"To be an active member in good standing of the Leaders Guild requires remaining current with one's annual Leaders Guild fees." - Leaders Guild Guidelines, "Agreements"

If you are not up to date with your Leaders Guild fees, this article is for you!**

(**Note: For convenience, the payment of one's Dance Region dues in most cases includes the applicable Leaders Guild fee, which is then remitted by the Region to DUP International on the member's behalf. Otherwise, the Leaders Guild fee can be paid directly to DUP International through our website. See Joining Your DUP Region for further information, or contact the Community Coordinator.)

 

Stained glass window in ceiling of Mana Chapel, Coromandel, New Zealand

DUP International's work is sustained through dance leaders everywhere paying modest annual fees to create a pool of resources that comprises most of the organization's budget. Leaders Guild fees - along with a considerable volunteer effort - make possible such resources as the on-line Dance Library and the directory of dance leaders, as well as supporting the Guidance Council, those senior teachers who nourish and guide this precious living lineage on behalf of us all.

Our Leaders Guild Agreements require remaining current with one's annual Leaders Guild fees in order to qualify as an "active member in good standing." And yet, during the past two years of re-visioning DUP International, our database shows no fee payments for more than a quarter of our estimated 1,200 Dance leaders worldwide. In some cases, there are questions about the currency of contact information, or even whether the person is actively leading the Dances. But in a number of instances, there is ongoing dance leading but no response to our communications.

 

Recognizing that continuation of this situation undermines the wellbeing of our organization, we asked our Community Coordinator, Sky Májida Roshay, to undertake a Leaders Guild Rejuvenation Project: to contact all of the mentored leaders of record who are not current with dues and determine their current status and future interests. Sky has been working on this since March of 2011, and through her efforts we have restored contact and fee payment with active leaders in some cases while discontinuing Leaders Guild membership in others, where the person is not currently interested in continuing. This is a tedious, expensive and time-consuming effort. We estimate we will complete this work sometime in 2012.

Since the new website went online in September 2010, we have allowed access to the password-protected resources for all Leaders Guild members of record, regardless of whether the person was shown as being current with Leaders Guild fees. The great majority of the users of these resources are indeed fee-paying active members in good standing, and through offering a "grace period" we intended to provide a time for everyone to see what we are doing, sample our website resources and - in most cases we hoped - come forward as supporting members.

On June 30, 2012, the grace period will end. As of that date the Guidance Council is asking all mentored leaders to be current with their Leaders Guild fees. Thereafter, only fee-paying Leaders Guild members will be extended the benefits of Guild membership such as access to the password-protected resources on the DUP International website. In most cases, payment of Leaders Guild fees is accomplished through joining the Dance Region in which you reside and paying the membership dues applicable to dance leaders. The Dance Region collects Leaders Guild fees from dance leaders in that Region and then periodically remits payment to DUP International. Those who live in an area not covered by a Dance Region can pay the Leaders Guild fee to DUP International directly.

Those who cannot pay their fees for financial reasons need only file a fee support request. If you are unable to afford or can only pay a portion of your Leaders Guild fees, simply go this page and file a request with us. Your request will be kept confidential. DUP International will remit your fees using funds generously contributed for this purpose by other Leaders Guild members.

If you are not current with your Leaders Guild fees on or before June 30, 2012, you will no longer be a member in good standing of the Leaders Guild. What that means is this: You may, if you wish, continue to lead the Dances of Universal Peace - as Murshid SAM has said, these are for everyone. However, you will not be able to access the resources for dance leaders in the password-protected area of the DUP International website. Further, you will not have permission to use the Dances of Universal Peace logo or otherwise to represent yourself as an affiliate of this organization. You will not be listed as a dance leader in the records of DUP International or Dance Regions, nor will these organizations list or promote your dance circles or events. Your Leaders Guild membership is easily reinstated in the future, simply by electing  to pay your fees.

This may be a decision point for some folks. We all have to make decisions in life, and in this case it is a matter of whether to stay with the body of those committed to leading the Dances in the living stream of Murshid Samuel Lewis. We wish everyone well in whatever choices they make. The success of our Fund Raising Campaign for 2012 shows that many people care deeply about this work, particularly about the direction DUP International has taken in furthering the Dances. Now we ask all mentored leaders to make the same commitment to this work, through payment of Leaders Guild fees.

Blessings for Peace,

 

                                 
 

Munir Peter Reynolds,                                       Darvesha Victoria, President,

Executive Director                                           Chair, Guidance Council