Dear Friends, Family, and Fans of VMAPA,

As we wrap up our audition season and head towards an exciting drum corps summer, I am happy to provide you all with a number of updates regarding the progress being made here in Santa Clara.  Specifically, I am writing to provide updates on the areas of Compliance, Bingo, Drum Corps Progress - DCI, and Drum Corps Progress - SCV.

Compliance

I am happy to share that we have submitted our outstanding financial audits to the state of California. Specifically, we submitted our required audits for the 2021 and 2022 fiscal years. We became a fully compliant entity upon the submission of these reports, and that status is currently represented on the appropriate state websites. At this point, we have completed 3 years of audits (2020, 2021, 2022) over the last 6 months, and we are beginning work on the 2023 filings to ensure those are submitted in a timely manner. We are also installing processes and safeguards to ensure these issues never happen again.

It is a good thing to be current on these issues. With that being said, we are not an organization that seeks to simply clear the low bar of compliance. I will continue to provide updates on the things we are doing to improve our organizational efficiency as decisions are made. 

Bingo

The Vanguard Bingo game continues to thrive! Last March, the bingo team reevaluated a number of aspects of the bingo program, leading to changes that have resulted in some of the most profitable bingo days in the last several years. In a project many years in the making, we are opening a new bingo game in Redwood City, CA. We will be running games at American Legion Post 105 beginning Tuesday, January 16th, with Vanguard Bingo operating on Tuesday and Thursday nights for the foreseeable future. If you are in the area, please come out to support this exciting new game!

One question I have been asked by a few alumni is, “How did you continue running bingo without a drum corps to provide the member dues historically required to run the game?” This is a very valid question and I appreciate the individuals who have taken a moment to inquire. During the 2023 year, we received income from other sources. The total amount received from these sources provided more than enough revenue for us to continue operating our bingo game in a compliant manner. Fortunately, we have had an influx of revenue from a very successful audition cycle, and we are already receiving dues payments from our contracted members, thus allowing us to operate both our Santa Clara game and our Redwood City game using the methods by which we have traditionally funded them.

Drum Corps Progress - DCI

I presented the aforementioned compliance updates last weekend to the DCI Membership at the annual January meeting. I also shared some of the positive news about our Bingo game and other revenue improvements. This information was greeted warmly by the DCI community at large, and I continue to receive a tremendous amount of support from many people in that room. Though we may compete on the field, off the field we help each other out in a number of ways that the public never sees. I look forward to continuing to follow the plan we have laid out to execute a successful 2024 season and return to full Drum Corps International membership in the next year.

Drum Corps Progress - Santa Clara Vanguard

The 2024 Santa Clara Vanguard is off to a great start! Following a successful audition cycle, we are holding our callback camp for brass and percussion this weekend. As I have said in previous messages, we have an amazing teaching staff that is going to set our members up for success this season and beyond. While our instructional team has been working hard to assemble a talented ensemble, our design team has been working hard on the 2024 show, titled…well, we will have to share that information later 🙂

I continue to appreciate the feedback, support, and questions I receive from those people who read these updates. My email is rgavin@scvanguard.org and I welcome your thoughts as we work to put Vanguard Music and Performing Arts in a position to be successful in both the short and long term.

Gratefully,

Russ Gavin

CEO 

VMAPA