Communities Strengthened by Dancing, Singing, and Making Music Together
~ News and Notes for Affiliate Groups ~

Dear CDSS Affiliates,

You are our contact for your group. This newsletter includes useful information that will have long-lasting benefits for YOUR community and we are counting on you to share it with your group organizers. 
IN THIS ISSUE:
  • Affiliate Handbook
  • Advertise Your Event in the Winter CDSS News
  • Sign Up for Shop Talk
  • Plan Now for Matching Scholarships
  • Third CDSS Web Chat Coming Up
  • Find/Share Resources in The Portal
  • CDSS Wants to Highlight Your Community
  • Add Your Own Events to the CDSS Events Calendar
  • Funding Affiliate and Community Resources
CDSS Group Affiliate Handbook
Did You Get Your Affiliate Handbook in the Mail?

We recently mailed out our new Affiliate Handbook to all 300+ of our current group Affiliates. The Handbook is packed with information about all of the resources available to our Affiliates. If you received it, please share it in your  community. Didn't get your copy? Email nicki@cdss.org. 

Also, could you fill out a super brief survey to let us know if you've received your copy of the Handbook, and what you thought of it? Find the survey here.
CDSS News
Advertise Your Event in the Winter CDSS News - deadline Nov 2nd!

Promote your event in the Winter 2018-2019 issue of the CDSS News, a print edition that mails in early December to more than 3,000 CDSS members and Affiliates. 

If you're a member or group Affiliate, you can place a full page, half page, or quarter page ad in the News at 50% off the published rates!

The deadline for the Winter issue is November 2nd, so if you haven't booked your ad yet, do it soon so you don't miss out! Use the handy online insertion order form at cdss.org/cdss-news-insertion-order.
Sign Up to Receive the Next Shop Talk 
E-blast for Organizers

In August CDSS launched Shop Talk, a quarterly e-blast for organizers that offers useful resources, highlights best practices, and shares inspirational stories. We'll also use these quarterly emails to announce upcoming learning opportunities such as web chats and organizer conferences.

The next Shop Talk will be emailed in mid-November. Want to get it? Click here to sign up today!

Plan NOW for CDSS Matching Scholarships in 2019!

Caller at CDSS Dance_ Music_ and Spice at Cavell
Photo by Linda Lewis Lieberman
Has your group ever participated in our Matching Scholarship Program to send a member of your community to a week-long CDSS summer camp? If so, you've seen first-hand that these scholarship recipients bring back new skills and fresh energy to boost your music, dance, or song community. If you haven't, please read on...

Through our Matching Scholarships program, we offer one-on-one matches of funding from CDSS and our Affiliate groups. We encourage all groups to choose from your up-and-coming leaders, musicians, singers, or organizers, and support them in benefiting from this life-changing experience for their growth and for the benefit of your community.

In preparation, please build extra funding into your 2019 budget to help send someone to camp. CDSS will match whatever amount your group can contribute, including travel funds. Early next year you will receive an email from CDSS with instructions about how to participate in our Matching Scholarships program. Please make sure to pass along this email to your fellow organizers and consider joining our efforts to support YOUR group!

Questions? Contact Linda Henry at linda@cdss.org.
Third CDSS Web Chat Coming Up in January!

CDSS Web Chat
Photo by Ben Williams
We have been thrilled that participants from over twenty states and two provinces have joined each of our first two web chats. Recordings of these events are available on our website. Click to hear from groups across the continent speaking about their experiences with Boosting Attendance and Creating a Thriving Open Band.
 
We will be hosting our third Web Chat on Wednesday, January 16th, from 8:30-9:30pm EST. We'll hear from several organizers on the topic of Increasing Youth Involvement, followed by time for Q&A. 

To register for this exciting online event, watch for information in the next CDSS News that will come out in early December. PLEASE make sure to share this information with your fellow organizers, so that your community can benefit from this valuable resource.
 
