How to establish/set up/found a blues association/foundation ?

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Permalink Reply by Chicago Blues Tour on March 28, 2009 at 12:50pm

Give me a call. I'm investigating something similar, perhaps we can work together to do the research.
My understanding is that you first have to set up the not-for-profit corporation, then you name board members.
I'm in the city, on the north side, you can either ring me on skype at steve.pasek or call my toll-free at 866-548-3258.

A lot of people have tried to do this in Chicago, and invariably there are a lots of people who want to belong to something, but few here who want to actually do any work of any kind...I think the key is to have some vehicle that people can rally around, rather than have it just be a 'fraternal' or 'social' organization, which is mostly served by the blues clubs in Chicago.

Steve Pasek
BiG Productions, Inc.
Chicago, IL

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Permalink Reply by nekkidhead on March 28, 2009 at 4:53pm

State law will dictate how you register with the Secretary of State, a blues fan lawyer will sometimes draw up the paperwork in exchange for lifetime membership.

Establishing 501 (c)(3) status to avoid getting taxed on the money you generate can be researched through the IRS (http://www.irs.gov/). Recruiting a blues fan CPA (or office staff) as to serve as affiliate treasurer is a pretty good idea.

Being an affiliate chapter of a national organization has some interesting perks.
Consider The Blues Foundation (http://www.blues.org/ ). They are the WC Handy awards folks. As part of the being an affiliate, your chapter can send a band to compete in their annual blues competition.

I agree with Steve. They are always far more people who want to join than those who want to work. The newsletter can easily become a burden, as can processing membership applications and associated monies, and the never ending fund raisers.

Having set up chapters and being the owner of a large live performance venue, I believe that partnering with blues clubs / live venues. them is essential. They are the folks with the most resources and the most to gain. You can provide audience (drinkers), performers (frequently low cost or even no cost) and PSA advertising for their venue. They can provide meeting place (pre - opening usually), jam location, fund raiser location and ongoing banner, brochure, etc. advertising.

Unless the owner is already a big fan (preferably a left over hippie rather than a hardcore businessman bean counter), you will need membership numbers to be able to negotiate.

A good way to kick off the process, is to find a working core of folks who can work under one flag. Name the organization and do a fund raiser for a worthy cause under that banner. Donate all of the raised money to the cause. You will not have protection of non-profit status at this point or infrastructure to handle revenue/cost stuff. Benefit a person or organization that needs the help. Get press (broadcast, print, anything, everything coverage) to announce, cover and follow up on the event. Make a call for membership. Have membership forms and process ready. Once the legals are taken care of deposit the money, print and distribute the newsletter, membership cards and/or certificates, have your meetings (Board, chapter, social, fundraiser, special instructional, recruitment events, etc.) and you're off and running. Be prepared to spend more time on this than you planned and above all else find a core of folks you can count on to get the job done.

My presentation may seem grim but I am not trying to dissuade you. As president of such a chapter we raised money for a blues artist who could not afford his medicine after a heart attack. From that I met and later played with Big Daddy Harry Hypolite for the next few years and he was my friend until his death. It was a great experience. It won't come easy but for me it was worth it.

"Yabba dabba doo, they're playin' the blues" (drunken outcry in small non-blues venue in the middle of nowhere at 3AM)

nekkidhead

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Permalink Reply by Chicago Blues Tour on April 7, 2009 at 2:29pm

I have to tell you, trying to get blues clubs to participate in anything materially is not that easy in Chicago, even here they are struggling for the most part, except for the downtown clubs. The paradox is that the clubs that are most likely to benefit from a blues society are the ones with the LEAST resources. This is probably the opposite of the case in many other areas, because we have a well-developed tourist market for blues here, including both the Chicago Blues Festival and the downtown clubs, and the effect of this on the marketplace is that there is a glut of places to see live blues. A happy circumstance for fans, but it makes it harder for smaller clubs to make money, especially if they don't have a large slice of the tourist market (this is one of the reasons for the Chicago Blues Tour). In addition, a lot of the "folk society" functions that many blues societies serve is handled impeccably by the Old Town School of Folk Music here, which is well-established and well-funded, and also runs an annual festival with many genres.

By the way, I negotiate group rates with blues venues here all the time. The tourist clubs don't need you and generally won't do it. The outlying venues do need bodies and usually are flexible. However, it's just as easy to set up a "charter" organization, which is membership-based, and you can rent out a hall and have a "private" members-only party and charge whatever you want for tickets and drinks. So in terms of creating events, it's not that hard to do on your own, if you have an audience to tap in to. If you don't, then doing deals with established blues venues is unlikely anyway.

So I guess my point is that for a blues society here to have any real impact, there has to be a need that is not being fulfilled by the many, many festivals here, many of which feature top blues acts (even neighborhood festivals), or by the downtown tourist clubs (Legends is the touring stop for national acts, Blue Chicago fulfills the conventioneer-need-to-see-some-blues-before-I-leave-town role), or by various Meetup.com groups and the like, which serve the social role.

I do think that it's important to define exactly what your mission is going to be, before you spend the time trying to set up the legal frameworks, bank accounts, etc. that would be required. I've found that it's hard to sustain anything here without a narrowly-defined role in the blues ecosphere. I do have some ideas about what is needed in Chicago, but they all actually require a group of people dedicated to providing support to the aspects of the blues scene here that AREN'T well served. The traditional roles of blues societies -- to bring in national touring acts, promote "heritage" performances, provide a social network for blues music lovers - are already well-served by other means here. There are some things that should be done for Chicago blues that aren't well-served by either the commercial or governmental patrons here, but it's precisely because they require a fair amount of organizing and hours of maintenance, and they won't necessarily generate a lot of dues or revenue for a blues society.

I say this as a co-founder of the Chicago Blues Museum, the creator of Blues University®, and (obviously) the 19-year organizer of the Chicago Blues Tour. It's hard to retain focus here because there is already a wealth of resources competing for blues fans' attention. But there are some promotional and educational functions that would benefit the community, and which are currently underserved.

Someone else I talked with already noted that there already is a Windy City Blues Society, although I don't know precisely what they do. There is also, in addition to the organizations and networks I've mentioned, the Blues Heaven Foundation (aids musicians), and Blues In the Schools (teaches young students about blues).

So my question to you would be, exactly what is your goal in setting up a blues society here? What functions that aren't already handled elsewhere do you want to provide? I might be able to direct you to the existing organizations that serve those purposes already -- but if you genuinely want to do things that aren't being done, we should talk offline in more detail.

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