Dear Source:
You who love local music must be wondering by now what has happened to your Love City Pan Dragons Youth Steel Orchestra, whose ubiquitous powerful presence has livened almost every large public event for over 15 years. You are now about to learn the answer and how you can help bring them back to vibrancy once again.
The issues boil down to two: burn-out of leadership and dwindling membership.
The band began 2013 with new arrangers Shomari and Ikema Dyer, quickly learned a delightful repertoire of challenging and exciting new music, shone for St. Thomas and St. John Panoramas, took part in the school band spring jam at Rising Stars panyard, and played for St. John’s Food Fair and the opening of the Village. Then regular band members took a summer break while Shomari ran a steel pan component for the Sports and Recreation summer camp. Alas, by the time school began and it was time to contact the most promising campers to invite them into the band, the computer at Sports and Recreation had lost their contact information.
This loss proved disastrous. Summer camp is the Pan Dragons’ best recruitment tool to replace players lost to graduation or schedule conflicts. This year these factors reduced active membership from about 20 at St. John Festival to a current core of fewer than a dozen, whose commitment continues to erode as they see no consistency in the attendance of their fellows. Two became Eudora Kean football heroes. Several others had similar conflicts. A small new group participated in a few practices, but live so far “east” that transportation proved a deal-breaker. The dearth of personnel has forced the band to turn down performance opportunities and to pass on their annual Thanksgiving and Christmas concerts. The St. Croix trip is also out of the question for this year. The arrangers are becoming as discouraged as the remaining players.
What is needed immediately is new blood: enthusiastic adult leadership in both the areas of administration and membership.
Much of the problem with membership stems from the lack of adult effort to recruit new members and to be more proactive about attendance. The remaining band members need to see leadership in the form of a hands-on person, whom they see often in the panyard and learn to trust, and who possesses the enthusiasm and determination to pull them back together into a cohesive group who can once again count on each other to show up at the twice-a-week practices needed to rebuild their repertoire and their pride as Pan Dragons. Once the musical force begins to flow again, the vibe will reach out the panyard door and draw in more.
The Pan Dragons also need a president. The band has never had a paid administrator in the twenty years of its existence, having been lucky for many years to have the dedication of their sorely-missed Ira Wade and a few others to lean on. Their current president, Edis Santos, who bravely took over the reins on his departure, leaves St. John at the end of January, so the need is urgent.
The band worked hard to earn its coveted 501-c-3 nonprofit status and needs someone with non-profit experience to take over day-to-day administrative duties and coordination of operations including practices, fundraisers and performances, to be the primary contact for the band, to work with the board to fulfill the goals of the Pan Dragons as a force for the St. John community and its youth. The ideal person will possess warmth, team spirit, a love of children and of music, and a willingness to work hard for the simple and wonderful reward of making the best little steel band in the Virgin Islands a vibrant force once again.
Most of the small volunteer board and crew have worked with the Pan Dragons for 10 years or more, starting as band parents, and remaining even as their children have grown up and moved on. These folks are eager to continue to assist for special occasions and events, and to serve on the board, but none are willing to be “the place where the buck stops”. Whoever answers this plea is guaranteed plenty of support from this core of experienced volunteers, who among them possess a broad range of expertise in all aspects of Pan Dragons operations.
Another incentive – a good grant-writer could not only secure more funding for band operations and projects, but also perhaps find funding for a part-time executive director position.
If you are interested in learning more about the band and becoming part of this important youth effort, contact Greg and Josephine Edward at Courtesy Car Rental (776-6650), Ruth Frett (774-1234) or Elaine Penn (998-3726), or just show up at practice to explore what’s going on, what resources are in place, and where you might fit in – late Friday afternoons and early Saturday afternoons. You are welcome and sorely needed.
Elaine Penn, The Love City Pan Dragons Youth Steel Orchestra