We are currently looking for guests who can share stories about ways their communities are having success with increasing youth involvement. If you have suggestions for potential guests,  please send their names and emails to CDSS staff member Linda Henry at  as soon as you can.
Find/Share Resources in "The Portal"

The Portal
This summer we launched the new Organizers Resource Portal (aka "The Portal"), a section of the CDSS website that gathers a wide range of material in one place to help local organizers easily find information for planning and decision making. Currently The Portal houses CDSS-created resources as well as some key resources from other organizations and events. You can find The Portal here. 

If you're proud of the work your community is doing, we encourage you to submit resources/ideas/samples/stories that you think other organizers will find useful. While we have a fair amount of resources to date, your additions will make it even better. Submit at  cdss.org/share-your-resource
CDSS Wants to Highlight Your Community!

North By Northwest May Day 2017
Photo by Doug Plummer
To celebrate our new vision statement - Communities strengthened by dancing, singing, and making music together - we are putting together a slideshow of photos from our Affiliates across North America!

The slideshow will be posted and shared on December 1. We would LOVE to include an awesome photo from your community!

Highlight the joy in your community and the artistry of its members by sending us one or two of the BEST photos you have on hand (jpgs that are at least 600px wide). Include a short caption and identify the photographer. 

Send your photos to lynn@cdss.org no later than Friday, November 16th.
Add Your Own Events to the CDSS Online Calendar!

YOU want to get the word out about your traditional dance, music, and song events. WE want to make our online events calendar the go-to resource for TDMS events in the US and Canada. So we're making it easier to get listed by allowing you to add your own one-time and repeating events to the calendar. 

You can submit one time events AND regular dance series! To submit your dance, sing, or other event, go here and click on the "Add an event" link. If you have any questions (such as how to set up event repeats), check out this  step-by-step tutorial complete with screen shots. 

Once you submit your event, we'll review it and approve it ASAP. It's that simple! 
Funding Affiliate and Community Resources

Form The Ocean
Photo by Robyn Nicole
Affiliate dues are an important piece of our financial picture, but they only cover a portion of the work that we do. The fact is, we couldn't do our work or provide you with these additional resources - the Web Chats, the Organizers Portal, and these informative e-blasts - without the ongoing financial support of our members and donors. We're counting on you to join us in raising funds to support this work.

Our Annual Appeal is coming! Watch for it in your mailbox in early November. 

Last year, THESE WONDERFUL AFFILIATES made a gift to the Appeal! 
  • AACTMAD (Ann Arbor Council of Traditional Music and Dance - in support of Camp Cavell)
  • Allegan Woods Folk Arts Cooperative
  • Always on Sunday International Folkdancers
  • Arkansas Valley Music & Dance
  • Ashland Country Dancers
  • Borderline Folk Music Club
  • Cleveland Contra & Waltz
  • Country Dance * New York
  • Crooked River Contradancers
  • Dover English Country Dancers (in memory of Edith Mroz)
  • DownEast Friends of the Folk Arts
  • Folklore Society of Greater Washington
  • FootFall LLC
  • Friday Night Dancers
  • Helena Contra Dancers
  • Juggler Meadow Morris Men
  • LavaMeltdown Contra Dance Weekend
  • Louisville Contra Dancers
  • Monterey Country Dance Community
  • Northeast Squeeze-In, Inc.
  • Oakland County Traditional Dance Society
  • Rural Felicity
  • San Diego English Country Dancers
  • Sun Assembly
  • Traditional Austin Area Dance Association (TAADA)
We hope you've noticed and enjoyed our increased attention to Affiliate Groups in 2018, and we hope it inspires you to take action. Talk to your leadership team about making a gift to CDSS this year.  Your gift
will support grants and scholarships , help us make needed resources available  through our website, and enable CDSS to support fellow Affiliate Groups whose resources are stretched thin. This work matters! Our world needs more of this! We hope you will join us in making it happen.
Country Dance & Song Society
116 Pleasant St, Suite 345, Easthampton, MA 01027 | 413-203-5467 | CDSS.ORG  

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