Want to open a performing arts and science boarding school

[Robert]

Like I said some some just don't shut up!

Next ...

Ain't that the truth, enjoy your vacation.

 

[Criss Colon]

Worthless post until you back it up with actual facts and reasons.

Best indicator of the future is the past!!!!

Book mark this post and come back in a year, well see who's advice was right on target!

I have two daughters that took ballet lessons in two different schools, the demand is not there, especially for a boarding school.
Two years ago they built a huge two story ballet/performing arts school 2 blocks from my house. Both daughters went. First year, big success, year two not so much, year 3, empty building!

You have lived here long enough to know that Dominicans LOVE ANYTHING NEW, then they desert it after 6 months!!!

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In two years, or MUCH less, I'll be posting,..."I TOLD YOU SO"!!!!

 

[robbiee]

haha briliant ;-)

those who need to lick plaster off walls for their daily dose of calcium do not go to such schools. geez.

 

[Dolores1]

Chavon evolved

Boarding in Altos de Chavon was one of the challenges of education there, with the students maturing from having to share with dorm companions in small studios. The school this year decided to only offer boarding to students of plastic arts. The fashion and graphic arts (communication) sections have been moved to Santo Domingo. This is the last year when fashion, plastic arts and communication students will be living together at the dorm facilities in La Romana. In the words of Dominique Bluhdorn, it was either make the move to be closer to the clients for the students, or close. They chose to split the school for the students starting this fall. They needed more students and the students were in Santo Domingo.

Correct me if I'm wrong this school is connected to Pearson in NYC......I suppose if a student travel from NY they would want to be in the heart of DR...although the school is beautiful and is set in a scenic area, either way this is a good scenario to study in business, sounds like they grew out of the area they started in and what ever worked 30 years ago isn't working now...I'll certainly be keeping my ear to the ground about the success of the move![/QUOTE]

I think their decision to move the Fashion and Graphic Arts to Santo Domingo is correct and will be very successful. Only question everyone is having is what about parking, as the Santo Domingo campus has something like 12 parking slots. Suppose students will be dropped off, will walk there or take public transport, taxis.

Plastic arts is what needs the wonderful ambience of Altos de Chavon. And while the students all benefited from the boarding that facilitated concentration and thus made it possible for the school to develop intensive courses, reality is that the demand for what they offer in fashion and graphic arts is in Santo Domingo. For instance, last night i was talking to a graduate of the fashion school, who says she will enroll to take the graphic arts program.

Plastic arts will continue to thrive in the lovely La Romana setting.

Prior to setting up your school, I think you should take the time to go talk to the Altos de Chavon people and visit the school in La Romana and Santo Domingo. Take note that sustainability rather than profitability was the priority at Altos de Chavon. But I think now with the concentration in Santo Domingo, the earnings could significantly improve.

They receive several foreign students, too.

There are many performing arts schools here -- that of Amaury Sanchez is one of the larger, but I believe there are several others. You should visit these. You should talk with the choreographers and dance teachers. You should visit with the theatre schools -- Manuel Chapuseaux at Teatro Guloya, Awilda Polanco for modern dance?

 

[Performing Arts Boarding]

Parsons

Yes that one!

 

[mountainannie]

Parsons School of Design

 

[Performing Arts Boarding]

I thought the OP main goal was to attract overseas students with a small mix of locals ? Then the boarding aspect would make sense (and I am sure if it becomes successful with boarding students, upper middle class local kids may follow).

Yes that's it...but the locals should benefit as much as the international students, this will take lots of education and persuasion on our part but we have great behavioral psychology friends who help in that aspect of advertising. This is why I was asking about financial aid, the locals are near and dear cause my in-laws are Dominican and I have seen children here in the U.S. In Washington Heights NY excel further than their parents because they had financial aid to support them in education. Not only are those kids poor but have parents with a 5th grade education....now to try and reverse that in an island that has no financial aid means more international students and more reaching out to companies that will sponsor smart poor kids. So boarding is now a need reacher than just a big idea and by all means getting parents to let go just a little to let their child be under someone else's care will always be a challenge in any culture; more times than not boarding works !

 

[the gorgon]

Yes that's it...but the locals should benefit as much as the international students, this will take lots of education and persuasion on our part but we have great behavioral psychology friends who help in that aspect of advertising. This is why I was asking about financial aid, the locals are near and dear cause my in-laws are Dominican and I have seen children here in the U.S. In Washington Heights NY excel further than their parents because they had financial aid to support them in education. Not only are those kids poor but have parents with a 5th grade education....now to try and reverse that in an island that has no financial aid means more international students and more reaching out to companies that will sponsor smart poor kids. So boarding is now a need reacher than just a big idea and by all means getting parents to let go just a little to let their child be under someone else's care will always be a challenge in any culture; more times than not boarding works !

i am a huge fan of boarding school. there is nothing that adjusts people like boarding school. you learn that you are nothing special, and that you are not any better than anyone else, just because mommy and daddy told you how great you are.

when i went to boarding school, the junior dormitory had bunk beds. some guys were notorious bedwetters. if you were a guy who came to school full of himself because daddy had a mansion on a hill, you got to sleep on the bottom bunk, and a bedwetter got the top. that will straighten you out, somewhat.

