Having to pay to dance and/or sing...???

[APACHEFIRE]

They're not cheap! lol

nope they arent! but ANISHTRADISH, i learned to always bring yer own toilet paper & sanitizers! *laughin*.
i have been to many kinds of powwows in southern california over the years. a couple in florida too. most times i never paid. i just walked in as a dancer. not to register, but to dance all the same. sure i could see the "tourist" coming to pay. they even expect it. the dancers are the main "attraction" at the larger powwows.

some powwows fed the dancers, some fed everyone they could. sometimes the traditional venders gave me food. (guess i looked like i needed it) **laffz**. one rule i found is, the larger the powwow the better chance you had to pay for something if not everything. ( with big bucks too!) since i didnt have much money to travel and pay for food at the powwows, i started bringing muh own water, foods, always toilet paper, etc. then i would sleep in muh van. most far desert powwows didnt charge to dry camp. some had showers for free. it just depended on the type of powwow.

so i started picking and choosing the ones i liked the best because i felt the best while there and long after i left. i go to powwows to reconnect to THE PEOPLE and THE MOTHERS HEARTBEAT. oh, i forgot to mention, i always made offerings to the drum groups and tried my best to give offerings to all the blanket dances. and i always looked each vender in the eyes and greeted them with a few words of encouragement. it made a huge difference to them, i know this because their faces would light up with big smiles!

[anishtradish]

They're not cheap! lol

[ajibik]

You're not going to real, old-fashioned tribal events then. Real events not only encourage camps with everyone welcome, including extended family, in-laws, etc., but they also feed everyone. Paying to be at a pow wow is wrong in my opinion. I'm starting to feel I'm going to be in the minority on this issue.

Traditional powwow, from powwow country (Not AZ and Cally) are celebrations where they are THRILLED to have anyone and everyone show up.

I know at my rez in Minnesota, on the second weekend of June, they'll have camping, showers (sort of), they feed, and they also give all the participants and veterans a gift from the committee. Furthermore, they pay day money to all the dancers.

That's how it should be.

[selenacici]

my dad used to ask me to sing when his friends are there.. and said that's my girl.. for me to sing he gave me 100 pesos.. haha

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[selenacici]

my dad used to ask me to sing when his friends are there.. and said that's my girl.. for me to sing he gave me 100 pesos.. haha

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[cute_jinglin_sweetie]

Ha Ha!

YES! Keep us posted! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and the little sister. Lol...sorry, I thought before you replied that this WAS the little sister...lol. Didn't realize it was you! My bad...lol.

Ha Ha! No problem, we get that a lot-there's so darn many of us sisters! LOL!

[ndnMSW]

This middle sister and the little sister both re-applied We decided that we would put in our letters of interest again and hopefully get re-appointed. We're keeping our fingers crossed! I myself knew that I couldn't just sit back and enjoy the pow-wow without wondering if everything is going ok or not...lol! And the week "off" that tribal council gives us doesn't hurt either

I'll keep ya posted!

YES! Keep us posted! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and the little sister. Lol...sorry, I thought before you replied that this WAS the little sister...lol. Didn't realize it was you! My bad...lol.

[Josiah]

I was on the committee for the pow-wow at my college and we had this same round and round. Fortunately we laid out the math for them- by your own rules if we charge we get charged more for the building, and so and so forth. Also with food they tried to make us use university catering for a long time (at something like $15 a head and we had to do all the cleanup and provide the plates and all) finally we were able to get an outside vendor to do it- food both and catered dinner. But we never charged admission, but I also know that I average spending $300-400 a year just paying for things that we either didn't have money for or that the school wouldn't reimburse me for *like giveaways.

That being said, after being on committees there are five ways to pay for a pow-wow 1. Casino money, 2. Grants/gov. money, 3. Vendor Fees, 4. Admission, 5. Dip into your own pockets.
Vendors complain about fees no matter how low they are (I vend and I do it too), so you have a certain trade off there.
If you charge admission how to do we distinguish between singers and dancers and the public? For some purposes it easier to charge everyone, but if they do that I think you should give out day money that is equal what each dancer or singer paid.
I will say that we have had lots of problems with freebies for drums more than dancers- one drum signed in with like 45 people at one pow-wow. And if you are running a fundraiser that cuts in.

Well that is Powwow Economics 101 there
Pretty much sums it up!

[legalstraight]

Lol...I forgot to add that when I worked KU powwow as a student, the administration that banned us from having on-campus food sales, wouldn't let us have our own concession stand in Anschutz Pavilion, said we couldn't do 50/50 or other types of "raffles" because it was considered gambling, and wouldn't let us use the KU logo on our powwow t-shirts (which would have made them easier to sell to students/staff/etc.)...that same administration asked us, "Why don't you charge admission to cover the cost of your event so you won't have to ask student senate for so much money?"

