Never-the-less, at Oregon State University, in 1983, our association
decided to hold the first encampment/powwow, thus extending the program
from its usual one-day affair. At the time, our MC, flag-bearers, and
whipmen (head dancers) were also members of the group so basically we
paid an honorarium of a blanket (Pendleton or HBC) and $150 to the MC.
Thus, the bulk of our money went to the drums. Our dance prizes (this was
admittedly back when the prizes weren't so large and when there were
still a fair number of people who objected to prizes in the first place)
were fairly minimal, though we also presented winners with blankets. I
always like this way of doing things, but its not too orthodox these days.
In 1986 I was responsible for putting together a "powwow" that was more a
demonstration intended for audience information in Portland, Oregon. At
that time, for the two-hour pow-wow, we paid the MC $300 and each drum
$200. Dancers were not paid, nor were there prizes. Instead we paid the
organization which all the dancers belonged to (the Bow and Arrow club of
Portland) a sum, the size of which I can't remember.
Both of the pow-wow committees I belong to on the Nez Perce reservation
(Mat'alyma and Chief Joseph and Warriors Memorial Committee) also use
organization members for MC's. If money is available, we do pay them,
somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 for the weekend. If we were to ask
someone outside the group to MC, the amount would be much greater. Both
groups pay drums by the day, and the figure has ranged (depending upon
the amount of money we generate by raffle ticket sales, games of chance,
concessionier fees, and donations) from $50 (embarassingly low) to $200
(still relatively low, but I'm a drummer so I'm biased). One reason that
drum payments have been low is that one pow-wow tends to draw a large
number of drums and thus we can't afford to pay all of them what we'd
like, and the other pow-wow is fairly small and doesn't generate the
amounts of money that would allow us to pay decent honorariums. This
second pow-wow gets the bulk of its funding through committee member
donations and community donations more than through its raffle, so all
the amounts tend to be much smaller. In addition, this second powwow
committee tends to "invite" certain drums who typically require much
larger sums of money because of the distance that they have to travel and
the demand from other groups to have them at their powwows. In both
cases, I will say, the drums that do return year after year, typically do
so not because of the honorariums but because of the way they are hosted
when in Nez Perce country. So, as for drum groups, it's always a problem
of trying to get enough money to at least reimburse the group (remember,
we're talking at least four people) while also remembering that most drum
groups aren't expecting to re-coop all their expenses anyway, and would
appreciate being treated well while they are there. One way that has
worked to at least help provide drum groups with some extra money has
been to hold drum contests during the dance. Typically, someone
interested will sponsor the competition with prizes being about $500 for
first, $350 for second, and so on. If you can find someone to sponsor
such a contest, this money will go a long ways toward supplementing your
honorarium.
More and more, both committees have been finding individuals or families
to sponsor the dance categories. One family or individual will sponsor
men's traditional, etc. Some years we have had better luck getting
individuals to sponsor only a certain place within a category. The
drawback to this approach is that there are many more sponsors to find
and depend upon, with the chance that many more places will be left at
the last minute with no funding (such as if a member of the family dies,
or money falls through at the last minute, etc.) If possible, it's
usually better to get groups or families to sponsor whole categories. The
committee usually sponsors the men's traditional and any for which no
sponsors were found. Kids we usually pay all dancers something rather
than pay only a few "winners." We sometimes do the same with the elders,
depending upon how may there are. This can go both ways, it is somewhat
respectful, but I know it bothers some of the dancers who really do want
to compete and are proud of their dancing. It kinda makes the statement
that they are too old to compete. One solution I like, is to pay all the
elders an honorarium, but invite them to compete in the adult categories
as well. Prizes vary widely, one year first prize for men was only $175
and another year it was $1000. $500 is a pretty good aim for first prize
but even a bit lower than that is probably OK. Teen prizes normally are
lower, with $300 for first being a really good year.
Also, many years, we will have special competitions sponsored by families
of their own accord. While the pow-wow committee has little to do with
the actual contest, beyond providing the opportunity and place, the
additional prize money goes a long ways toward attracting dancers. I've
seen up to $20,000 go to men's traditional dancers at one powwow this
way, and I've heard of alot more going out at larger gatherings.
