Karma will get you.
We held our event last Wednesday to raise money for Haiti. We had the creme de la creme of the UK's dance world there, all gave up their time and actually paid £5 each to perform. Kenrick Sandy from Boy Blue brought his 12 top dancers. Kymberlee Jay came to host the night. Everyone from the stage manager and djs worked for free. The t-shirt company and flyer printers did everything at cost. We had donations from Nike, HMV, Waterstones, hotels, gyms, personal trainers, sports therapists, nutritional experts, record companies, jewelery makers, t-shirt designers and football clubs for raffle prizes.
It started off well. The dancers all arrived on time, the singers sound checked. Then 15 minutes before the doors were due to open, the venue owner and his managers and security swooped on us and made everyone leave the hall and queue up outside, only letting people back in once they had been ID checked. I should point out that it was snowing at the time.
This is where things went wrong. We had made sure everyone who was performing knew that this was an 18+ venue and crew members were selected by their choreographers to make sure we had no underage kids on stage. Not all performers had ID on them. Management refused to let anyone in that didn't have ID. People quite obviously in their twenties and thirties were not let in. These performers waited quietly in freezing temperatures, no-one argued or kicked up a fuss. When told that we couldn't get them in they left quietly. We offered solutions. We argued that this was a fundraising event. Nothing was moving this man, as the owner he had the right to refuse admission to anyone he wanted. (Funny that later when my daughter arrived with her bf, who seriously looks like he could be 15, they were NOT ID checked).
We lost 5 of our 9 dance crews. We lost one of our singers. We very nearly cancelled the event, then Kymberlee Jay stepped up to the mic and said 'the show will go on'. We rearranged everything to fit around the crews we had left.
The night was a success in some ways; Unity Youth, Alias, Unity and Pulse & Twist wowed the (250+) crowd, the singers were wonderful. We did manage to raise some money in the end.
It still left us feeling deflated. That so many people had given so much of their time, organising, rehearsing, doing what they could to make it happen, to raise money for people at their lowest. And one man and his inability to see the bigger picture came along and very nearly crushed that, cutting our fundraising potential by half at least.
We'll hold other events, we'll raise more money and at least we can sleep at night. I really do wonder whether he does. I believe in karma and it'll get him and the miserable people that asked for a refund and then stayed all night.
Part Two is being organised already. At a different venue.
It started off well. The dancers all arrived on time, the singers sound checked. Then 15 minutes before the doors were due to open, the venue owner and his managers and security swooped on us and made everyone leave the hall and queue up outside, only letting people back in once they had been ID checked. I should point out that it was snowing at the time.
This is where things went wrong. We had made sure everyone who was performing knew that this was an 18+ venue and crew members were selected by their choreographers to make sure we had no underage kids on stage. Not all performers had ID on them. Management refused to let anyone in that didn't have ID. People quite obviously in their twenties and thirties were not let in. These performers waited quietly in freezing temperatures, no-one argued or kicked up a fuss. When told that we couldn't get them in they left quietly. We offered solutions. We argued that this was a fundraising event. Nothing was moving this man, as the owner he had the right to refuse admission to anyone he wanted. (Funny that later when my daughter arrived with her bf, who seriously looks like he could be 15, they were NOT ID checked).
We lost 5 of our 9 dance crews. We lost one of our singers. We very nearly cancelled the event, then Kymberlee Jay stepped up to the mic and said 'the show will go on'. We rearranged everything to fit around the crews we had left.
The night was a success in some ways; Unity Youth, Alias, Unity and Pulse & Twist wowed the (250+) crowd, the singers were wonderful. We did manage to raise some money in the end.
It still left us feeling deflated. That so many people had given so much of their time, organising, rehearsing, doing what they could to make it happen, to raise money for people at their lowest. And one man and his inability to see the bigger picture came along and very nearly crushed that, cutting our fundraising potential by half at least.
We'll hold other events, we'll raise more money and at least we can sleep at night. I really do wonder whether he does. I believe in karma and it'll get him and the miserable people that asked for a refund and then stayed all night.
Part Two is being organised already. At a different venue.