Buddhi Wickramaarachchi - BMR 2007

Here are my views on BMR being a member of the technical team for the last three years. Please note that these comments are not specifically for this year, but based on the last three years and show in general.

Part 1: Show the concept, the benefits, and its sustainability

Part 2: Suggestions for future.

Part 1:

Concept: In my view BMR is the premier cultural event of the Sinhalese community in Sydney..

The advantages we gain:

a)     Provide entertainment to audience and educate them about Sinhalese culture.

b)    Give an opportunity to our kids to perform.

c)     Give an opportunity to our youth(TYG etc) to perform/produce and take leadership roles in a community event

d)    Provide  a platform to migrant artist to show their talents

e)     Provide a platform to Sri Lankan artist to show their talents

f)     The success of BMR strengthens the status of the SCF as community organisation. People regard the SCF as an organisation that is capable of providing leadership to the community.  

If you look at the above it is not a secret that this event is hugely beneficial to all of us. All the effort that it takes to make BMR a success are still worth when we think about the benefits.

But it is not an easy task. In fact it is a huge task that requires lot of man power/money. If we calculate it is about 30 people working full time for a whole month. That is about 30x160 = 4800 Man hours (please correct me if I am wrong) If you put a dollar value to this, it is over $150,000. I don't have exact figure but I suspect the expenses are around $35,000.

If take the total value of manpower and expenses it is around $ 200,000.

Is this sustainable every year? My answer is yes.

How can we make this sustainable? The simple answer is having a Master Plan to do this event. There needs to be a professional approach in organising an event of this magnitude.

Therefore the people who are organising this event has a big responsibility on their shoulders to make it a success. We have a responsibility is to provide entertainment to the audience for the money they spent. We also have a responsibility for the sponsors - to give them enough exposure for the dollars they spent. Failing to satisfy these conditions the sustainability of this event is in danger. By having a master plan and having a professional approach we can minimize these risks.

The other most important is to understand that this is not a Avrudu Uthsawaya. There is no way that we can have a $200,000 project for a Avrudud Uthsawaya. BMR has to be promoted as the Premier Cultural Event of Sydney of Singhalese community. Families will not spent $100 for a Avrudu Uthsawa. Even the artist put a big effort due to it's magnitude. I think Avrudud Uthsawaya is being held in Roselea at the moment with free entrance.

Part 2:

The suggestions:

First and foremost it is the people. The event needs to be organised by the people who have prior experience. The main personals have to be people with prior experience in the show.

a)     The Show Manger needs to have an artistic eye to do this event. I think Anil did a good job in this regard having a similar background. In my view If he had prior experience in BMR he would have done a better job. So we can mark him as a person with experience for the future. Therefore I would like to propose to create a post Assistant Show Manger.

b)    The Technical Manager:

We have Nihal/Tissa/Wijaya with similar experience. I would also like to propose one of the Sound/Lighting/Visual Mangers to act as Assistant Technical Manager in future.

The commitment/professionalism and the experience they bring to the team is absolutely necessary to do the show.

c)     The Stage Manager:

We have marked down Karu / Lucky who acted as Assistant Stage managers as future Stage Managers for the show. It is good if they get similar experience in next year school concert.(it certainly helped me)

d)    The Lighting Manager/Sound Manager/Visual Manager

Currently we have Vsantha/Ananda/Mahesh/Ruwan who has acted in similar capacities in the past.

Please add if I have missed anyone.

The other important step would be to attract and train new people for all these jobs. Once we have a pool of about 30 with necessary skills, we will be in a better position to organise the show. We badly new blood in all these areas.

Comparing etc:

Comparing needs to be done in a more professional way. I think this year the two young announcers knew what they are doing. Audience hate to listen to long speeches and "Pamporiya" of the organisers. After all they have come to see the show by paying money. Why would anyone listen to the Pamporiya of the organisers paying $100. The show should be conduct in a way to promote:

1. Sinhalese culture(it is very important to understand that we should promote only the good aspects of Sinhalese culture)
2. The SCF
3. Tharuna Youth Group

Marketing Advertising:

We need to have proper marketing plan for the show. The marketing should start five months before the show and more intense efforts needs to put in during the last three months. In my view the best marketeer we have at the moment is Dr Sam Samarasinghe. Therefore we need to get people with such skills to promote BMR. I also noted that the Male Compare of the show is quite good in taking the message to the community - specially among to the younger audience.

Sponsors:

We need to attract more sponsors. The show being the premier cultural event of the Sinhalese community in my view we should have a target of $15,000. The sales and marketing efforts for the show should start 4 months before.

Lastly…

Improve the PR of the SCF organisers.

I think we need to address this issue badly. I hear several people complaining that the SCF official are there for the prestige etc. The audience only see the SCF office bearer as people who wear tie coat and walk like white collar bureaucrats in the show. What they don't know is that it was Dayantha who acted as the tea boy and Mahinda as the cleaner who rearranged the chairs and sweep the floor etc during the meetings/rehearsals. So It is appropriate our community understand the actual situation behind the seen and the effort they put in.

May be we can put some slides during the show next time. This is a very important to the wellbeing of the SCF.