Una experiencia que tus estudiantes nunca olvidarán

Thank you for deciding to host the:

This packet will help you organize the concert.

Date and time of the concert
Inviting other schools
Student participation
Preparing for the concert
Justo Lamas agreement
Technical information sheet
Final steps check list /

We will help you through this process step by step.
Do not hesitate to call or write if you have any questions

Set the date and time for the concert

Once the date is booked you set the time of the concert. We know you have to meet certainrequirements with your administrators depending on the schedule. Our experience has been thatmorning is best, but not so early that people cannot get buses and drive there in time. The concertlasts 90 minutes. Teachers should allow extra time for the students to visit with Justo after theshow.

Inviting other schools

  • Initial contact

We will help you make initial contact with teachers in your area unless youalready have sufficient contacts to fill the theater. We will send a freematerials packets and a postcard or letter mail out to the schools within areasonable driving distance giving the date and location of the concert. Youwill be listed as a reference so local people can contact you to find out whatthis is all about. The free materials packet includes a free video and a freepreparation CD in order to get to know Justo and his music. Your e-mailwill be given for people to contact you for information on how to makereservations and payment.

We ask you to suggest which schools or towns in your area would be likely to attend.

When we make the initial contact, people are told to contact us by e-mail. They will receivecomplete instructions by e-mail.

  • Reservations & payment

We ask the host teacher to try to estimate the number of seats he/she will need for his/her students.

Then the host teacher takes the reservations and payment. If the host teacher doesn’t want to takethe payments, we can take them. When the payment comes in, we will notify the host teacher.

The host teacher takes “tentative” reservations which we can hold until we reach “sell-out status”(if everyone who has reservations comes we have no seats left) then we HAVE to require people togive us an exact number.

You, as the host teacher, should reserve the best seats for you own students. This is only fair sinceyou are the Mover and Shaker making this possible. Then some teachers go with the GeneralAdmission plan, simply having the groups come in and get seated in the order they arrive. Wehave found that the Reserved Seating plan it is much more effective. If you assign seats in theorder the payments are received, people will pay more promptly.

We have to ask you to do the job of assigning the seats because you are there on-site. The simplestway to assign seats is to ask the theater person for a diagram of the theater. Make a copy for eachgroup and highlight only the area assigned to them. Make a master map and mark the areas as theyare assigned. (If they do not have a diagram, perhaps one of your students who is good withcomputers could design one. Then the theater people would have one for future use.) As thegroups pay, we notify you and you select the best seats available at that time for that group. As thegroups check in with you in the lobby upon arrival, give the assigned seats map to the lead teacher.

Some host teachers go “all out” and even label the aisle seats with the name of the schools that areto sit in that area. Whatever you feel most comfortable with is what you should do.

We have to count on the host teacher for several things. The main one is organizing the seating aswe have described here, getting people in and settled and starting the concert. Eva will give youcomplete instructions that day.

  • News Media

We encourage you to contact local media (newspaper, radio, TV, etc) to do a personal interviewwith Justo. Many schools have found this to be a great PR moment for their image in thecommunity. If you have been successful in getting someone to come to the concert, we willappreciate if you send us a copy of the TV report or newspaper article.

Student participation

As the host school, you students have the first opportunity to prepare a dance or to have a studentsing a duet with Justo. If you do not have anyone who wants to participate, you can pass theprivilege on to the first school to pay, and so on. Since the participation opportunities change eachyear, we have another document describing them.

General group:

(1)Students will want to make posters, signs and even t-shirts. You are welcome to download any photos on the website, no need to ask permission first. This gives a more “concert-like” atmosphere to the show as you have seen in the video.

(2)During the show Eva will ask the teachers from all the schools to send a certain number ofstudents on stage to learn some dance steps.

Prepared participation:

(1) The host school has the option of forming the dance group to perform with Justo in “Cuando Salí de Cuba”song. The students can prepare a choreography with this song (If the host school’sstudents do not want to do the dance, the host teacher should offer this opportunity to the nextschool that reserves seats.) The “costumes” should be just normal, modern clothing. Please avoidstereotypical images of “Latin American” costumes. The students might want to coordinate colors.

Just be sure the clothes are appropriate for school and do NOT cost extra money for the students.

Some schools think we want a professional looking dance done by the school dance team. Whilethat is very nice, we prefer for the normal Spanish students to be involved in this.

