Editor's note: In part one of this series, published in the November issue of Drum Corps World, Atkinson did an exclusive, candid interview with Dan Acheson, Executive Director of Drum Corps International, and the DCI marketing team about the way the circuit is getting its word out. To order a copy, call 800-554-9630.

In part two, Atkinson and Acheson discuss several issues associated with organizational culture and outlook, issues of management within the drum corps community and the organization's support of the smaller division II and III units.

DCW: Is DCI an organization in decline? Why or why not?

DA: Well, no it's not, and DCI as an organization . . . it's important to understand what that is because a lot of people have the understanding that DCI is this booking agent/ticket-selling/merchandizing organization. Some people understand, but I would guess not a majority, that DCI is its member corps. So to say its member corps -- that form the organization -- are in decline would be wrong.

The activity which DCI is referred to . . . which gets really confusing . . . is it in decline? Again, I would have to point and say "no," depending on your perspective.

Are we in decline because there aren't 600 drum and bugle corps anymore? Yes, you could say that, because there aren't as many participating units. We're not in decline in the sense that one of our board members just did a chart on participating corps in our world championships and it really hasn't fluctuated that much since 1972.

It's one of those things like "Oh, the activity's dying, the activity's dying." You know what? It depends on your perspective, because where we have seen significant growth is in an activity we have no direct relationship to, and that's marching band . . . that's high school marching band. That's Japanese marching band. Indonesia.

What one person is doing in Taiwan is incredible. What's going on in South Africa is incredible. The influence the activity has had has actually helped the activity grow but not necessarily in the sense of . . . "valve rotor bugle, a drum and a lot of community organizations that are participating."

So I hate to sound like we're putting a spin on why we only have 60 or 70 active groups, but in fact I am very proud of what the organization has accomplished in its 30 years, in regards to the evolution of marching music, and just the awareness of achieving excellence on a football field.

Again, it's all perspective-related. We certainly miss the 27th Lancers, the Bridgemen, we certainly miss the Velvet Knights, and recently Magic. We miss those corps, no question about it. Would they enhance our activity, or did they? In a lot of respects they did, in some respects they didn't. One or two of them were not the best example of a drum corps operating off the field.

It's great what they do on the field, every corps sets an example there and it's wonderful. But off the field, if they're not managed well, if they're not funded well, do we really want them to be out there? And that's the point that a lot of people miss -- especially in my age group.

Marching in the 70's, you know we put up with a lot of craziness; talk about broken buses, eating once a day if you were lucky, all those types of things -- for anyone to say that they want to see more groups like that? No, I'm here to raise my hand and say I want them to go away.

What has to happen is the kids that are having the experience [must take precedence]. Now don't get me wrong. I had a positive experience in a lot of respects, but it could have been a lot more positive.

DCW: Maybe you had a positive experience in spite of . . .

DA: And that's a lot of it, because a lot of what we learned as far as the life lessons is "you survive or die, that's basically it," and in a lot of respects, "you're going to rehearse no matter what, get over it, it doesn't matter that you're hungry or poor, or whatever else."

So, what I like about the activity today -- and the groups that we do have that are still participating -- is that they are better managed. I can't say that they are better funded, but they're more responsible about their fiscal management than certainly they were in the past.

Education has helped that, cooperation amongst the corps has helped that. In a lot of respects it's helped out greatly. Those are the kinds of things that I look at whenever I see this question because obviously I get a lot of people asking "Where's the activity going -- it seems like it's dying."

DCW: Which is your issue with perspective.

DA: It is a matter of perspective. I see the directors of the drum corps that represent their corps as DCI board members. They're not as focused necessarily on the DCI business, as directors were 10 years ago, because they're that much busier; they come from more varied backgrounds, but they're no less intense than their predecessors were.

DCW: I have some point of view on this issue. One of my early drum corps experiences was with a group that was not particularly well managed.

DA: I'm not glad that you had that experience, but I am glad that your perspective is there. Unfortunately, a kid that comes through the ranks today -- or in the last five years -- they march in a corps, say a division I or II corps which are well run, well managed, take care of their kids, and so forth without many faults.

And then you go into this perspective of 'I'm a fan, I want more' and it's like 'Whoa, wait a minute,' it takes a lot for these guys to be here today. That whole perspective of 'yeah, we want those Velvet Knights to be back.' They had some things that they could have done better from a dollars and cents standpoint and from some management issues and things like that which they needed to address and didn't, and as a result, they're not around anymore.

Is it better for the activity to have them be what they were on the field, but not as much regard off the field? No, because then the kid's experience isn't what it should be.

DCW: What is DCI doing to encourage growth among the division II and III corps?

DA: As far as the division II and III corps are involved, DCI -- the member corps who are all division I corps -- have decided for many years now to support what's called DCI Division II/III, and, again, we don't advertise the kind of support they give, that's not the way it works, but unfortunately there's a lot of people who don't understand the significance of that support.

When DCI was founded in 1972, it was founded under the premise that if you were a top-12 corps you were a member, otherwise too bad for you. DCI has changed in 30 years. We have embraced the entire activity and have for over a dozen years, when they made the change from 12 to 25 on the board of directors, for example.

First of all, DCI subsidizes the championships. When you go to a championship and you see a big stadium like the one in Buffalo, and you see the 350 people that showed up over the course of a day for the Division III Prelims, in a 70,000 seat stadium, you have to be scratching your head saying 'What's that about?'

Division II was a little better attended, 750 people over the course of a day. The cost involved in renting the stadium on Monday and Tuesday, for the amount of revenue that was generated, it was a pure expense. That is what the division I corps subsidize; they pay the expense to allow the [II and III] corps that opportunity. The division I corps acknowledge that the division II and III corps, and the international corps, are very, very important for the growth and stability of the activity overall.

Editor's note: In the next and final installment of this series, DCW will take a look at DCI's relationship with its origins and fan base. Call 800-554-9630 or click here to subscribe and get into the action!