 

[Performing Arts Boarding]

ANYONE who comes to the DR to start a business to live on had better bring 2 years survival money with them.
Hey Criss, first and foremost thank you for your opinion, I live in NY where opinions go as long as the Hudson River so this state alone is not in any shortages of opinions lol! I would like to say NO is something I have heard my whole life but living in NY No doesn't necessarily mean a defined NO, it's more like a beware.....so I'm going to take your comments in pieces and respond as such.

Education is not a lucrative business in the U.S. Unless you are in Texas making the curriculum, and books that provide the education to the masses.

It's also not lucrative in the U.S. Unless you are a multi billion dollar corporation who can pay for lobbyist who can influence officials and government to pass laws that benefit bad business models for the sake of the bottom line of a business.

The great part about DR is you don't need a gazillion dollars to live especially if you are not trying to live like a king or queen. Just a little insite on my own moral compass, although I have been fortunate to make enough for my family so we won't starve...I've never been the flashy type nor lived above my means, don't need big houses and flashy things to make me or my family happy. Money is paper and that's it! The value that's better than money is in the exchange I'm getting from these amazing people on DR1 who give educated opinions about an ideas on how to grow and make the idea a reality. I'll eat Mangos everyday to make 1 child's life richer in education if I must....but that's just me!

 

[the gorgon]

ANYONE who comes to the DR to start a business to live on had better bring 2 years survival money with them.
Hey Criss, first and foremost thank you for your opinion, I live in NY where opinions go as long as the Hudson River so this state alone is not in any shortages of opinions lol! I would like to say NO is something I have heard my whole life but living in NY No doesn't necessarily mean a defined NO, it's more like a beware.....so I'm going to take your comments in pieces and respond as such.

Education is not a lucrative business in the U.S. Unless you are in Texas making the curriculum, and books that provide the education to the masses.

It's also not lucrative in the U.S. Unless you are a multi billion dollar corporation who can pay for lobbyist who can influence officials and government to pass laws that benefit bad business models for the sake of the bottom line of a business.

The great part about DR is you don't need a gazillion dollars to live especially if you are not trying to live like a king or queen. Just a little insite on my own moral compass, although I have been fortunate to make enough for my family so we won't starve...I've never been the flashy type nor lived above my means, don't need big houses and flashy things to make me or my family happy. Money is paper and that's it! The value that's better than money is in the exchange I'm getting from these amazing people on DR1 who give educated opinions about an ideas on how to grow and make the idea a reality. I'll eat Mangos everyday to make 1 child's life richer in education if I must....but that's just me!

i wish you all the best. give it all you?ve got, and do not listen to people who have nothing positive to offer. if you ever need to know anything about boarding school, i am here.

 

[Performing Arts Boarding]

ANYONE who comes to the DR to start a business to live on had better bring 2 years survival money with them.
No one seems to want to "Rain On Your Parade", but I WILL!
"R U NUTS"????????


I was a ballet dancer for 20 years even when it rained we still performed, I performed in rain, sleet and snow. In fact I remember my mother traveling fro Chicago to NY to see me in a performance with Dance Theatre of Harlem, it was outside and it certainly rained, thousands of customers had to pile into the school cause it was coming down hard! We STILL performed ...good event planners/ business people always have a plan B for Rain!
I understand your warning, I am not so oblivious to the culture and opening a business in that country, I am 20 years seasoned with in-laws who have schooled me on DR political red tape and bribery. The Domincan and Dominican American founders don't see this as a problem so my very American self won't get anxiety over it either ....especially when the U.S. Is exactly the same!

 

[Performing Arts Boarding]

[QUOTE=Criss Colon;15749

"R U NUTS"???????? In fact I am! ......anyone who goes to school to teach other children, must be nuts.....they believe they are more skilled than a parent to give someone else's child the key to success in life, all the PTA members, board, chairman, principals, vice principals and don't get me started on the special education teachers ....they are really nuts! To think they can provide an exceptional education for a child with special needs...are crazy, nuts, lost their entire ability to rationalize.
The majority of educators don't do it because they want to be rich, they do it because they believe something other than the normal statuses, they understand and are extremely rational in the fact that the rewards are not recognitions or money it's a child who has figured out how to succeed in spite of many obstacles and it very much relied on a personal relationship of the parents, community and teachers! That same child could be a senator or mayor or president old a country....and he was in your high school economics class!