One way that typically occurs on the Nez Perce reservation to cut prize
money costs, is to combine fancy dancers and grass dancers. I don't like
it at all, but since both are foreign to Nez Perce country, it happens
alot. Since the grass dance tradition is not known in Nez Perce country,
it is perceived as being a kind of fancy dance rather than either
traditional or in its own right. My Blood relations cringe at this.
Basically, by getting sponsors for the dance categories, the money
generated through raffles and other fund-raisers can be applied to the
drum groups, MC's and categories for which no sponsors were found. Our
programs are typically covered by the advertisements inside (we usually
can generate an extra couple hundred dollars just from the advertising in
addition to the cost of printing) and so sales of the programs can
generate up to another $1000. T-shirts work sometimes, though typically
it's more providing a service to participants who want something to
remind them and a form of advertising than a fund-raiser.
I suppose you will be getting some support from the University or a
program committee of some sort. I'd also bet its fairly minimal. However,
at OSU we got alot of money from the English and Anthro departments
themselves, as well as faculty members. We were also able to cut a bunch
of deals with the campus physical plant for use of the ballroom, etc. Our
problem was the restrictions we'd have to live under on campus so we went
to a local high school which didn't please OSU admin any. We also had
been helping out other minority groups on campus and the international
student groups and so we had alot of support for logistical needs during
the pow-wow itself, help with cleaning, set-up, etc. Similarly, a local
Native drug and alcohol center became kind of a sister group to us and we
helped each other out all the time which really payed off during the powwow.
There were other groups who would have helped, such as the local Indian
school (Chemawa in Salem who actually did provide security now that I
think about it) and the group in the pen.
One last thing we did which helped a great deal, both generating funds
and a crew of helpers, was to offer an extension course over the winter
on tipi contruction. The class had about a dozen participants, many of
whom paid for the materials for their own tipi. We did charge a materials
fee which went toward buying the fabric for two large tipis which we
later raffled off to generate money for the powwow and the other was one
of the dance prizes. The class also obtained a contract from the drug and
alcohol group already mentioned for a large tipi. The money that was left
from that contract after paying for materials went toward the powwow.
Plus all the class participants eagerly gave of their time and support to
the powwow.
The anthro department offered a course designed to give credit to people
who participated in the powwow planning, but I don't think it added any
numbers to our ranks, pretty much it was only people already involved
that participated in it.
Hope some of this helps,
Tim Nitz
Two other things came to me:
First, you probably already know this, the biggest problem trying to plan
for paying drum groups is that you never know (at least until Saturday
night of a three-day powwow) how many drums you are going to have there.
Could be anywhere from four to a couple dozen or more. The UW powwow used
to draw about 24 drums, the UO about 12, and we had about 8 I think. But
it's different each year. If I had to really plan, I'd probably figure on
24 drums at $100/night each, but past powwows there might indicate
different numbers of drums.
Second, something I don't see too often anymore--it used to be that each
drum was given a carton of cigarettes when they set-up. Now I know that
in this PC world, that seemed kinda wrong, but truly it was the way that
the drum itself was honored with tobacco. Of course the drummers smoked
the tobacco, but that wasn't entirely the point. I mention it here only
because it is a relatively cheap way to show the drum and its drummers
alot of respect, thus making them feel welcome. Real traditional drummers
will be pleased to see you keeping with an older practice that isn't so
common anymore, at least on this end of the continent. Also, having an
ice chest full of soda for the drummers is a pretty good idea. Be sure to
include some sugar-less pops and maybe even something like ice-tea for
drummers who are diabetic or who don't like sugary drinks while drumming.
It would also be a nice gesture to give them some Hall's drops for their
throats. I suppose you will have a "floor manager," or "drum coordinator"
who can make sure that the drums are taken care of? It's always good to
have someone who is a drummer be in charge of this--drummers like to
have a committee contact who can "talk shop."
Tim