Admission will be charged in 2001

By ANN R. HARNEY

Staff Writer

Admission is free to the Great American Brass Band Festival, but it won't be for long.

When the 2000 festival draws to a close June 11, so will the era of free admission to the 11-year-old event. The festival has grown each year and so have the expenses, and while sponsors at every level and all donations always will be needed, more money is required to put on the festival that has received nationwide recognition.

"The problem is that as the festival continues to grow and grow and grow, the costs of presenting it have just gotten bigger than the donated funds,'' George Foreman, festival president, said recently. "We hope (donations) will be a bit higher this year. Because of all the foreign groups we're bringing the festival is going to cost probably $25,000 more this year.''

To help pay for that increase, the basic level sponsor's donation has been raised from $1,000 to $1,250 for this year. For many sponsors, that increase will not be a painful surprise.

"We've been urging our sponsors to increase their donations to $1,250 and a good percentage have already done that,'' Foreman said. "We always work to bring on new sponsors; we have two or three new sponsors this year. Normally we lose one or two for one reason or another.'' Individuals or businesses which donate $3,000 or more are band sponsors and those giving more than $5,000 are called major sponsors. Foreman said the event's largest donation to date was from a corporate sponsor that gave $7,000. He would not name the business.

Festival organizers also have asked the Danville City Commission and the Boyle County Fiscal Court to increase their donations to the festival. The county already committed to $7,500, and the city government voted to give $15,000. "(The city commissioners) recognize the importance of the festival to the community.'' The cost of tables at Saturday night's picnic also have gone from $125 to $150.

"The festival has not only become a financial burden; it frankly has become a labor burden,'' the event's director said. "It's always been done with strictly volunteers, but more and more and more the basic management has been centered at the Norton Center.'' Foreman credited Jerry Boyd and his crew with being able to put up the stage on the Centre College campus on Friday and striking it after the last band leaves on June 11, but the rest of the event has gotten too big just for volunteers.

"The other aspects of the festival have gotten to be year-round and a dominating factor in my life,'' said Foreman, who also serves as managing director of the Norton Center for the Arts. "As much as I love the festival, I've done it now for 12 years. We worked a year before the first and this is the 11th year. It really got to the point where I said, 'I'm not willing to continue doing this.'''

For that reason, another person is being brought on board. "What we've done is Centre College has agreed to let us have another full-time staff person at the Norton Center.'' That person will not work exclusively on the festival, nor will the rest of the Norton staff stop working on the event.

"Everybody that works here spends varying amounts of time working on the festival,'' Foreman said. "Debra Hoskins spends a lot of time and so do other people like the person who does the bookkeeping and the lady who lays out our brochures.''

To help pay this new employee, festival organizers will have to come up with even more money. "The agreement is the festival will be contributing a substantial amount toward covering that person's salary,'' he said. He said added costs plus the festival's portion of the salary will increase the annual cost by about $35,000 over years past.

Even before the added expense of foreign bands and a new employee, the organizing committee considered charging admission. "The issue of charging admission has been a recurring theme in discussions for a number of years,'' Foreman said. "We really feel like that this is completely free is a unique aspect of the festival, but our expenses have outgrown our ability to do that. ... We thought about charging this year. Because of all the extra expenses this year, we really need the money. (Not charging admission this year) does make our funding situation even a bit more precarious than usual.''

How precarious is that?

"The festival has been successful,'' Foreman said. "We've done it 10 years and we've managed to do it in the black, but in that 10-year period, I'm sure well over $1 million has run through the books, but the margin is only about $5,000. There is no safety net; it's finely balanced. That also reflects one of the secrets of the success of this festival and that is the ownership of this festival is spread very broadly throughout the community.''

Foreman said admission will be taken at the portion of the festival held on Centre's campus. "There will still be a lot of areas going Saturday that will still be free.'' He said the committee has not decided the price of admission, but members are thinking about $5 a day and maybe a two-day ticket going for $8. And even though the festival will have the income from admission, the amount is not assured and the event's sponsors still will be needed. "We have to make sure our sponsors don't get lulled into a false sense of security and stop making contributions.''

Looking back over the last 12 years, Foreman said that while he hoped the festival would become an annual event, its continued growth has been a surprise.

"The festival has succeeded beyond anybody's expectations. We had a plan, but we didn't have a full vision of a finished product and I don't think we still do.''

Major Contributors:
Centre College, City of Danville, Danville-Boyle County Chamber of     Commerce, Boyle County Fiscal Court, Matsushita Home Appliance Corporation of America, Danville-Boyle County Convention & Visitors Bureau and The Advocate-Messenger

Band Sponsors:
ATR Wire and Cable Co., Inc., Bank One, Kentucky, Farmers National Bank of Danville, FIRSTAR of Danville, National City, Peoples Bank of Kentucky