(2) If the host school or another participating school has an outstanding singer, he or she may singa duet with Justo in “Hoy doy gracias”. Please be sure this person has a trulypowerful voice. If you have someone, we will supply that CD so that he or she may practice. Thestudent should learn the melody and if it is too much to memorize, then the student could sing justthe first verse and chorus or just the chorus.

Sometimes there are two or three outstanding singers. If they can work out a way to feature eachone, we want to showcase as many kids as possible.

Preparing for the concert

1)Justo’s arrival at the school

Technical people meet Justo 2 hours before the concert time to do the sound set-up and check.If we are bringing in the sound, we need access to the building at least 3 hours before show time.

Students who are participating in the concert need to be there one hour early to practice withJusto. No other students should be allowed in the theater while Justo is preparing for the show.Only those who are techs helping with lights and sound, those designated to help Justo and theteacher, and those participating in the show should be allowed in. If Justo is not quite ready whenthey arrive, they should wait quietly until he can rehearse with them. He will go over things withthem until they feel comfortable.

Make signs to guide Justo to the appropriate door, preferably the one that leads backstage. Besure to designate a parking space for him that is conveniently located for unloading. You canassign this task to some students who want to help.

Have the dressing room ready for Justo and Eva to store their things. (This can be an official“dressing room” or another room close to the back-stage area. If possible, this room should have alock so that they will be able to leave their things safely and not be disturbed while changing.)

2)El equipo de Justo (helpers)

We need four strong, responsible students (male or female) who will be assigned to Justo and Evafor the entire time. Their duties include:

  1. meeting them at the unloading area
  2. carrying in all the equipment
  3. providing a wheeled cart to help with this job
  4. showing them the dressing room
  5. helping them backstage before and after the show
  6. watching for anything they need done

3)Translations

At certain times during the concert, Justo will have some serious things to say. He does not feelcomfortable saying them in English, so he will speak slowly and clearly in Spanish. Some adultwill have to translate him. This needs to be made by an adult, not a student. This adult could beyou, the host teacher, or another teacher. Even though you might have a very reliable student,please choose an adult. This person should be informed before the show. There is no realpreparation involved.

4)Souvenirs & autographs

If the administrators are going to allow students to purchase souvenirs, please have:

  1. Two large tables and four chairs, located where the students willbe exiting. One table is for sales and the other for autographs. Weprefer to have the tables side by side.(If the administration objects to any of these arrangements, dowhatever you have to do to please them. We understand theseproblems.)
  2. Four very reliable students to help with sales and 2 adults to helpcontrol the crowd. You might ask for parent volunteers to dothis. The host teacher needs to be free to be handing other things at this time.

Justo Lamas agreement

In “hosting” a Justo Lamas concert, all we ask of your school is that you allow us to use thetheater/auditorium facility. We need theaters with a capacity of 400-2000. The tickets price foryour students will be set according to the auditorium capacity and their socioeconomicpossibilities. Adult sponsors are free. (We allow about 1 adult per 15 paid tickets; we encourageadult attendance for better behavior) The host school’s students have the additional “discount” ofnot having to pay extra for transportation as the other students are having to pay. (If teacherscontact us, we can approve “scholarship” tickets for children who cannot pay.)

We need a minimum of 400 students to do the concert in order to cover our expenses.

We pay for ALL EXPENSES out of the income from the concerts. We handle promoting the showand collecting the payments. We take the reservations and pass that information on to the “host”teacher because he/she is on-site and can best make the seating assignments. The front seats arereserved for your school’s students, others are assigned seats in the order they pay. We doeverything we can to sell out the theater. If we do not, there is absolutely no financial obligationon your part.

We know that about 90% of the schools do not have adequate sound for a concert, so we will bringin rented equipment if necessary. Our sound man is John Vassallo of Rochester, NY. If yourschool is within 8-10 hours drive, he comes personally. If not, he arranges to rent local soundequipment. Again, we take the financial responsibility for the sound equipment.

In the event of cancellation due to emergencies such as, but not limited to, weather problems andillness, all money that has been paid in to our company will be refunded in full.

Each United Cultures/ Justo Lamas Concerts program begins when de concert start and ends uponthe completion of the show. United Cultures/ Justo Lamas Concerts, its affiliates, directors,officers, employees, group organizers, sponsoring schools and organizations, along with anyperson or entity employed or utilized by United Cultures /Justo Lamas Concerts, cannot be heldresponsible for any injury, loss, damage, accident, delay resulting from events beyond its controlincluding -without limitation- acts of God, war, strikes, sickness or quarantine, governmentrestrictions or regulations.

