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Question: How much rent does your community band or orchestra pay for its rehearsal space and storage (if any)?

We rehearse at Castle South Middle School in the band room. The room is provided gratis by the school corporation. The Director of Bands at CSMS is also our Music Director... appointed by The Board.

We normally perform a concert on the 4th Tuesday of each month in the community rooms at The Ohio Township Central Library. The community rooms are free for not-for-profit organizations but must be reserved a year in advance to get repeating dates.

Our equipment is stored in a trailer which we own. The trailer 'lives' at my house.

We have our file cabinets of music and office supplies at The Newburgh Kiwanis Community Building. My wife and I are active in this Kiwanis Club and we just make a small donation to cover 'wear and tear' in addition to our paid memberships.

If you are a bond-fide 501(3)c and have comprehensive general liability insurance... most doors to community and tax-supported facilities can be opened. It also pays to be a good community citizen.

I am on the board of the BrklynSO- the church they use is quaint up and staring to charge for storage in addition to their rent. I do not have my budget nearby, but I recal concerts budgeting at ~ $800 each. This is Brooklyn, and at possibly the most community friendly prices. Good question, very interested in what others reponces are.

The brass band and local community bands I'm in are allowed to use a rehearsal hall at a local college (one of the faculty conducts the community band) at no charge. We're allowed to use the school's percussion. Two more groups meet in a chapel area at a local private school (the conductor was once on the faculty), and the conductor hauls equipment with him; the percussion is limited and is brought by the percussionists. The fifth one, a Civil War band mostly, meets in a local senior citizens center and has a closet for storage, but most of the equipment is kept in a trailer at the conductor's home. We've been lucky to have donated space in all the groups, but several groups are concerned with potential loss of facilities in coming years.

Our community band in Southern California rehearses at a Senior Center (I think run by the county) and pays $100 per month for the rehearsal room and access to restrooms. The facility custodian is on duty during our rehearsal time doing general custodial work at the center.

We have no storage room at the center. I, the librarian, carry the active music file box back and forth to my home (along with my tuba and various other things) where the seven file cabinets of music reside. A husband and wife team of percussionists carry their equipment (including three tympani and a drum set) in their van from their home 25 miles away. Not the ideal situation but it seems to be working.

Bob Van Alstine
Santa Clarita Valley Concert Band

I play with two local community bands. With the Ontario/Chaffey Community Show Band, we are considered an adult class at the high school (where the director taught for 30 years) so we get the room for free one night a week. The theater is made available for one Monday night a month (during the school year) for concerts and the city sponsors that cost. In the Pomona Concert Band the city allows us the use of a park and rec department community building one night a week for rehearsals. It includes a storage room for the library and percussion equipment. Our summer concerts are played in an outdoor bandshell (built for the band many years ago) attached to the back of this community building. It helped that the founding director (1947) of the band became the mayor for 8 years back in the 1980's. Our winter and spring concerts are held in other park and rec facilities at no cost to the band. Both bands have no membership fees.

http://www.showband.net
http://www.pomonaconcertband.org

Like GC's first band: rehearsal space and percussion equipment free of charge in two public schools, where the band directors are members of the community band.

New Horizons band rehearses at a Eugene middle school where the director used to teach. I believe we pay $100 per month for that (a HUGELY grandfathered rate, going rate for two hours is now about $150).

Springfield Community Concert Band rehearses at Springfield HS where the director is the band director. No rent.

Tuba Ensemble rehearses in the lobby of one of the member's church. We play a Christmas concert for them at their Christmas Pot Luck (where we get fed, too)

Marching band rehearses in the garage section of a local 4x4 specialty shop...owned by one of our trumpet players.

I'm on the board of LSSB--The band pays $250.00 a year for rehearsal space and a storage room at a local community church and $520.00 to perform a concert there (that's per concert--covers converting the stage, providing audio, lights, air). The band maintains a storage room at a local facility at a cost of $300.00 a month for storing our library, records, extra percussion equipment.

JJ

The Loudoun Symphonic Winds rehearses at a high school, and because we are listed as a local charitable organization with the county, we get the use of their band room for free. We maintain a good relationship with their band director, who played in our group when he was in high school.

Our performances are at local high schools and sometimes middle schools. We pay for the custodian only.

Rick "only the PO Box is rented" Denney

Thanks for the replies and keep 'em coming.

My situation:

The community orchestra I play in has just been asked for a rent increase to $200 per month. For this amount, we get the rehearsal room one day per week (which us used by other groups 3 times per week). We also have a large storage room (large enough to keep all of our percussion equipment and 50 music stands), plus an office where we keep 4 file cabinets of music and other electronics. We also get the use of the rehearsal room any time no one else needs it, and use of the board room for meetings. Some on the board think this is an outrageous price to pay. Considering, you could not rent the amount of storage that we use at a local rental place for that amount, I think it's a steal. We also get the performance venue for free 5 times a year and we are only asked to pay the overtime ($150 per concert) for the maintenance workers for our Sunday afternoon concerts. I just wanted to know if others paid anything and how much.

Thanks again!

The band I play with - Alte Kamaraden, practices in an old house one of the band members owns. The music is stored there as well as some band owned instruments. Our stands and chairs are stored in an old Chrevy Suburban this same band member owns as well. We play at various out door venues free of charge. If we have to travel any distance we will request traveling money. Funds received is low, but expenses are low as well.

Bethlehem Municipal Band rehearses in the basement of a Lutheran church,
and store all our music down there too,
We play a concert for them every year to return the favor.

Our city band has bee around since 1897 and we have never paid rent. We practice in the local high school and play in a city owned band shell (built in 1937). The city also supplies the uniforms and a budget for music. We even get paid ( a very small amount) for performing.

opus37 wrote:Our city band has bee around since 1897 and we have never paid rent. We practice in the local high school and play in a city owned band shell (built in 1937). The city also supplies the uniforms and a budget for music. We even get paid ( a very small amount) for performing.

Apparently, I'm in the wrong part of the country.

The two bands that I play with have been established a very long time one since 1737 and the other 1870 and have over years manged to pupose build their rehearsal space and are now mortgage free.
The two bands are funded by member subscriptions and very meagre performance fees and rental income from renting out the rehearsal halls to other musical ensembles and public groups.
A question that I would like to pose would be what are the average subscriptions levied on members of these community bands?
The concert band in Dublin costs €250 a year and the concert and marching band in Mullingar costs €512 a year but covers me and my children. It is a much bigger organisation that also teaches and so has much higher running costs. It is still cheaper as a hobby than golf or fishing once the cost of the instrument is ignored (dont tell the wife).

For the band I play(ed?) in here in NYC, it was a LOT. I guess it is Manhattan though...

I think it's like $30/hr for the rehearsal space (3-hour rehearsals), storage is $75/month, and percussion rental is $400/month. Performance venue is like $1,000. Total cost for one cycle is almost $5,000, and I'm sure the dues/ticket sales do not cover it all. This is an extreme case to me, as it's a setup in a very expensive city and NOTHING is free.

Back in Baltimore, rehearsals were always at local high schools where members taught, or at the community college where the band ran through. That was essentially "free" with paid dues (including percussion and no need for storage). Concerts were at the high schools as well (also free) or at retirement homes in the area (they'd pay us to play there).

Different worlds...

Hi!
There has been a Community Band in Longview, Washington for decades. The Band is available as 100 and 200 level performance credit! Others pay for continuing education, and Teachers get hours. The rehearsals are in the new performance center's Band Room. Our director of over 30 years just retired and the College has hired another director. The Band, and Music Department was endowed with several Million dollars by a couple who followed us for over 20 years! The Administration would love to get their greedy hands on that money for other programs, but the endowment was well written. The interest alone supports two full time positions, but money earmarked for buying instruments has been held up by those administrators
We have Brand new, high dollar Timps, a Firebird, a paper clip contra clarinet, and plenty to buy a modern Euph and Tuba or 3, but we may have to litigate to buy anymore horns!
Al