LemonDrop Comprehensive Plan

comprehensive plan

Table of ContentsWho We Are

Weekly Events

Leadership Positions

Monthly Budget Breakdowns

Facility/Equipment Wants

Website Reconditioning

MISSION

To nurture local creative culture by promoting artists; enabling arts and creative culture; and facilitating fair compensation for

their work.

GOALS

To provide a multi-use, all-ages art gallery and venue containing a dedicated staff of

local artists and musicians for the Springfield area and local community.

COMPENSATIONENABLING

PROMOTINGLemonDrop has a dedicated hierarchy of staff members whose sole purpose lies in the promotion and planning of events and programs that benefit both our artists and our community. The LemonDrop leadership team consists of a music director, marketing director, and community relations director. Each of these team members has their own dedicated volunteers helping in each specific field. This structure leads to effective event planning, marketing campaigns, and community outreach that very few other multi-purpose venues can provide. This teamwork coupled with an ever growing Creative Online Database (see appendix A) enables any artist or musician involved in a LemonDrop to be easily promoted and able to establish new connections.

LemonDrop enables members of the art and music community by facilitating a space consisting of a music venue, art gallery, and makerspace complete with an art lab, collaboratory, and woodshop. LemonDrop’s facility is one of the only alcohol-free all-ages venues in Springfield. This allows often neglected niches of our musical community to thrive in a landscape dominated by 21+ venues. Investment in a unique gallery space, tools for both the collaboratory and woodshop, as well as a state of the art sound system will give all of Springfield’s art and music niches a place to call home.

LemonDrop also enables by connecting artists with willing and interesting members of the community. Participation in events such as Springfield’s First Friday Art Walk allows artists a means of exposure, communication, and possible monetary benefits for artists. This relationship also provides original art for patrons in the community. Lemondrop also works closely with the city helping to bring projects of all sizes to our member base.

LemonDrop consistently works with members of the community to bring exposure to creative individuals. Through work with local music promoters and LemonDrop’s own concert series musicians have ample opportunity for monetary gain. This often results in a higher percentage of nightly earnings for artists than any other venue. Workshops and access to multiple music connections throughout Springfield will allow LemonDrop musicians a chance to grow their music careers and use LemonDrop as a true music resource.

Artists will be given opportunities to create, display, and sell their artwork through the new LemonDrop Gallery. Lemondrop consistently has the lowest gallery commission rates in the community. As a non-profit art and music collective, Lemondrop is able to give back a much higher percentage of earnings to artists and musicians. This enables more freedom from the monetary concerns that normally arise when selling art or performing in a gallery setting.

Who We Are



Monthly Budget

Weekly Events


5

History

Goals

Mission

Membership

HISTORYLemondrop is an organization that is always growing and evolving. The question “What is LemonDrop?” has been asked since our beginning and the answer has changed and evolved along with the organization.

We began as LemonDrop Records; a Creative Commons based record label that focused on creativity, originality, and community. Lemondrop worked with musicians spanning multiple genres with building community around each band being the major priority.

Our first facility was located on Commercial Street where we became known as LemonDrop. Lemondrop was one of Springfield’s few non-profit all-ages music and event venues. After leaving our Commercial Street location we found our new home at 407 North Boonville.

What is Lemondrop now? LemonDrop is MUSIC. LemonDrop is ART. And most importantly, LemonDrop is COMMUNITY.

Lemondrop’s move to the new Boonville location found us merging with SquidFoo Art Collective and Gallery where we inherited a 6,000 square foot space. Since August 2013 we have been cleaning, preparing, and reimagining the entire space.

7 Who We Are



Monthly Budget

Weekly Events


History

Goals

Mission

Membership

MEMBERSHIP

The LemonDrop Art/Music Membership is simple at its core. It is a chance to have 24/7 access to the LemonDrop Workspace and Creative Center. A 6,000 square foot space containing a music and event venue, an art lab, a multi-purpose collaboratory, and a

woodshop.

Do you need a simple place to finish your art piece? Stop by any time of day or night and set up in an art lab station. Need somewhere you can actually get messy while working on a piece? Head to the collaboratory, lay down a drop cloth, and make a mess. Need to use

power tools, collaborate on a piece, become inspired, see concerts for free, or be a part of a truly unique community? A LemonDrop membership is anything a member wants it to be.

Student memberships, with a student ID, are $30 a month. Regular memberships are only $40 a month. Every member’s first month is $30.

- 24/7 access to LemonDrop’s 6,000 square foot space

- Collaboration and inspiration that comes from daily exposure and interaction with like minded, open, and creative individuals

FACILITY BENEFITS- A Full Art Lab which will feature 15 work stations and will include rentable locker spaces for storage

- The Collaboratory is used for as workroom for larger, messier projects. This will become the home where our unique art tools are featured. These would entail a ceramic kiln, 3D printer, t-shirt press and similar tools we will acquire over time. These tools and their uses are extremely sought after within the community.

- Full access to our woodshop and tools after proper training classes

- Free access to nearly all LemonDrop events along with discounted tickets for larger concerts

COMMUNITY BENEFITS- Being able to be a part of a truly unique community that embraces and lives by the very definition of community

- Opportunities for experience in event planning, team coordination, non-profit management, and numerous other areas if joining the LemonDrop Leadership Team or general volunteer areas

- Ability to grow talents and skills into a legitimate business within the walls of LemonDrop by utilizing the knowledge and skills of those around the space



Weekly Events

Who We Are

Monthly Budget

LEADERSHIP Gallery Director Oversees all daily activity in the gallery. Coordinates artist outreach programs to maintain consistent quantity and quality of pieces in the gallery. Develops artist contracts and acts as main liaison to all artists.

Membership Coordinator Develops and maintains LemonDrop’s in house membership program. Addresses any concerns/suggestions members may have and works closely with Executive Director to implement solutions.

Event Coordinator Main liaison to any businesses or community members wanting to use LemonDrop’s listening room or gallery as a rental for their event. Responsible for booking, negotiating, and setting up of incoming non-art or music events such as plays, private parties, rehearsal dinners, or any other private events.

Financial Director/Treasurer Responsible for the creation and implementation of the in-house financial system. Works directly with Executive Director and the treasurer of our fiscal sponsor (Springfield Regional Arts Council) to create and finalize all financial documents needed each month.

Webmaster Oversees LemonDrop website rebuild. Maintains new website and work with Content Coordinator and Executive Director to update blog, event calendar, and public forum

Team Members Each director and coordinator will be collaborating on various events, programs, and projects on an continuous basis. Those interested in helping the above positions, but may not have dedicated time allowed to take on a leadership role, can become a team member.

Internships The goal of our internship program is to provide those invested a chance to take on responsibility under whichever field best fits a student’s interest and field of study. Interns are encouraged to observe processes and be proactive in not only coming up with ideas that will help LemonDrop, but also taking on a leadership role in actually seeing these ideas into fruition.

Executive Director Oversees all daily activity. Acts as liaison to the Springfield community for any LemonDrop related matters. Maintains daily contact with all directors and makes sure all tasks for future programs, events, classes, etc. are delegated and completed within deadlines allotted.

Creative Director Works in tandem with the Gallery Director. Responsible for developing and implementing all art related events. Ensures Gallery Director gathers and hangs all art by established deadlines and works with Marketing Director to make sure all art events are marketed thoroughly.

Marketing Director Coordinates with Creative Director, Music Director, and Event Coordinator to develop a cohesive branding system that will represent LemonDrop through all aspect of the organization. Works with marketing team to implement this branding strategy in effectively marketing any and all LemonDrop music, art, or community based events or programs.

Music Program Director Further develops and implements the “LemonDrop Progression” music program. Works with established artists, both local and touring, to maintain a steady calendar of concerts for the venue. Develops and coordinates a LemonDrop Music Workshop series of classes with local musicians for the community.

Fundraising Coordinator Develop and maintain relationships with potential and current donors. Develop sustainable grant writing programs and oversee the grant writing team. Coordinate with appropriate directors creating any fundraising music or art events.


11

WEEKLY EVENTS

Lemondrop Events are a series of gatherings open to all ages Monday through Thursday every week. A different niche is featured each night allowing the general public to make LemonDrop their home as much as LemonDrop members do. The same emphasis on

building community and having fun which is focused within our membership is present in every aspect of each night’s event. Each evening contains its own unique event with the

ultimate goal of having different communities arise around each evening.


