Swingin' Tern Report

The dances have been enjoyable, but we have had declining attendance and are operating at a loss thus far for 2010. We have recently had about 55-60 total attendance and need about 10 more dancers on a regular basis. We plan to initiate an outreach effort to area colleges as well as the fine folks of East Hanover.

My son, a college student and contra dancer, suggests that the best way to reach college students is through clubs and organizations. My daughter, Cody, and a friend of hers started to develop a list of email addresses for organizations at a number of area colleges. The list thus far is attached, and may also be useful for the Minstrel and other FP activities. I've asked Cody to help develop a targeted email message to send to the schools. The message will provide a link to the Swingin' Tern Facebook page and to NPR's July 2 All Things Considered segment on "Youth Flock to Contra Dancing" (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128273050&sc=emaf), which I recommend listening to. We hope that this outreach effort will be more effective than the fliers we have been sending to colleges.

Connie