Get ready for our Mix and Match dance contest in July by taking some classes this month! A Mix and Match contest is one where dancers are paired randomly and judged individually until the finals. Check out this video of the Newcomer Prelims at Lindyfest in Houston this March.
You could win a free membership to the Austin Swing Syndicate, free passes to our dances, and more!
We’ll be welcoming the Brooks Prumo Orchestra (a 14 piece big band!!) back to the Fed for our 19th Anniversary Dance! Member of the Austin Swing Syndicate get in for free – stay tuned for more details!
Admission
Members: FREE
Non-members: $10
We’re having a Sock Hop the last Thursday of May. Grab your poodle skirts, saddle shoes, and leather jackets! You’ve spent May learning the Madison. Now is your time to twist it out!
Join us in the Georgian Room for some fantastic 50s music and classic 1950s soda fountain deliciousness.
There will be a costume contest at 10:45 in the Georgian room.
We’re excited to welcome back the Jonathan Doyle Swingtet to the Fed for this year’s Spring Swing dance!
Jonathan Doyle spent time in Austin playing with well-established acts such as Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel, and the Jim Cullum Jazz Band, as well being a part of many fine local bands such as Thrift Set Orchestra, Albanie & her Fellas, Stan Smith and the Jazz Pharaohs, Aunt Ruby’s Sweet Jazz Babies, East Side Dandies, White Ghost Shivers, Whit Smith’s Hot Jazz Caravan, The Giant Three and his own projects The Jonathan Doyle Quintet / Swingtet. He has lived in Chicago, Austin, and New Orleans and now resides in the Pacific Northwest. We’re lucky to have him back at the Fed!
Event admission:
$10 non-members
$7 members
The Austin Swing Syndicate proudly presents Jim Cullum & Friends, world renowned for playing classic jazz.
Jim Cullum has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap Farm, Austin City Limits, and at festivals and concerts across the U.S. and Latin America. The JCJB has also performed in Australia, Europe and on a wildly successful tour of Russia! From 1963 until 2011 the Jim Cullum Jazz Band performed at The Landing, on San Antonio’s Riverwalk.
$7 members
$10 non-members
https://www.facebook.com/events/177449679728433/
The Austin Swing Syndicate Board of Directors elections start this week with online voting! Last week we had a great Town Hall where the candidates fielded questions from our members, and biographies were posted in the hallway before the main ballroom. Please click below for our candidates’ biographies and read on for more information about the election cycle.
Feb. 5th – Nominations open
Feb. 19th – Nominations close
Feb. 22nd – Election Town Hall (Biographies posted this week)
Mar. 1st – Online voting begins
Mar. 8th – In-person voting, polls close at Midnight
Mar. 9th – Election results (including exact vote counts) sent to members by email
Mar. 22nd – New Board first meeting
Elections for the four open Board of Directors spots will be held in March. Joining the board is a great way to give back to a community you love, help us decide what our next priorities should be, and get in on the inner workings of the organization. Plus you’ll get to hang with fun people, it looks great on a resume, and you get in free to our dances/events.
Being on the board is a two-year commitment. Officers (President, VP, etc.) are elected internally among directors once elected. The elections are run by the Elections Committee, a neutral group nominated by the current Board.
We hope you love dancing at the Fed as much as we do, and we’re grateful to the Austin swing dance community for supporting our weekly dance and events! Our rent is going up for the first time since early 2013 (the last time we raised our prices), so our door prices and membership rates will go up starting on January 1st, 2018. Special live music event prices will stay the same. Our next Town Hall Meeting will be January 18th at 8pm where we will provide a full financial report, and we’d love to see you there.
New prices
Regular dance: $5 members / $8 non-members
Membership rates: $30 students / $40 regular
The Austin Swing Syndicate is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and is entirely volunteer-run. Thanks again for dancing with us and supporting our mission of spreading the joy of swing dancing to as many Austinites as we can! Hope to see you out on the dance floor.
Featuring:
The Elections Committee would like to announce the beginning of the Austin Swing Syndicate 2017 election cycle.
The elections will be run a bit differently this year in order to align our practices with the law and the recommendations of our lawyer.
Key differences:
1. Members will elect seven board members without designating offices (President, VP, Treasurer, Secretary). Once elected, the board with then elect the officers from among the elected directors. This is required by non-profit law and our bylaws, but has not been applied in recent years. “Following inauguration of elected Directors, the Board shall select officers, including a President, a Vice President, a Treasurer, and a Secretary. The positions of President, Vice President, and Treasurer shall not be filled by minors” (Austin Swing Syndicate Bylaws, Section 3.04).
2. We are transitioning to staggered two-year terms upon the strong recommendation of our lawyer. In order to start implementing this system, the three candidates who receive the most votes will be granted two-year terms on the board. The remaining four candidates will serve one-year terms, and their spots will be up for re-election for two-year terms in the 2018 election. Officers will be voted on internally by the board each year.
Feb. 8th – Nominations open
Feb. 23rd – Nominations close
Mar. 2nd – Biographies are posted, online voting begins
Mar. 9th – In-person voting, polls close at midnight
Mar. 10th – Election results (including exact vote counts) sent to members by email
Please email elections@austinswingsyndicate.org to declare your candidacy or if you have any questions. If you would like to nominate someone else, please copy the nominated party on your email. They will have to accept the nomination to be included on the ballot.