Monthly Budget


Who We Are


monday Comedy NightLemonDrop’s weekly comedy night. This gives both aspiring and established comedians in Springfield a chance to perform for a captive audience allowing them to test new material.

Music has been the main focus of LemonDrop since our inception; as of recent, comedy has found a niche at Lemondrop. Our comedy night will become a sec-ond home to the Springfield comedy scene.

Lemondrop has been in contact with Skinny Improv, among other organizations, to make this comedy night a springboard to other, larger, comedy events like a weekend long stand-up tournament of champions. This could take the form of a two or three day stand-up tournament to find out who are the best comedians in town as judged by the crowd and a dedicated panel. Also ComProv! A possible monthly event featuring stand up from the best comedians from our weekly comedy night, coupled with interactive improv games for everyone to participate in.

Weekly Events

15 tuesday Video Game Tournament Night

Our video game night would be a no holds barred weekly tournament to prove once and for all who is the king of [insert video game]. Whatever your game, check our calendar out, find your game, and show up to take the top prize.

What was an idea brought up in passing, led to numerous indepth conversations with staff and owners of both of Springfield’s Vintage Stocks. Video games, especially tournament style night, are a niche that has not been explored in Springfield. There are video game stores and places like 1984 to casually play, but no place play tournament style in a social building environment.

Our end goal in LemonDrop is community and building an all ages community where participants can create new friends, talk and play games, and try to top one another.

Details are still being worked out with Vintage Stock; but the goal is to designate each month to one video game console (e.g. April = Super Nintendo). Each week popular games will be rotated through and all the consoles will be donated for that month by Vintage Stock. Each month will end with a large tournament to decide the champion.wednesday LemonDrop Trivia Night!

LemonDrop’s unique, all ages, incredibly fun weekly trivia night! Emphasis on all ages. Bring your family, friends, colleagues, and whoever else every Wednesday for questions ranging in difficulty level, interactive games inbetween rounds, and more!

There are Trivia Nights aplenty throughout Springfield, but in all honesty, the majority of these trivia nights happen in bars. This excludes the entire population under 21 who would love to go to a weekly trivia night. LemonDrop is already an established all ages music venue, and our goal is to extend our all ages influence to numerous events within our walls. And we’d love to see both high school and early university students right alongside a family of four, all excited for their favorite weekly trivia night at LemonDrop.


Monthly Budget


Who We Are


Weekly Events

17

thursday Open Mic Night

LemonDrop’s weekly open mic night is one of Springfield’s few all ages alcohol free open mic nights. Lemondrop’s comfortable listening room atmosphere allows a musician to play their music for a captive audience who is solely focused on the music. An emphasis is place directly on performance and participation of the crowd.

Lemondrop will provide the tools for any aspiring musician attending our open mic night. We are partnering with professional videographers and are working to upgrade our soundboard to one with recording capabilities in order to provide an inexpensive way to leave Lemondrop’s open mic night with both an HD video recording as well as an audio recording of any participants open mic performance.

The open mic night will be the first step an artist can take in their “LemonDrop Progression” towards becoming a headlining act in our “LemonDrop Presents:” concert series. In returning to our LemonDrop Records roots, the goal is to become a venue that supports all Springfield musicians and to support them every step of the way.

WANTSIn order to fully utilize Lemondrop’s listening room atmosphere and become the music resource the group ultimately strives to be Lemondrop needs a more complete, professional sound system. A system that makes recording live performances easy while still providing professional live sound. Attached on the next page are separated potential live systems which can be obtained through donation.

System #1 provides the space with a reasonable sound board, mics, cables, and a needed set of powered main speakers which do not require bulky power amps and can be mounted to the walls.

System #2 replaces all microphones, cables, and mic stands currently owned by Lemondrop and adds a full set of stage monitors. Contained within the specified sound board would be the ability to record live events at a professional level.

System #3 is the ideal system in which donations are no circumstance. Acquiring this equipment is a multi-year plan for the organization. This package allows both the easy of setup balanced with the professional needs of the space. This system also includes a Macbook Pro with full recording suite allowing the space to become a cheap alternative to more established studios for professional recording.

Weekly Events


Who We Are


Monthly Budget


19

Speaker Breakdowns

As Lemondrop continues to grow our needs and wants will continue to evolve and change. Currently our Woodshop and Collabratory are

always in need of new tools and are always looking for new donations.

THE LEMONDROP EXPERIENCE

MONTHLY BUDGET Obtaining and Maintaining a Sustainable and Profitable Budget



Weekly Events


Who We Are

25 Student Memberships (30 students @ 30/month)- responsibility of Membership Coordinator and their team- heavy emphasis on University outreach (especially Brick City, Missouri State’s art department, which is literally across the alley West of our location)- Marketing/PR campaigns created just for University and High School outreach that can be continued seamlessly with any change at the Membership Coordinator position- University/High School newspaper ads- maintaining relations with appropriate department heads to ensure targeted campaigns reach incoming students each new semester- outreach beyond campus with marketing/collaboration with appropriate businesses that sell to desired demographic

Monthly Budget

- similar outreach strategy expanded further into the community- heavy emphasis on business collaboration to reach arts demographic (e.g. RSVPaint, Arts & Letters, Springfield Pottery, etc.) and focus on building community both within LemonDrop, as well as in a grander sense, as a growing arts community as a whole-continuous marketing of the LemonDrop Community concept and our calendar of events to media outlets such as the Springfield News-Leader, TAG Magazine, 417 Magazine, etc., as well as encouraging and providing LemonDrop human interest piece ideas to publications on a regular basis, highlighting members-focus on “making LemonDrop your home studio” message to more established artists, by emphasizing no hanging fees, artist friendly commission structure, added exposure from continuous foot traffic in our gallery because of a full calendar of events

General Membership (15 members @$40/month)

- until re-modeled gallery is completed, emphasis will be on Art Walk events each month highlighting member art created throughout the month- $25 hanging fee for non-members- 25% commission on any sales throughout the month- art will be hung in both the listening room, and in certain sections of the gallery room- upon establishing weekly events Monday-Thursday, art will be seen for a minimum of 3-4 hours each night (increasing when daytime hours are established and weekend events added more regularly to calendar)

Art/Gallery Sales ($300/Month)

$300 is a conservative number estimated on current situation with unfinished gallery and no day time hours. This estimate should increase extensively with established gallery and full calendar of events

bringing in possibly hundreds of people per week.

- average concert entry fee will be $5-10 (capacity 49 people = $245-$490 minus all expenses)-initial concert goal = 1-3/month with long term goal of one concert a weekend year-round- profit share options for musicians playing will be decided beforehand -50/50 entry fee split (marketing shared by band and LemonDrop)- “LemonDrop Presents” concerts (LemonDrop covers all marketing, split favors LemonDrop to cover expenses, agreed upon by both parties)-Band guarantee (reserved for more established acts, band receives fee agreed upon for playing no matter the marketing share or profit gained from entry fee)-Rental fee for private events in either the Listening Room or Gallery side start at $75/hour (initial goal of one private event per month, with 2-4 per month as a long term goal)-additional fees will be added based on if staff is needed, events longer than four hours, or any other terms agreed upon after discussing and finalizing event with Event Coordinator

Concert/Event Entry and Rental Fees ($200/Month)



Weekly Events


Who We Are

27

Monthly Budget

- monthly goal for concessions is to break even, with incentives given to volunteers running concessions if break even amount for current event is exceeded

Concessions ($50/month)

Business Sponsorships ($200/month)- responsibility of Fundraising Director and their team- outreach campaign will be developed that includes plans detailing how to identify a viable potential business sponsor, benefits of a business sponsorship, and presentation guidelines to follow when approaching or meeting with a potential sponsor-businesses will be encouraged to utilize any area in our 6,000 square foot space to creatively market themselves within LemonDrop’s walls. Want a simple plaque,banner in the woodshop, or something our patrons will see at every event? The more creative the better.

