Photo by Carly Pearson
The Emporia Municipal Band practices for its 2007 summer season.
The band will play on. But that doesn’t mean it won’t change its tune.
It’s been a couple of weeks since the Emporia City Commission approved its budget, which included cutting the Emporia Municipal Band’s budget in half. Now, the band has to work out how to get by on $7,500, which is less city money than it’s received since the late 1980s.
With summer over and another successful season in the books, the band’s board usually wouldn’t even meet until April. But there’s a lot that needs talking about soon, probably before the end of this year.
“I think the guys’ll want to sit down and talk about what options we’ve got,” said Dick Winter, the band’s president. “...We’ll have to see how it works out.”
Nobody’s really sure what to do yet. But some of the ideas that have been floated include:
• Shorten the season — Most of the $15,000 that the band gets now goes to pay the musicians and director for 10 concerts a year, plus rehearsals. So with funding chopped in half, one obvious way to cut back would be to chop the season in half, too. Everyone would still get $20 to $40 per concert week, but for only five concerts a summer.
“It’s a shame,” longtime band member and at-large board member Frank Malambri said of the possibility. “We had such a good band this year. Some of the high school kids were in there and were sounding pretty sweet, not just all of us old-timers.”
“We’ll have to see how it works out,” Winter said of the option. “More than likely, we might get the kids to volunteer to do the rest of the season. Most of them feel it’s a hobby anyway, not something to make money on.”
• Cut back the rate — That’s a possibility, though not one director Gary McCarty is thrilled about. It’s been five years since the band got its funding kicked up from $9,000 to $15,000 so it could pay its musicians a little more, particularly its long-timers.
And no, deliberately shrinking the band is not a possibility. There have been years that McCarty wouldn’t mind having a few more people in the band if he could only figure out where to put them on the bandstand.
“Some people ask me ‘Does the band need to be that size?’” McCarty said. “Well, yes, to achieve the sound we want to achieve, it does. We can’t just cut out the trumpet section. It’s liking having ESU football get by with three linemen on offense.”
• Sing for its supper — About five years ago, the band held an offseason benefit concert for the Granada Theatre. With that precedent, it’s not impossible that the band could hold a fundraising show for itself.
“It wouldn’t raise $7,500, but it would put something in,” McCarty said.
• Grants, donations and sponsorships — This has been the undiscovered country for the band, at least as far as direct funding goes. Of course, there has always been the occasional legacy and even some corporate money for related expenses: the bandstand, for example, came about because of a donation from Emporia State Bank.
So this year, it may be time for the band to see what’s out there.
“There’s some grant money out there that’s not awarded because people don’t know how to apply for it,” McCarty said. “We’ve got people that know the issues about that.”
Winter noted that this last season, someone had left a little money to the band in their will. The band is still seeing whether it can touch the principal or just the interest, but that money did give some of the flexibility needed to commission a piece for Emporia’s 150th anniversary this year.
Malambri hinted that somebody may be meeting with the band soon to talk about a donation or sponsorship, or something along those lines.
“You’ll hear from the city band,” Malambri said. “Don’t worry about it.”
• Friends of the band — Other organizations have a “friends of” booster organization, which helps them out with funding or support, such as the groups that back the zoo and the library. Why not the band as well?
Winter said that was a possibility, though he’d rather see the impetus come from the community than from the band itself.
“We felt there ought to be somebody suggesting (such an) organization instead of us saying ‘Hey, come support us!’” he said.
For now, time is on the band’s side. It’s a long time until summer and a lot of decisions can be made in that time.
“We’re just a two-month band,” Winter pointed out. “We don’t do this whole thing all year long.”
And right now, McCarty said, everything was on the table for discussion. The band may even take a page from the city commission’s book and have a community forum at some point to discuss its options.
“Maybe we’ll have a car wash,” McCarty joked. “I don’t know.”
Comments
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Posted by dhcc66 (anonymous) on August 31, 2007 at 6:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I mean this in the nicest of ways. The two municipal bands that my family has been a part of have both been voluntary. Both bands had young and old members and both had been around since decades before I was born. Both bands also played in the park as well as for formal functions. The band memebers played for the love of the music, for civic pride, and for their enjoyment. Nobody was paid and nobody EVER asked to be paid.
I don't understand why a small group of musicians with such civic pride has to be paid to do what they do. Maybe it's time the band look within itsself to ask some questions.
Please don't take this as me shaking my finger at anybody. I'm simply asking why it takes money to make the band play.
Posted by justthinkin (anonymous) on August 31, 2007 at 8:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I certainly agree with dhcc66, and have thought from the beginning that the band, and it's members sounded greedy. If you love it, you will do it for the experience. Thats what community pride means. I didn't see Evora Wheeler or Coach Slaymaker saying they wouldn't do the sesque... (who can spell it) centennial unless they were paid. Come on - VOLUNTEER if it means that much to you.
Posted by Flips (anonymous) on September 5, 2007 at 10:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!
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