United Cultures/Justo Lamas Concert, Justo Lamas, employees, directors, the host school ortheater cannot be held responsible for problems caused by the improper behavior of any students.If any student behaves improperly to the point disrupting the concert, he/she will be removed.

Technical Information

This information is urgently needed!

To the theater director:

Thank you for agreeing to help the Spanish teacher provide this quality program for the Spanish students of your school or area our sound technician, John Vassallo (Rochester, NY) Email: Cell phone: 585-202-2466 Pager: 585-525-7001, will call and speak with you personally. John will then make the decision concerning whether or not we need to rent a sound system.

At this point the process splits into two possibilities:

  1. If it is determined that the school’s system DOES NOT meet our needs, then John will handle locating and renting a system. If you are already definitely sure the system is not adequate, John would appreciate your recommendations concerning any local companies that handle sound rentals.
  2. If it is determined that the school’s system DOES meet our needs, and you are willing to help us run things, then we request that you plan to be at the theater with the sound system set up and ready to test with Justo at least 2 hours before the show. We will need the help of student technicians assigned to sound and lights during the concert.

Justo brings the following equipment:

  1. AniPod player with all his background music on mp3 format. (functions like a CD player, only smaller)
  2. Shure wireless microphone V97
  3. Connectors and adaptors for all possible situations

We will need at least one extra microphone for the translator and possibly for a singer who might sing a duet with Justo. This should be positioned so that the person who is translating for Justo can use it sitting or standing in front of the stage on either side, not in the center. Then if someone is going to sing a duet, the cord needs to be long enough so that he/she can take the same microphone on stage. If you happen to have a cordless microphone, that would be much better, but it is not necessary.

Lighting needs

Justo moves all over the stage during the concert. If you have follow spots, we would like to have two if possible. If you can do some flashing stage lights for the fast songs, those are great. If all you have is basic stage lighting, we will manage with that. We will “make do” with whatever you can provide. We might decide to rent a spot if you do not have one, if you can provide a volunteer to run it. We will need student tech volunteers to run the light, please.

Please do not worry if your school does not meet these requirements. Many schools with “state-of-the-art” theaters do not have this kind of equipment. We just need to know for sure so that we can make arrangements for rental sound. If a school has this equipment, it is much easier for us, so we like to check every time just in case!!

Sound requirements for Justo Lamas concert

500 Seat Auditorium: Minimum of 600 watts of sub per side, and 350 watts of top per side with adequate splay to cover entire venue

800 Seat Auditorium: Minimum of 800 watts of sub per side, and 500 watts of top per side

1000 Seat Auditorium: Minimum of 1600 watts of sub per side, and 1000 watts of top per side

Equipment preferences:

All speakers and components should be of professional quality and fully functional. Speakers need to have adequate amplification in order to power them correctly to their full output.

Preferred Speakers:

Subs:Community VBS 415, VBS 412,

EAW BH series,

McCauley SA 188, SA 288

JBL

Tops:Community RS880, RS660

EAW FR series, KF series

McCauley SA 122-2, SA 222-2

JBL 4732 or similar

Monitors:Any 300 watts monitor (2-4 across front of stage)

Feel free to contact John immediately if you do not want to wait for him to contact you:

John Vassallo~Rochester, NY Email:

Cell phone: 585-202-2466 Pager: 585-525-7001

Final steps check list

The items have been explained before in detail, but this check list will help you make sure all isin order.

Parking directions in place

Dressing room ready (please have 4 bottles of water on hand—not cold)

El Equipo de Justo (helpers)

Sound & light people informed and in place

Participants informed to be 1 hour early; translator assigned seating

If you chose to have General Admission, be sure to have your students’ section marked“reserved.”

If you chose Reserved Seating, be sure to have the sections marked, or have theater maps for the teachers.

Sales: be sure tables are in place, helpers assigned and present

News media

If you have been successful in getting someone to come to this positive event, Justo will be very pleased to do a personal interview after all the students have been taken care of and are on their way back to their classes or their schools.

United Cultures, Inc.

11801 Cottontail Dr • Keller, TX • 76248

Tel.: (214)912-1483 • Tel/Fax: (817)337-2777

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