A Medium Backup Of The DDP’s Original Patreon Page
In the wake of the Pandemic, we are taking the Decentralized Dance Party Virtual and revamping our online presence accordingly!
A major component of this will be our Patreon page (until we transition to a Decentralized alternative that incorporates Dogecoin and can’t arbitrarily and without warning remove their clients’ accounts / primary sources of income).
Our original Patreon page from 2016 has been lovingly preserved below.
A huge thank you to everyone for the love and support over the years :)
Our Patreon page is HERE (update coming soon)
TL;DR (a “too long, didn’t read” synopsis of this Patreon campaign):
In order to realize our dream of uniting the world in transcendent celebration, the DDP requires a consistent source of financing and Patreon appears to be the perfect “of the people, by the people, for the people” model.
Your ongoing support will enable us to successfully create the DDP documentary, Field Manual, DDP.Network online community and DDP Summit, all of which are intertwined and necessary to launch our Global Party Pandemic world tour and win the Nobel Peace Prize for Partying!
If the Party Revolution is something you believe in and would like to see succeed and spread worldwide, please donate today. Your support makes all the difference!
A lengthy-yet-luminous explanation of what this campaign is all about:
As stated in the video above, the Decentralized Dance Party AKA The Party Revolution is my life’s work; a monumental labor of love that I truly believe in and have dedicated the last seven years of my life to.
I’ve never witnessed a greater force for spontaneous joy and connection and I absolutely believe that uniting the world in a giant Capital-P Party experience would be the greatest possible step we could take towards unifying all nations and individuals- World War Two Christmas Truce style!
Music is truly the universal human language and Decentralized Sound Systems are without a doubt the greatest possible armaments for peace and liberation ever devised.
This viewpoint and our vision for mounting a global “Organized Peace” Offensive is explored further within The Party Manifesto and the Global Party Pandemic AKA The Grand Unification Tour page.
But while the Party Revolution has always been an incredible success in terms of turnout and participation, the struggle to maintain the soul of the DDP (not branding the Parties and striving to maintain a 100% “of the people, by the people, for the people” ethos) while keeping it all financially afloat has been extremely challenging.
We’ve been forging ahead in completely uncharted territory and traditional business models have never been applicable. Accordingly, our road map to Global Celebration has constantly evolved as we adapted to new challenges, opportunities and technologies.
Crowdfunding has been our natural go-to since the first Party Safari tour in 2010, when it was still a brave new science that almost nobody had heard of.
But this brave new method of financing often fell short and in order to maintain the momentum and ensure that our core principles were never compromised, I’ve been dumping every dollar and hour I had into keeping the dream alive, no matter what the cost…
In 2013 we launched a highly ambitious Kickstarter to create a DDP documentary film that would give rise to our Global Party Pandemic world tour. And while it was successfully funded and we’ve been working nonstop, the last three years have been completely insane and the film is still in production.
To explain all the details of the delays would literally take days, but it basically boils down to countless unforeseen obstacles, extremely complicated betrayals, everything taking longer than expected and a constant struggle to maintain momentum after the Kickstarter funds finally ran out…
Since that point, I’ve been attempting to simultaneously oversee the creation of the Documentary, Field Manual, the DDP.Network website and manage all the behind-the scenes as well (websites, mailing lists, emails, crowdfunding, social media, photo, video, Party planning, sourcing boomboxes and batteries, storing and backing up all the data, coordinating volunteers, etc.) while also having to hustle nonstop to stay afloat and keep the dream alive.
Anyhow!
Promises have been made and I will not rest until all has been delivered. Everything has been consistently moving ahead, just more slowly than we would have liked due to deadening financial restrictions and plenty of necessary pivoting as the vision grew and evolved:
In June 2015, in the midst of completing all these tasks, we received a crazy opportunity to do a European tour. It seemed like the perfect way to reunite the core DDP Family and take a massive shortcut to finalizing the Documentary. (click HERE for full tour info)
But although every Party was an incredible success, I was so overwhelmed by the physical, financial and mental demands inherent in organizing an international Party Safari at the last minute that had to somehow feed, house and transport 12 people from London to Greece while hosting unauthorized dance Parties in weird new cultures and locations that I completely burned myself out and destroyed my relationship with Kerry, the love of my life who’d been my greatest supporter and by my side in the DDP from day one.
The end result was a shaman-imposed three month retreat into the woods after the tour had concluded. Click HERE for all the unlikely details (and/or listen to this podcast):
But Then!
Upon my return to Vancouver, I managed to bounce back, mend my relationship with Kerry, and get fired up to once again continue ever-forward with the Party Revolution!
And it now appears that my extended bout of rural distress will only serve to improve the DDP documentary storyline hahhahhahahahahha.
Anyhow!
There’s a staggering number of bona fide geniuses who believe in this project and are down to volunteer their spare time, but without at least one full-time assistant to rally and coordinate them, I know that I will be continually burned out, overwhelmed and far behind schedule.
All we require is a basic level of stable funding to start firing on all cylinders. This will allow us to complete the DDP documentary and Field Manual and eventually make the DDP 100% sustainable; as discussed in our recent online meetings, which feature a good selection of the aforementioned bona fides :)
In case it’s unclear, THIS VIDEO describes exactly how Patreon works.
We’ve got high hopes that Patreon will finally resolve the DDP’s ongoing funding conundrum (DDP needs consistent funding to get organized / DDP needs to get organized to gain consistent funding).
