Last night we went to a free kirtan event in Boulder that is specifically geared towards people in their 20s and 30s. I found it via the One Boulder App, and was thrilled to see the group meets regularly every month, usually on the night of the full moon.
The event was lovely, around 20 youngsters in a small room near downtown Boulder. Great vibes, the organizer, Chris, was very welcoming. He even invited us to lead some chants on the tail end of the event, which we were very excited about. However, by the time it was our turn to share it was already past 10pm, and we only got to share one chant as Eko kindly started asking to return home. Fortunately, Chris enjoyed our share, and invited us to lead some more kirtan, perhaps as soon as next week.
It had been a while since we had attended a completely free kirtan event, most of the kirtans we attended either require a ticket, or at least some form of donation. We typically charge $20 for the kirtan events we host, but we adhere to the policy of no one being turned away for lack of funds.
For me it has always been tricky to ask money for this type of offerings, to be honest, I have wrestled with these questions as well in my career as a yoga teacher, personal trainer, and massage therapist in Boulder. It does not come from a part of me that doesn’t value those services and skills, but instead, from a part of me that knows how beneficial these offerings are, and the desire to share all those benefits with the whole world. When it comes to sharing kirtan and medicine music, it is no different, I know how powerful, valuable, and beneficial the music is, and that’s why I want it to reach as many people as possible. At the same time, organizing our tour dates, making it to the events, and doing all the behind-the-scenes marketing and promoting takes an infinite amount of work, and it wouldn’t be possible for us to dedicate all this time to sharing the music, if we weren’t also supplementing our income with a little revenue from ticket sales.
Of course it’s all a labor of love, but I also feel this is something I want to do for a very long time, and that means I have to make sure the project is sustainable, especially on the financial side. And at the same time, I am happy to share with those who want to listen, even if they can’t support the band financially. My vision is to have enough people signed to our Patreon Membership, and sending donations to our Venmo, that we can simply host events for free, so that all can join.
Regarding growth, these last few weeks have been quite meaningful. We had our first presentation of Remember Your Divinity at BOCO Cider, we are pretty much doing two rehearsals per week, and the band has grown to almost 15 members, although not everyone has been able to attend a show yet. We’ve also had multiple new bookings in the last few days, including a couple small festivals in Colorado. The list goes on and on, social media account and email list growing, YouTube and website analytics also up and to the right. And the songs sound better and better, I truly do feel super blessed, and grateful for all the musicians that have been joining us, and everyone that has been coming out to support us. Thank you.
I do plan on writing a blog summarizing 2023, and showing some benchmark numbers, so we can measure our progress and growth from one year to the next. As you can see, I am very much into numbers, and very much into seeing this project grow, and spread, even if at the end of the day I might be just making $5 an hour with my music, I know I love it, and I feel supported and encouraged by the universe to keep investing in this and keep moving forward.
And so it is.
