Let’s Share the Fun of Contra Dancing!

Howdy Partners and Neighbors!

Contra dancing is fun, isn’t it?? So let’s tell everybody! I'm soliciting the help and cooperation of the extended contra community to work together to introduce the thrill of contra to the community at large.

This is all very tentative at the moment, and is just a starting point to get things off the ground. I hope this process will:

    * Strengthen our inter-organizational community of contra dancers

    * Bring the joy of contra to new people outside of our existing community

    * Ensure the future of contra dancing for generations to come

I’m looking for support from folks that have similar ambitions and that are willing to help achieve these goals

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Examples of Projects:

1.    Short Term

      a. Collection and assessment of material and personnel resources

      b. Design and distribute generic fliers for contra dancing

      c. Generate ideas and plans on how to attract and retain new members

2.    Medium Term

      a. Press releases for local media outlets

      b. Intro packages for other organizations (Sierra clubs, Singles groups, ect)

      c. New member welcome packages (Intro to Contra)

      d. Online Contra educational resources (e.g. video clips of contra moves)

3.    Longer Term

      a. Performance/demo teams

      b. Interactive outreaches to other organizations and events

      c. Intro workshop series

How can you help? We need:

1.    Talented and enthusiastic folks:

      a. Graphic Design & Artist folk

      b. Photographers

      c. Videographers

      d. Web Design gurus

      e. Ad folk

      f. Writers

      g. Fundraisers

      h. Folk with access to related equipment and resources.

      i. Folk with connections to media or other organizations where we can publicize contra

      j. Folk willing to help in many, many ways- from mundane to

            magnificent-  as broad as your imagination!

2.    Material Support

      a. Samples of good fliers, notices, and ads

      b. Graphics and artwork

      c. Ad copy

      d. Photos

      e. Video clips

      f. Audio Clips (music/calling)

      g. Production Equipment (cameras, video, audio, lighting, ect)  

(Materials should be non-copyrighted and/or have owner's permission to use and distribute. If none exists, we can create new materials using demo dancers in a controlled environment.)

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For expediency and as a starting point I’ve created the starts of a publicity website:

www.DownHomeDancing.org

That name could change later, of course- ideas are welcome! And there’s no reason we can’t have multiple names pointing to one website. There’s a printable copy (pdf) of the first flier there, I’d appreciate some feedback. The website itself is functional but pretty pathetic! Maybe people will take pity on me and help out?? ;-)  It’s a far cry from the multimedia extravaganza I have envisioned! I just threw it together in about an hour so I’d have a working website to put on the flier which I’ve started distributing.

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I’m looking for support from folks that have similar ambitions and that are willing to help achieve these goals. To facilitate communication and planning, I’ve created a discussion group at:

groups.google.com/group/contracorners

For clarity, the groups.google.com/group/contracorners website is for in-house discussion and planning, www.downhomedancing.org is the public website for publicity.

You can participate via the web interface or via email subscription. The email subscription does not contain ads or spam nor does it require a Google account.

I’d very much prefer you address your replies to the discussion group rather than me personally. That way, everyone can benefit and comment on them.

contracorners@googlegroups.com

Or you can contact me, Davey, directly and privately at:

 davey@nozen.net

This project is not sponsored by any official contra organization but is meant to be a place where people can work cooperatively and hopefully avoid the politics and bureaucracy of individual organizations and venues. Please feel free to forward this email to other people or organizations that you feel might be interested.

Thanks!

Davey