Drum Corps International and Drum Corps Associates have announced a partnership for the 2024 season and onward.
This marks a historic event in the world of drum corps, as these two organizations have been working in parallel since DCI’s founding in 1972.
In 1963, a group of representatives from established corps came together to discuss complaints with the current competitive circuit. This meeting lead to the founding of Drum Corps Associates, the first major organization dedicated solely to the marching arts. Charter Corps were the Reading Buccaneers, Connecticut Hurricanes, Interstatesmen, Archer-Epler Musketeers, Pittsburgh Rockets, Yankee Rebels, and the New York Skyliners. In 2008 DCA reached its peak membership with 24 corps. DCA was the governing body over “senior” corps, which are corps which take members of any age.
The last five years have proved incredibly detrimental to the size of DCA as an organization, with at least 4 corps folding. Covid especially proved to be the worst, with one off season in 2020 and one virtual season in 2021, some corps could not financially recover; in 2023 only 12 corps fielded shows.
Drum Corps International is an organization formerly solely presiding over “junior” corps (members between 16-22) and their rules, regulations, and adjudication. DCI was founded in the early 1970s as a merging of multiple corps alliances that had developed from dissatisfaction with low appearance fees and inconsistent adjudication. Unlike DCA’s weekend-only model, the DCI season is 3 months straight of daily drum corps.
DCI also suffered from covid, but to a much lesser extent. 2020 canceled the competitive season and 2021 was a “showcase season” with no adjudication.
The DCI/DCA merger will be turning the page from the historic institution which was DCA to the new DCI competitive class: DCI All Age. This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for members and corps alike, as with this merger comes a whole new set of performances as the formerly separate DCA and DCI national tours begin to merge. DCI All Age will now appear at many DCI events including finals at infamous Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana; the home dome for any kid (and now adult) in the marching arts, moving DCA finals from the first weekend of September to the second week of August. Unfortunately, this shortens the season by a couple of crucial weeks which have been the big push to the finish line in years past, cutting the already relatively short rehearsal time of DCA’s weekend-only schedule by nearly a month.
At the end of the day, I believe DCI All Age will prove to be a more time and cost friendly way to experience a large DCI experience. I also know a sizable portion of membership, including myself, is very excited to be able to experience more world class DCI level shows. This past summer DCI hosted the first ever joint DCA/DCI event at the Allentown eastern classic, and being able to march on the same field as the these world class corps, with the added bonus of staying for their performances, was a real treat and I’m sure more opportunities like this will arise this upcoming season. Lucas Oil stadium is a wonderful venue, and the amount of people who ship out every year to experience finals make it the most concentrated area of love for the marching arts in the world. I am positive that the addition of All Age will no doubt fan the flames of drum corps even further.
