{"id":70,"date":"2008-10-09T09:39:13","date_gmt":"2008-10-09T09:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp\/?p=70"},"modified":"2008-10-09T09:39:13","modified_gmt":"2008-10-09T09:39:13","slug":"hey_can_boy_bands_be_501c3s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/2008\/10\/hey_can_boy_bands_be_501c3s\/","title":{"rendered":"Hey, Can Boy Bands Be 501(c)3s?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mind the Gap has received it’s first question! I’ve offered my 2, now it’s your turn.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"rock.jpg\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Mind the Gap,<\/p>\n

I really love new music, but a few things about it have me stumped. Non-profit groups like Bang on a Can, Alarm Will Sound, Anti-Social Music, and others celebrate an unprecedented musical diversity. All this suggests an “anything goes” culture–communities without boundaries, etc. My questions: How does an inclusive atmosphere affect the educational status claimed by groups in order to qualify as a not-for-profit? Should pop groups qualify as non-profit organizations, and be eligible for the grants that would accompany this?\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Signed,
\nNon-exclusive in Knoxville<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Dear Non-Exclusive:<\/p>\n

The borders have come tumbling down, you are quite right. Some patrons are quite shocked by what this has brought forth. (For instance, one of Counterstream Radio’s listeners wrote in to politely request that we not mix any more of that “jazz music” with the contemporary classical works on the playlist.) In my experience, redrawing the division lines has only been a force for creative and intellectual good. I can’t say if the federal government is keeping up with this trend, but I don’t expect that they are clinging tightly to any classical-only paradigm when their constituencies of “soccer moms” and “joe six-packs” so clearly have not. But that doesn’t mean the PTA is going to go in for taking their classes to bars to hear the local boy band. <\/p>\n

In these crazy economic times, of course, everyone is looking closely at what it’s going to take to put food on the table, and not-for-profits do have a number of fund-raising and grant-acquiring perks available to them. However, the rules and regulations for getting 501(c)3 status is rendering the process increasingly difficult, and there are big questions you probably want to ask yourself and your group<\/a> before attempting it. In addition, there are organizational requirements–the establishment of by-laws, a board of directors, and such–that most of the pop groups I know of would not be interested in pursuing. It’s just not usually part of the culture or the aspirations of the musicians involved in the scene. (Please correct me if I am off base!!) They want to play gigs and make records, not design education programs for the local elementary school. <\/p>\n

That said, I don’t think “classical” music is the only genre in town with the ability to promote an educational mission. If that’s what you’re about, I don’t expect that what bin you’re filed in is going to be a stumbling block. But has that theory been tested? Anyone out there front a heavy metal band with a mission to teach math to 3rd graders? I mean, how educational is a symphony concert, anyway? Any 501(c)3 pop groups out there want to give it a test run? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mind the Gap has received it’s first question! I’ve offered my 2, now it’s your turn. Dear Mind the Gap, I really love new music, but a few things about it have me stumped. Non-profit groups like Bang on a Can, Alarm Will Sound, Anti-Social Music, and others celebrate an unprecedented musical diversity. All this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-70","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}