Theatrical Development Centre

UPDATE 3/20/26:

    I’ve decided to direct my attention to begin building a new studio compound. The layout for “The Gnomes of New Hope” is actually almost finished and preparations for publishing are about to begin.

    That being the case, along with issues that exist at the current facility, lead me to advance planning for a new studio facility, one with the potential for growth, (both physically and managerially) which is, unfortunately, limited in the present situation.

    This new mission is part of the restructuring plan that will take IMS from a proprietorship to a corporation. In order to do that; I will be selling seats on the Board of Directors, in preparation and implementation of my exit plan, due to my advancing age. I invite inquiry in this regard. Your best bet is to write me.

Theatrical Development Centre

  TDC represents the dream of a Studio Compound that provides all the necessary components that take an idea "From Concept, to Form and Beyond". The "Concept" is a community of artists working together on one or more projects. The "Form" is that of a (seasonal) retreat environment, built around facilities designed to support the creativity and the associated crafts required to manifest a completed product and make it ready to go into the "Beyond".

   Included in this environment will be a legitimate theatre, which will fully match the specifications for a First Class House. But this theatre will be off the beaten path and part of the Studio Compound, existing only for presentation of product produced in "The Theatrical Development Centre", products that are designed and destined to move into a try-out tour on it's way to a First Class Run.

  Adjacent to this goal are the activities that take place to develop the Ancillary Markets and those markets are used to support both IMS/TDC and the production that goes forth therefrom.

   The Methodology of TDC is intended to function as a retreat, whereby producers can bring their crew along with necessary production resources into the facility, and then they can stay for extended periods of time, whatever may be required to; develop and produce the finished product,  presenting that theatrical endeavor before a trial audience and make adjustments based on that "workshopped" production. When the production is refined sufficiently, it will move into a try-out tour, leaving TDC behind.

   The test case(s) that will be used to establish and set up this facility will be one (or more) of the productions that exist within Image of the Mind Studios, of course, other production may also come into play as well, but the initial effort to achieve these goals will take place under the organization of the "Elder Gnomes Joint Venture".

   Eventually, a Board of Directors for a reorganized Image of the Mind Studios (IMS) will take over the Theatrical Development Centre (TDC).

ARCHIVE:

   Above is an older page from the Gnome of New Hope Storybook. It has contact info, but more than that, it points out Gnome Gnog, a product line that involves creating a brew. If you are interested in participating in creating that product line, let me know.

I had a most interesting thought today. For many years I worked as a traveling (and stationary) theatre technician. I ended my work in that arena as a Technical Director for The New Hope Arts Commission, working for nine years in that capacity, also doing set construction, lighting design, stage & house management and show operation. When I say ended, it is not so much that I quit doing it as it was that I got tired of building other people's shows and began writing my own musical. Over the years I managed to put over 350 shows under my belt. That's shows, not performances. So, getting wrapped up in The Gnomes of New Hope left little time for doing other shows. For a time, I was doing a fair amount of Gilbert and Sullivan, as a performer, but it got to the point where doing chorus was no longer acceptable and I concluded that I simply could not dedicate my energy to what needed to be done to pursue performance as a principle. My work with Image of the Mind Studios, and the creative projects on the boards, had to take precedence. Quite simply, I am getting old fast and I have a lot of things that need to be finished before I run out of energy and ability.

So today I realized that what I have been doing, in terms of setting up my shop, is precisely what I did for so many years, only now the environment is going to be under my control. Of course, I need to achieve certain business milestones before I can actually achieve that, but I am well on my way to doing that. It all revolves around sufficient capital influx to secure long term stability for the facilities. All else, in large part has been garnered. Of course, upgrading equipment is an ongoing necessity and establishing an HR operation, along with Marketing, Sales and Distribution is also needing to be done, but the foundations for production, not only from a historical standpoint, but from a current status standpoint are moving forward very nicely. There is a very clear overall plan and a work process that advances toward an ultimate goal that is well defined. I just found it interesting to observe how much of what I am doing is solidly founded in my career history. Somehow that was not as clear to me while I was very wrapped up in the publishing end of things. I sure hope that we can create a cash flow scenario that funds the overall plan.

