The Fédération des Associations Musicales du Québec (FAMQ), the umbrella organization of Québec's drum and bugle corps, is undergoing major restructuring that could alter the shape of the activity in the province.
Facing major budget cut-backs, the organization was forced to eliminate the position of development officer, one of its key full-time positions. FAMQ is also devoting energies to starting a new type of musical youth activity, one that has little in common with the DCI-type drum corps that has been a staple of the Quebec landscape for the past 30 years.
According to FAMQ President Michel Chevalier, reached through a series of e-mail and phone interviews, the association has very little choice in undergoing such major transformations.
"The status-quo more or less meant the end of it all," Chevalier said.
The FAMQ was one of the last few regional drum corps organizations to still employ a full-time development officer. The position had been in existence since 1978. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Developement Officer Yvan Dufour started major projects that fostered the activity all over the province. During the more modest atmosphere of the 1990s, the Development officer's key responsibilities were to find performance venues for the FAMQ's member groups, as well as to stage an annual fundraising campaign that would distribute revenues to all.
"When 25-30 corps sold tickets for an annual draw with major prizes, including a car, significant revenues were raised," Chevalier said. "With three to five corps, this project is not just feasible anymore. We had to cancel it."
In the big scheme of things, the drastic measure could be another step in the steady decline of drum corps as a regional, community youth activity if something doesn't change soon.
FAMQ still employs a full-time office manager and a secretary. The organization also operates a stand that sells government-sponsored lottery tickets, a common revenue source for community organizations around the province. In the past, the FAMQ had operated up to three such Lotto-Québec stands simultaneously.
Major financial challenges are key in the organization's restructuring efforts. FAMQ, sponsored by the Québec Provincial Government as part of its attempts at providing the youth of the province with meaningful leisure opportunities, has been receiving annual grants since its inception. These grants were given in proportion to the number of youth involved in the FAMQ's member groups. They were also supplemented according to the geographical scope of the activity. Having groups in most regions of the province would benefit the FAMQ's annual sums.
Les Senateurs
photo by Ron Walloch
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The drum corps activity is currently nearly limited to the immediate Montreal region and nearby Eastern Townships, with a dedicated group of volunteers trying hard to get a corps started in the Lower St. Lawrence region, east of Quebec-City. As Québec has not been spared of the spectacular decline in participation that has plagued the overall drum corps activity in the past decade, revenues have also steadily declined.
"Our average income in the years 1999-2001 is 23 percent lower than our 1993-1995 numbers," explained Chevalier. "Expenses have to be reduced accordingly. We now have to reduce our accumulated deficits and explore new avenues for further development."
The steady movement of decline has not yet been stopped, leading to the dismal number of only three competitive drum and bugle corps for the whole province in the 2001 season.
Two of the three -- Sénateurs de Joliette and Sentinnelles de Varennes -- are currently attempting a merger. Two dedicated groups of volunteers are trying to get competitive drum and bugle corps started in Rimouski and Chambly. A number of parade units still operate around the province, but they tend to maintain what Chevalier qualifies as a limited involvement in FAMQ affairs.
