By Paul Weir, MMOS Board Member & Technical Director of Grand Finale
Greetings, friends! As we enter the 20th year of the All Souls Procession, we would like to respond to your inquiries and share with you how much the Procession costs and how it all happens. First off, please know that we are and have always been a transparent organization-as well with the official non-profit status that we attained in July of 2006, we are also IRS compliant.
Over the years, we have relied on various funding sources to complete the cycle of monetary responsibility around the task of managing the logistics of gathering in public and marching down the street as a community. This task alone and by itself was the sole mandatory cost of the ASP from 1995 until 2001. That cost gradually went from $900 and rose considerably as we moved along and grew our community. In 2002, under the guidance of Diane Daly, we filled out our first grants under a non-profit umbrella and the Tucson Puppetworks workshops got their first infusion of Weed and Seed monies from The Westside Coalition. Flam Chen and friends then started an earnest yearly campaign of creating events where the ASP received the whole of the door take to distribute thru the ASP network and help pay for the infrastructure costs, as well as paying for specific projects and performances with personal funds. Now we find ourselves in the era of new responsibilities to the ASP and the ASP weekend of events as well as our responsibilities to the City of Tucson civic infrastructure.
Our goal is-and has always been-for the qualitative experience of the ASP weekend to continually grow, when in fact, the quantitative aspects (i.e. the steadily increasing number of participants turning out for the Procession each year) have become somewhat of a problem from a logistical, financial and liability point of view. We are, however, persevering through the growth and in fact are making inroads to substantial funding resources and expanding the reach of our community throughout the state and the region, as well as helping Tucson gain international acclaim along the way.
We are excited to share these numbers, as I think most will find it enlightening and be impressed with how much happens for so many with so little.
Puppet and Mask Making workshops $7000.00
Grand Finale-Materials, workshops, production $14,000
Guest Artist Stipends $2800.00
Technical fees $2950.00
Ancestors Project $3000.00
Civic Costs-Police, barricading, permits, etc $6069.00
Procession of the Little Angels $1000.00
Marketing and Promotion $2000.00
Administration $2000.00