This place will eat you alive, then spit out your bones!
You idea is terrible!!!!

I would reather die trying to make a child's life more meaningful and full, then die having opinions and not taking action!
It will NEVER WORK!!!!!!!!
It has worked several times ......there are plenty of boarding schools as well as private education in the DR.....even If there wasn't any I would still push forward to be the pioneer in trying!

 

[the gorgon]

it is always better to try and fail than not trying. at least you will never wonder what would have happened if you had tried. the uncertainty will destroy you.

the worst that can happen is that you lose some money. that is not the worst thing in the world. many people have gone broke before making it big.

the naysayers say you can?t mke money in the DR. i am sure DR1 does not survive on handouts.

 

[Performing Arts Boarding]

As I ALWAYS say,...."Best way to leave the DR with a million dollars??????
Bring 2 million

This stament would mean that I actually want to go to a smaller country ( I won't call it 3rd world cause that's a CNN stament, we have the same situations in the profitable US but you won't see much of that on the island) and rob them of the little dollars they have !! And and idiot can have 2 million and be poor and destitute in a few years....an educated person can have 2 million and take the time to plant small seeds and make it grow over years....family wealthy and being rich are not the same things, I would rather have my ethics and morals in tact and approach education from that point of view than how many dollars I can make of the less fortunate.....I dream of having a school where Dominican children travel the world as leaders and come back to ask for my job, reather than retiring off hard earned money from any class of income and not achieveing squat!

 

[Performing Arts Boarding]

Perhaps someone needs to start a ballet shoe manufacturing company in the DR.Point shoes are made of cloth and glue, so there ought to be a way to make them for half of the $65 quoted.

This is a craft that has been cornered by the market by Italians...they set the standards in all aspects of this business....even the Russians have claimed their stake in this business.....I only know one American who made point shoes that last longer and she was a dancer and knew this problem as well but her shoes have not driven down cost in the market!!

HTTPS://dancer.com
Gaynor Minden pointe shoes....for anyone who's really bored or have feet that kill point shoes fast.
I tried them but it was very hard to break in and you can't alter them as much because it's physics and engineering at is best!

 

[Performing Arts Boarding]

Well, from a narrow point of view it may be of less value. The value comes from the OP asking why not you.

You dismissive style diminishes the interactions between posters and adds no value. Maybe suggesting some possible unforeseeable roadblocks will help; you certainly have the experiences. Let's leave it to this op to find her way and develop interactions.

We have more than one person her that contribute words but no value ever. Others who need to be prodded and some that won't shut-up.

I suggest that encouraging the desired behavior can be done by example!

Now Criss, Tom makes a good point here instead of just the normal No this is a bad idea, elaborate....I am not hurt of discouraged by your statements just want to seriously take your advice and make since of it! I tell my kids no all the time and they still do it occasionally cause they are aware of which buttons they can push and what I give lead way to....I get you don't know me from Adam but think of this as your place on a pilot program to space ....and your opinion is just as important as the Dr. Of science is....how would you approach your opposition of the idea to space to them? Opening a school in another country is kinda like that....I'm trying to build a spaceship to an unknown galaxy....what's your educational non-emotional opinion of it.

 

[Performing Arts Boarding]

Now go back and read my post, quote and all.

Also...


Of course you're entitled to your opinion, that is until it adds no value and your "Post" button no longer appears to work.


You mean like 19,500 posts and 15+ yrs?

Now run along...

This to me reads that I was able to spark enough emotions and action within you to make a statement, your word is important in this community and has been heard by many......so sound off with your years of experience in why this idea sucks!

I read each post and answer so I'm not badgering just want challenge you to a clear concise opinion!

 

[mountainannie]

you might want to reach out by email or phone to Annette Snyder up in Las Terrenas who has started a small international school there Las Terrenas International School

as I recall, there are some pretty strict governmental requirements about the curriculum that need to be met in order to get certification

 

[Performing Arts Boarding]

Best indicator of the future is the past!!!!

Book mark this post and come back in a year, well see who's advice was right on target!

I have two daughters that took ballet lessons in two different schools, the demand is not there, especially for a boarding school.
Two years ago they built a huge two story ballet/performing arts school 2 blocks from my house. Both daughters went. First year, big success, year two not so much, year 3, empty building!

You have lived here long enough to know that Dominicans LOVE ANYTHING NEW, then they desert it after 6 months!!!

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

In two years, or MUCH less, I'll be posting,..."I TOLD YOU SO"!!!!

What else did your children learn at that school besides performing arts....how was the education standards in this same school??

 

[chic]

start up

if op starts with 200k.us and dr1's and corporate donate another (matching)...it can go for a couple of years 400k$us is a bit...not bitcoin but if they are careful wont have to have their hand out for a couple or three years:tired::tired::tired::tired::tired::tired: