Chorus Organization

CHORUS ORGANIZATION...............I am discouraged by the blatant dues increases for 2009 by the Society and District in these economic times. (50% by the district.) I don't feel many folks in this area would be willing or able to spend in the neighborhood of $200. a year when most of that goes outside the Chapter with minimal value in return!
The expenses to purchase music and learning discs, hire a director, and operate as a non-profit business in my opinion could be about $3000. a year. This is in the same range as the expenses for a 50-75 member chorus. The larger chorus can cover this by charging $30. dues and doing 5 engagements at $300. each. At our level (10-12 people) and $100.-$150. an engagement we would need 25 engagements a year to survive.
It seems to me that the logical way to proceed is to charge a dues of about $50., pay the fees to allow us to operate as a non-profit business, defer Chapter chartering, and make Society membership optional for the chorus participants. If enough people become Society members on their own, we can revisit chartering at that time. Comments please!!!

CHORUS DIRECTOR...I contacted David White, the South Central Ohio POC for the Ohio Choral Directors Association. He advised me that a search can be done through the American Choral Directors Association and we might expect to pay $75. - $100. for a rehearsal. I checked the ACDA site and saw several Sweet Adelines ads in major markets with no wage mentioned. David also said that a lower key effort could be done with local advertisements. Best guess from another local source indicated that $25. an hour ($37.-$50. a rehearsal) or less may be reasonable for this area. More discussion among the chorus is required.