor competition hosted by a partner of USBands will be allowed to make their own decisions related to recruiting displays. This means that any high-school-hosted program may open the doors to any drum corps, color guard or indoor percussion ensemble that seeks access to high school students. USBands relinquishes control over this aspect of our events. If a group would like to set up at a locally hosted show, the contact will be the host band. For USBands-hosted events, and this would include the Yamaha Cup, all State Championships and National Championships, USBands maintains the control inherent upon the fact that we are paying rent, personnel and other expenses. We are fully engaged. In line with this, we WILL set up a CORPS CORNER for recruiting at: > NJ State Championships > PA State Championships > New England State Championships > Maryland State Championships > Virginia State Championships > A Class Championships in Allentown, Pa. > Open Class Championships at MetLife Stadium In order to reserve a space at any of these events, we suggest you first review the schedule at usbands.org. Then, all that is needed is a simple e-mail to Nate Foreman at [email protected]. Nate will take your information and make sure that we are ready for you and your group at the specific event. All of us at YEA! hope that this plan allows for different groups to gain some of the access they desire while allowing Youth Education in the Arts, USBands and The Cadets Ensembles to best manage all that we do in a way that allows for synergy and excellence. For any more information on Youth Education in the Arts, or any program we offer, go to yea.org or call 610-821-0345. Happy Band Season! And Happy Recruiting.
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 19:50:11 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015