Starting an ensemble from scratch is seems very much like running any other startup... it is a passion project mostly for yourself and other "believers" that you might be able to recruit on the way... and much of the legwork, administration, and everything else needs to be done by yourself... and unpaid, as the whole thing runs on financial fumes until you have a decent support base.

The last couple of weeks has been a busy run of designing and getting posters/flyers up everywhere, getting the website in a sort of functional condition, running social media covering fire and advertising, making sure all the concert logistics are in order (ticketing, rehearsal scheduling, accommodation, travel...)... and that is only for the next concert!

I still have yet to set up the payment processing (tomorrow's job...) so that I can handle card payments at the door... and set up the ticketing payment backend so that I can receive the funds after the concert! Sigh... luckily I'm pretty tech-savvy, or this would be a nightmare!

Today's job was completing the programme booklet for the concert and getting a few more social posts ready and scheduled. Also, on the actual music front of things, getting the scordatura for the d'amore pieces completed and I actually had a moment to practice the actual bloody music!

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But I can't get bogged down in the short term... I still have two more concerts after this one in the series for the year. And I have to start thinking about the programming and logistics for the next one in August. A few months away, but better to get things down and done before they become problems. First up, a stage measurement so that the dancer has an idea of the space that they have to work with... a recruiting of a student to also play as part of the training aspect and then designing the last two graphics that will go with the concerts.

.... and after this concert is done, I will have to start thinking about the last concert of the year, which will be a combined poetry concert... which means that I will need to co-ordinate with the presenter of that part of the concert!

This week, I was able to meet with a potential supporter... and will meet with another group that might be interested in collaboration in the following year.... and another group that is also interested in a reciprocal-project as well. So, for a first year startup... things are looking up on that front.

But, then there needs to be a organisational restructure that needs to be done... I had initially registered the group under my self-employed status as that was easier to do... but that needs to change, and the group needs to be financially and structurally seperate from me. So, that will need some accountant/lawyer advice... and then I will need to have a board... so, more administrative overhead, whilst at the moment, I can run things on my own whim. However, this current structure doesn't allow me to easily accept donations and support, which means that I have had to put that side of things on the backburner... but that would have been useful in preparing for 2024 and beyond. Still... I hope to have that done relatively soon, as far as I understand, it is a relatively simple change due to the new nature and small (read tiny...) asset base of the group.

And today, I received a message saying that the two month submission window for the slightly larger grants for 2024 are now open... so, that means devising a strategy, gathering support and interest letters, and then writing a compelling submission that will hopefully enable us to expand on our unexpected success from this year. I have three tiers of planning for 2024 in mind, depending on the level of grant that we get... a larger (for us... small in the scheme of things) one, a similar one to this year, or zero. Similar idea to this current year, where I planned for zero and was able to do more things as I was lucky enough to win a small grant.

So, I will kick off asking for expressions of interest and support letters this week... so that there is more than ample time for people to write something. Last time, I was scrambling a little bit more than I wanted... and there were a few letters that missed the submission date. So, I'm better prepared this time! And preparation seems to be the key to all of this... running an ensemble is fun, but it can be stressful if things aren't in place ahead of time. It is rewarding, but ultimately, until I have more financial backing, it is my personal passion project... and I can't expect anyone else to be as invested in it as I am!

I can also be found cross-posting at:
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