kukla_tko | Dork, visionary... whatever...

A new plan is forming. A new passion has flamed in my soul.

Here's how it all started this time.

I wanted a place to store Troupe stuff, other than my home or someone else's home.
I considered renting space to do so (I still may do this.)

I wanted to be covered for medical insurance. I wanted to be able to offer insurance benefits to any troupe member who works for me.

It was suggested to me that I needed to crank it back a little, you know, think smaller. Make this a hobby, and get rid of a lot of the stuff.

Wrong answer.

I am not thinking big enough.

So. That grant I have been talking about since the beginning? I am going to go for it, and many others.

I am going to go for *Several hundred thousand* dollars so that I can make something larger and more dynamic with "the troupe."

Of course, it won't be "the Troupe" any more. Sure, the performance troupe will still be a part of it, and I will still book gigs.

But this time I want to be able to pay my actors better for their time, their research, their efforts, and their art.

I am going to build an organization which designs, sells and executes enrichment programs all over the metro area (and beyond, if possible.) Schools are shutting down their arts programs due to budget cuts. Fine, let's get our money from grants and fundraising so that we can provide enrichment programs for the schools, the daycare centers, the nursing homes, the libraries, etc.

Let's do camps for kids where they can learn about history and oral tradition while they are having the time of their lives. Pirate camp. Faerie Camp. Castle Camp.

Let's work with children in the community to perform for the elderly in retirement homes. Let's work with the elderly to bring a little theater into their lives.

Let's buy one of the closed school properties around the area and do workshops and other programs. Let's have an auditorium where we can perform our shows, but other struggling groups can also perform their shows (for a modest fee, or by splitting the proceeds.)

And this is just the beginning, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

There's money for people doing shakespeare. There's money for groups who work with children. There's money for groups who wish to rehab a school. There's money for all kinds of crap, and I want to get my hands on some of it.

There IS money. All this time, I have worried about the money, and limited my scope because I simply did not have the startup cash.

In fact, one of the most important things to realize when you are going to be an entrepreneur is to not worry about where the money will come from. One needs to make one's 5 year plan first, then figure out how to finance it.

And that's where I am. Making a five year plan.

Imagine a group that takes care of its own by providing benefits. A space that is available to any group that needs it. Actors and teachers working together to bring joy and art and encouragement to children who might otherwise not get these things.

Imagine it. Dream it. Believe it.

I have done all of the above.
Now it is time to DO it.

I don't deal with captivity well. I don't suffer fools, and I don't thrive in an "office" environment. This much has become obvious.
I feel very discordian right now. I have to find a way to get paid for the ways in which I am 'weird.' I think I have it.

I refuse to swat the muses away, I will welcome them and embrace them.

And I will pray, for me, for my dreams, for my partners in this pursuit.

That way, if I die in one of those camps that

bradhicks speaks about... at least I will have tried to achieve my goals and dreams.

And if such camps never manifest... there is nothing to stop me but my own fear.

And I have a pretty good handle on my fear.