- main responsibility of Fundraising Director - Director will help form a grant writing team that will research the list of over 600 grant organizations that LemonDrop has obtained through numerous resources - team tasks include researching the list, identifying organizations and grants that LemonDrop qualifies for, and using resources such as the LemonDrop Business Plan to apply for each grant-the Grantwriting team will become one of the most vital keys to LemonDrop’s success, and formulating a successful and streamlined grant writing process will allow us to continuously increase our monthly goal of submitted grants.

Grants ($500-1000/month)

WEBSITE REBUILDIn reimagining everything LemonDrop is from the ground up, it only makes sense that the same must be done for our website. In our previous location concerts and art events filled the calendar and Lemondrop’s website helped the community keep tabs on current events.

While the event aspect will remain strong at LemonDrop, the addition of an in-house art and music membership constantly creating and displaying new work adds an entirely new dimension to the organization. The new Lemondrop website will showcase not only what is going on at the space, but also what is being made and created within the environment. Creating a website that is rich in information and interesting content will be key to the success of the new LemonDrop. Here are the goals the group seeks to achieve with the new LemonDrop.org.

- Add professionalism without sacrificing identity with sleek, updated layout with LemonDrop style- LemonDrop the physical space will showcase paintings, pottery, sculptures, etc. but LemonDrop the website should be just as rich showcasing written word, short films, concert footage, music videos, graphic art, and more- A streamlined way to feature all art work currently in the gallery as well as feature digital art of all kinds physically unable to be show in a gallery- “Community” focus profile section highlighting current members and their work if possible to tell the story of the artists behind the art people see at the space- Podcasts - whether it be story driven pieces created by members in a “This American Life” style, interviews with music acts coming through town, or multi-topic roundtable discussions; podcasts will continue the Community theme focusing on the great Springfield community as a whole- Forums - both public for topical discussion among members and non-members alike, and a private back end forum for administrative organization- Sponsorship Highlight Section- Clearly defined section that the public has easy access to and makes sponsoring LemonDrop a clear benefit that reaches the Springfield community-Events calendar that is accessible as you navigate through the website and can be pulled up any time-Easily accessible and easy to find Donate and Volunteer sections

The natural evolution of LemonDrop led us from being a record label, to expanding into a physical venue, to now becoming a venue meets artist workspace meets gallery. All housed inside 6,000 square

feet.

The immediate next step is making our hybrid art/music business concept both successful and self-sustaining. Building a strong member base, along with a complete staff all making each aspect of

LemonDrop, from events to grant writing, efficient and streamlined.

The future of LemonDrop relies just as much on Community as today’s LemonDrop. Assuming all things successful with the current Comprehensive Plan, the long term next step becomes the real

question.

April 30,2014 - Have 30 members and as much as the leadership team/internship

team established as possible.

May 31, 2014 - Have majority, if not all, of the weekly events nights set up and regularly attended. Have grant writing

process established and first few grants researched and applications sent.

December 31, 2014 - Have obtained funding, further developed plans, and have completed new gallery redesign.

One year plan: A year from now, we would love for our new gallery to become the centerpiece for our

members’ work. Public event merge with members’ daily activities and

LemonDrop is full of people most hours of the day, every day of the week. A

community of musicians, artists, and patrons all actively contributing to our

overall mission is key.

Five year plan: Develop a non-profit LemonDrop in a box guideline, which we can give to interested individuals in nearby cities that may want to start their own LemonDrop. Each new

LemonDrop contains a venue and a form of makerspace, but what that makerspace is left up to their decision.

Spreading LemonDrop in this way would make LemonDrop synonymous with this unique type of venue/makerspace.

Both for artists and musicians, this LemonDrop network can act as its own grass roots, self-sustainable network.

Musicians can go “on tour” traveling from LemonDrop to LemonDrop, with each new LemonDrop taking on the

responsibilities of marketing the show, since they know the city, housing the musicians, and covering traveling costs to the next city. Much like how a record label sends a band on tour, only each city covers costs and markets better than any

centralized entity could.

This idea could be extended to artists having traveling gallery shows which stay at a certain LemonDrop for a set time, then

move to the next city.

THE FUTURE OF LEMONDROP

THE GALLERY RENOVATION

Lemondrop seeks to create an interesting gallery environment in which local artists can show and

promote their work.

LemonDrop Comprehensive Plan

Documents

Transcript of LemonDrop Comprehensive Plan