Hello

As many of you know, I've been investigating whether we could go to DART 2020. DART is the American equivalent of DERT, although it's newer, smaller and frankly friendlier than DERT! Various American teams have come over to compete at DERT over the years, and I've been over to DERT a couple of times before with Sallyport. It's a great experience both for us as the visiting team, but also for the teams there to welcome and dance alongside a British team.

At our previous AGM and EGM we agreed that we would express interest in going in principle, subject to a firmer commitment at this year's AGM, once more details about DART 2020 are known.

It's now confirmed that it will be in Minneapolis-St Paul Twin Cities, and the dates for the competition will probably either be 16-18 October or 30 Oct-1 Nov. We need to agree our itinerary, but I'd imagine we'll go for about a week either before or after DART itself, with some time in the Twin Cities and some time exploring Minnesota - eg go up to Lake Superior.

Costs and fundraising

Accommodation for the host team will be provided for at least some of the time we're over there. Flights are likely to cost around £600 each, and we may well need to hire cars when we're over there. Other than that it's the usual costs of food, drinks etc.

Hannorah has kindly agreed to coordinate our fundraising efforts to cover all or some of these costs if we commit to going. She has already produced a plan covering crowd funding, grants, sponsorship and events. We'll need a couple of volunteers to do some of the legwork (applications and so on) - so if we decide we're going to commit we'll be seeking some additional help at the AGM.

What do we need to decide?

We need to decide as a team whether we're going to commit to trying to go. It's not the absolute final decision until we're ready to book flights - but by that stage it will be frustrating if we have to pull out without a good reason.

So... consider:

- whether you want to go (irrespective of money or anything else)

- whether you have the time to go

- whether you're ready to commit

- if money is a significant concern, consider having a private conversation with Becky, including what sort of cost would be manageable. We don't want money to be a barrier for anyone who wants to go, and ideally we'll be able to raise enough money to cover most if not all of our costs, but it is quite a big undertaking.

Also if you have ideas or want to help with the organising, please raise that too!

Finally, if you have any questions before Monday, please ask.

See you soon

Martin