AG

Studio Compound

STUDIO UPDATE;

   

   Facility issues are interfering with progress on numerous fronts. Some of these pertain to zoning and municipal management, others are spacial (in that expansion possibilities are limiting) still others are matters of legal manipulation, which can only be circumvented by succumbing to a payoff and accepting falsification by other parties connected to the facility (but not IMS), as offensive as that is, but that issue must be resolved first. We are not free to advance further with studio operations because of these problems.

   The best approach to resolving the legal issues is to buy out the parties causing the problems. To do so, I need to gather $1M of working capital. This may happen via Licensing or business loans.  I make this point to encourage participation in order to gain the freedom to advance at the present location or begin to build a new facility. Contact me if this applies.

   If I cannot solve the problems at this facility (as mentioned) IMS will need to move to another facility and thus absorb the cost in time and money to build, move and setup again. This would be a very costly endeavor and interfere greatly with all the progress that has been previously reported.

Theatrical Development Center

   This is a long term project of IMS. It has now become a goal that is tied to selling Image of the Mind Studios. I am now pushing 72 and realistically, I have a limited amount of time to continue with this work. Therefore, I am seeking to sell Board positions in the restructuring of IMS, with one of the goal of restructuring being the construction of a new Studio Compound along with a shift of management into a corporate Modus Operandi. To begin this process I will be building a Seven member Board of Directors, with myself being The Chairman of the Board.

   The objective of this Board of Directors is to implement the Business Plan that departmentalizes IMS and takes it operation to a new level of functionality. 

   More on this subject on the blog IMS Management, to which I will be transferring and refining the Business Plan. I invite discussion with parties capable of buying onto the board with a seven figure number. AG

ARCHIVE:

    I'm beginning to plan construction of a new Studio compound. I have numerous components of this that I have designed over the years, but lately I have been strongly believing that Image of the Mind Studios needs to be settled into another facility with room to grow. The present location has limitations that are becoming increasingly apparent. Of course the real issue here is that I have already had twelve different studio spaces, all of which were adapted spaces. For many years I have wanted to build a studio space (compound) and as a process of moving in that direction, I have designed assorted building/ground plans for "The Theatrical Development Centre". 

   Now, I thought that the present location would be my final resting place in this regard, but, as much as I hate to even think it, I'm believing that a new mission in this regard is appropriate. Why would I say that? I've spend many years setting up this studio and thusfar I have not achieved the goals I set for this studio setup. I'm believing that I will not be able to achieve those goals, because numerous circumstances point to complexities that are prohibitive. 

   So, keeping this in mind, I believe that a restructuring of the business operations would best serve the long-term  survival of IMS. There is a well thought-out structure that is part of the Business Plan and I now believe that introducing the construction of a new facility into that Business Plan, along with the Board of Directors management is the best approach. I say this because I need to start getting serious about passing Image of the Mind Studios onto the next generation of management. The operation needs to pass from a Proprietorship onto a Corporate operation. There are numerous reasons for this, which I will in detail discuss later, but suffice it to say that the Development end of things works better without the larger complexities of managing a corporation. 

But here we are facing a restructuring which works better under a corporate umbrella and along with that, the larger mission of facilities development can better serve the corporate management activities if the environment is newly prepared for that corporate departmentalization.

  All of these thoughts will be addressed in detail in the expanded Business Plan, but one factor that is a absolute is that the Board of Directors (in fact, more than one Board) will be based on a "Buy-in". As it stand now 42% of the shares in Image of the Mind Studios will be sold to six board positions. Divisions will be funded separately and structured under the larger umbrella.

   I will discuss this with interested parties, understanding that the Buy-in to the Board involves seven figure numbers at minimum.

  I have a private blog whereby I am beginning to transfer the existing plan Business Plan, so this can be easily available for review. 

AG