Can I charge for admission

For events ‘owned’ by the performing group, or some other organization, then that decision is up to them.

For Chase the Music sponsored events, the general answer is no. We never want money to be an impediment to family, friends, supporters of the child in the consideration of attending.

A quick story, from early in our history to help bring this point home.

I was at lunch presenting with the mom, and two daughters, one of which (Kati) has a severe degenerative neural disease. They all loved the idea of what we were proposing to do for Kati. Towards the end of the meeting, the mom asked “how much will you charge for attending this event. I’m assuming our family is free but what about our friends?” I was taken aback for a moment, for I always looked at Chase the Music events as gifts. It had never entered my head to charge anyone. I wanted everyone to come and celebrate the child and the music together, and money not to be a consideration. The mom got this relieved look on her face. She explained, “Everyone is always looking for money. We’re in a normal middle class neighborhood, but people are tapped out. There’s all the normal band, football, scouts fundraisers that you’d expect, but Kati’s school wants extra money, And each of those expects us to hit on our friends, family and neighbors to contribute. We’ve never had a gift like this before. People wouldn’t come if they had to pay, and with your gift, everyone will come.”

It was then that I realized that an early uncouncious decision was really important. We shouldn’t charge for events.