Our first Patreon goal is $2,000 / month , which is the amount required to cover Gary’s basic expenses while he continues to dedicate 80+ hours per week to DDP. The $2,000 will also go a long way towards covering other ongoing DDP costs like web hosting, phone, internet, transportation, Facebook boosts, mailing list, Skype, purchasing new boomboxes, props, costumes, hard drives, video gear, etc!
Our second Patreon goal is another $1,000 / month, which is the amount required to lock down Tiffany Madison as our online Community Coordinator. Tiffany is the ultimate volunteer coordinator, with a strong history in online community development and management, event planning, fundraising, social media, writing, and etc. She also possesses a strong background in writing and communications and just organized an international conference on Decentralization!
Her role is to build the digital scaffolding required to inspire and coordinate the hundreds of volunteers who will assist us in realizing the DDP’s global ambitions. Tiffany is an incredible spirit and the person the DDP has been missing from day one.
Our third Patreon goal is another $1,000 / month, which will allow us to hire one or two Vancouver-based “action officers” to help with various tasks. The prime candidate is Jared Harrill; another extremely clever/talented Decentralist and Capital-P-Partier, famous for this unforgettable shot (and dragging along a giant desk for the entire Party route).
And our Spirit Animal / Mystical Hype Man / Mad Genius Of Costume And Prop Design known only as “The Niven”.
If we’re able to exceed those goals ($4,000 per month) we’ll be able to add more assistants to the roster, upgrade our equipment and continually work towards making the DDP 100% self-sustainable; ensuring that Capital-P Partying will spread and endure and eventually touch the lives of billions. It would be truly amazing to receive such a level of support!
But until we reach that point, I’ve extended my credit limits once again and will continue to take on as much debt as is necessary to see this thing through during the next 4 crucial months. We’re seven years in and there’s no turning back now…
THE NEXT FOUR CRUCIAL MONTHS (PRE-SUMMIT) (April 18th -August 18th)
Over the next four months, we are determined to:
1. Film the final interview scenes for our documentary before I have to move out of my apartment (unless someone steps up with a few million to buy the building, which would allow us to convert it into the Party Revolution’s global headquarters!).
The apartment is the KEY visual device required to tell the DDP story, as it’s been the focal point for all major DDP developments over the past seven years.
2. Complete the DDP Field Manual and launch the corresponding DDP.Network online community.
The DDP Field Manual is an instructional handbook for anyone wanting to safely and successfully create their own DDPs and DDP.Network will be an open global community of people wanting to link up and create Capital-P Party experiences that are 100% open, inclusive and unbranded.
DDP.Network will showcase all aspects of Partying: Decentralized Sound Systems, Props, Costumery, and the “hidden community” of people who have a burning desire to create and/or participate in Capital-P Party experiences.
3. Organize the first-ever DDP Summit, which will be an international gathering of people who want to host their own DDPs, get involved with the movement, or simply learn more about the DDP and Decentralization.
It will climax in a gigantic DDP that will hopefully be rebroadcast across Canada to create a simultaneous nationwide Party and also serve as the final epic scene for our documentary film and a radical proof-of-concept for the Simultaneous Global Dance Party!
4. Create a DDP app that will be the “Tinder of Partying”; a utility that will instantly connect anyone who wants to Capital-P Party, based on their location and what Party supplies they have (boomboxes, costumery, props, etc). It will be unveiled during the Summit, and used to help power the Canada-Wide DDP!
BEYOND THE SUMMIT (August 22nd onwards)
Beyond the Summit, we’ll still face significant ongoing expenses pertaining to the development of the DDP Documentary, DDP.Network, the DDP app, the Social Stereo and The Global Party Pandemic AKA The Grand Unification Tour. The more financial support we have, the greater our odds of success!
In Conclusion!
Despite the unending stress, sacrifice and Tom-related travails, this project has been an incredible catalyst for personal growth, opened my eyes to many incredible human truths and connected me with a staggering number of talented, brilliant, and radically authentic individuals.
There’s nothing I believe in more and no other role in life that makes any sense for me. This is a cause greater than myself that resonates with every fibre of my being and I will not rest until the Party Revolution is seen through to its rightful, glorious conclusion!
The (still under development) DDP.Network “team” page introduces a few of our amazing volunteers and states why they too believe in this crazy dream and are actively working to help it succeed:
Here’s Admiral Fiesta’s beautiful explanation:
And a final thought from Michael B. MacDonald; a revered professor of music who has been studying the DDP for many years:
“Each DDP is planting seeds, creating immersive experiences of the social wild, confronting social domestication — this is a very long process that will require lots of immersion experiences. Even for the people who get this — it’s really tough to really get your head around it.
I’ve been working on this intellectually for as long as you’ve been running the DDP and it’s still a challenge for me to explain how important this is for us as people, and as people who want to build vibrant communities. It’s like DDP is a starter kit to reboot non-capitalist, non-state rituals.
In my most recent thinking, the DDP is a contribution to the reseeding of wildness into the social ecology. And this kind provides opportunities for social healing. That’s a complex story.”
Thanks again for supporting our unique brand of Social Healing- it means the world to us and truly makes all the difference :)
Tom and Gary and the Elite DDP Party Family
OCTOBER 2016 UPDATE!
The First-Ever DDP Summit went incredibly well and the full, crazy story behind it all is recounted in the just-released Summit album linked HERE and the video embedded below. Thanks for your support!