And trying to explain why we didn't want to do that (we knew students and staff from KU wouldn't come if they had to pay and we were advertising it as a free educational opportunity) was like talking japanese to them....they just didn't get it. And also, if we could show that we had a small source of revenue for the powwow they would have cut back on what little funding they gave us....lol. And they said again, that we needed to become self-sufficient...lol.

I was on the committee for the pow-wow at my college and we had this same round and round. Fortunately we laid out the math for them- by your own rules if we charge we get charged more for the building, and so and so forth. Also with food they tried to make us use university catering for a long time (at something like $15 a head and we had to do all the cleanup and provide the plates and all) finally we were able to get an outside vendor to do it- food both and catered dinner. But we never charged admission, but I also know that I average spending $300-400 a year just paying for things that we either didn't have money for or that the school wouldn't reimburse me for *like giveaways.

That being said, after being on committees there are five ways to pay for a pow-wow 1. Casino money, 2. Grants/gov. money, 3. Vendor Fees, 4. Admission, 5. Dip into your own pockets.
Vendors complain about fees no matter how low they are (I vend and I do it too), so you have a certain trade off there.
If you charge admission how to do we distinguish between singers and dancers and the public? For some purposes it easier to charge everyone, but if they do that I think you should give out day money that is equal what each dancer or singer paid.
I will say that we have had lots of problems with freebies for drums more than dancers- one drum signed in with like 45 people at one pow-wow. And if you are running a fundraiser that cuts in.

[cute_jinglin_sweetie]

Bummer...lol. You all did such a good job. So is it just the little sister that is helping out again?

This middle sister and the little sister both re-applied We decided that we would put in our letters of interest again and hopefully get re-appointed. We're keeping our fingers crossed! I myself knew that I couldn't just sit back and enjoy the pow-wow without wondering if everything is going ok or not...lol! And the week "off" that tribal council gives us doesn't hurt either

I'll keep ya posted!

[ndnMSW]

Just for the record, this sister did not reapply for the pow-wow committee this year. Just so there's no misunderstanding.....lol

Bummer...lol. You all did such a good job. So is it just the little sister that is helping out again?

[molelake2006]

I also feel your pain and so do many elders of my tribe but when you look at the world today you cant do nothing without money money money. At our powwows we try to at least have one feast a day to feed our family friends and visitors. we also have a honor song were the dancers and singers dance and get paid. so they pretty much get there money back times two. but still is not right

[ndneyez]

Not me :)

You girls are on the committee again? lol...I thought you were done after last year. They must have wanted you back cuz you were doing such a great job.

This powwow has always been a community powwow...it didn't always have the huge prize money it does now way back in the day, but it still has retained that sense of community. The Saginaw Chippewas have always treated their visitors well...their giveaway at the end is AWESOME, the food is great, and they always have alot of dance specials. We pay like $5 to compete, but that's nothing compared to the hospitality that we receive when we are there.

Just for the record, this sister did not reapply for the pow-wow committee this year. Just so there's no misunderstanding.....lol

[Iowa_Boy]

Lol...I forgot to add that when I worked KU powwow as a student, the administration that banned us from having on-campus food sales, wouldn't let us have our own concession stand in Anschutz Pavilion, said we couldn't do 50/50 or other types of "raffles" because it was considered gambling, and wouldn't let us use the KU logo on our powwow t-shirts (which would have made them easier to sell to students/staff/etc.)...that same administration asked us, "Why don't you charge admission to cover the cost of your event so you won't have to ask student senate for so much money?"

And trying to explain why we didn't want to do that (we knew students and staff from KU wouldn't come if they had to pay and we were advertising it as a free educational opportunity) was like talking japanese to them....they just didn't get it. And also, if we could show that we had a small source of revenue for the powwow they would have cut back on what little funding they gave us....lol. And they said again, that we needed to become self-sufficient...lol.

our campus has an exclusive food vending contract, for everything, so no food vendors for our powwow, and we have to have them do the feed as well. With our current economic state, I could see alot of the college powwows getting cut way back

[ndnMSW]

Lol...I forgot to add that when I worked KU powwow as a student, the administration that banned us from having on-campus food sales, wouldn't let us have our own concession stand in Anschutz Pavilion, said we couldn't do 50/50 or other types of "raffles" because it was considered gambling, and wouldn't let us use the KU logo on our powwow t-shirts (which would have made them easier to sell to students/staff/etc.)...that same administration asked us, "Why don't you charge admission to cover the cost of your event so you won't have to ask student senate for so much money?"

And trying to explain why we didn't want to do that (we knew students and staff from KU wouldn't come if they had to pay and we were advertising it as a free educational opportunity) was like talking japanese to them....they just didn't get it. And also, if we could show that we had a small source of revenue for the powwow they would have cut back on what little funding they gave us....lol. And they said again, that we needed to become self-sufficient...lol.