[UK] Hands Off 2007 - Finances

I have taken the first steps in readiness for dealing with the financial aspects of Hands Off 2007...

The Charlton family keeps a spare bank account for things like this. It is not currently in use, so can be the Hands Off account if nobody objects.

I have invited Jason Barile and Kevin Kissinger (two names I hope everyone on Theremin World recognises) to oversee any financial activity, and they have very kindly accepted. So we have auditors!

I do not think it would be appropriate for me to be both banker and book-keeper, so we need someone in the UK to volunteer to look after the books.

My mums an accountant.

have you asked the mad professor from No1derland if he would like 2 sponser???

That is interesting. Have you mentioned this to her?

If she is interested, perhaps she could email me with her phone number so we can have a chat.

Some more costings are now available for the Rickmansworth venue. Food and board costs are not yet finalised for 2007, but apparently £30 per head per day is not an unresonable estimate. Use of the main hall is £1000 per day. (This is a change from previous information.) Working on an estimate of 40 attendees (again, exact availability of accomodation is not yet known) this means we should be able to keep charges for the whole event at between £120 and £150 per person, which allows some leeway for contingencies. Please note that this is by no means cast in stone.

Nonetheless the gerneral impression is that the event is very likely to be self-sufficient before any takings from people attending only the concert on the Sunday afternoon. Which means that we stand a good chance of being able to pay our performing artists at least a token amount. Which is a good thing - they are in the greater part professional musicians, and ought to have a percentage of the Box Office if we can manage it.

I am also very interested to hear from anyone who has experience on obtaining Arts Council grants, as this would provide a greater degree of security with regards to finances.

just a thought about money issues/ fees : would somebody performing a showcase also have to pay the 150 pounds (or whatever the cost will be) or could it be considered as a fee? Of course this does not applies to the Sunday concert performers. I should assume Pamelia would not come and perform without a fee...

This is were things could get messy...

I would certainly expect all the performers at the concert to receive some fee, however token, but costs could quickly spiral.

My own thoughts on showcase performers is that this is an opportunity for them to perform in public to a guaranteed audience of peers, possibly for the first time. It will allow them to potentially sell CDs, encourage visitors to their website, and receive useful feedback about their performance and technique from other thereminists.

This event is very much a community-led affair, with lots of work being undertaken (mainly by Gordon, so far) to get it up and running. We want it to work because we love this instrument and want to improve our techniques and widen awareness of the theremin as more than just a woo-woo sound effect. For this reason, I would expect (or at least hope) that we will have people playing or demonstrating techniques for the love of what they do, with the additional benefit that they will get a wider audience in the longer term.

The event should be well publicised, even to the extent of Gordon's radio specials before and after, so to be involved in playing at Hands Off will be to benefit from the exposure this brings.

I think to start having a tiered tariff would become an administrative headache, and I would favour a single price, or perhaps a residential and a non-residential price.

For the conference it will be simplest to have a single all-in fee and sufficient to make the books balance.

For the concert I thought - free for conference attendees, something like £6 for the public and £4 for concessions - students, unemployed and retired. Those seem to be the going rates for experimental music gigs around here.

We could certainly have a stall for artists to sell their CDs and for manufacturers to sell their hardware. Also we could buy a stock of soft drinks on a sale or return basis to sell at a profit. Also we could have a raffle. As noted elsewhere artists will be given the opportunity to offer private tuition on whatever basis they like, and Mark C is looking into an Arts Council grant.

Hopefully all those things combined will mean we can offer a fair reimbursement to our speakers etc.

(Although I do echo J_D's points about intangible benefits. Also I recall vividly fifteen years ago driving to Czechoslovakia because I couldn't afford the flight (this was pre-cheap internet flights) to attend a conference (euroFORML - an obscure computer thing) that cost twice as much then as Hands Off 2007 and presenting a paper that was 18 months in development. All I got out of that was a small stack of books I didn't particularly want as a prize for Best Paper. Most of the attendees were in the same position as me - either hobbyists or students or self-employed or in SoHo companies so really couldn't charge it to expenses. No-one seemed all that bothered by the lack of reimbursement.)

Greetings all,

As mentioned - I'm looking at an Arts Council grant for HO'07 - amount is TBC, but if anyone has any experience in fundraising through grants etc. then please let me know - post here if you would like my email.

Many thanks to any assistance,

MC.

I played the Florida Folk Festival for many years and most of the performers there do not get paid.

The "headline" acts all get paid, of course, but there are literally hundreds of other performers who either play for free or for some nominal fee.

Someimtes the nominal fees do not cover gas or food for the event but people do it anyway out of love for the music and for the chance to play in front of thousands of people.

BTW, the topic of this thread lead me to believe it was about my wife and I.

She often tells me to keep my hands off the finances....