Meeting Recap: Clarifications & Resources

Thank you for attending the required November 16 London meeting. We have several post-meeting announcements, and we would also like to share the resources we promised.

Video of the Meeting Presentation

HERE

Slide Deck from the Meeting Presentation

HERE (Presentation Mode), or HERE (PDF)

Travel Attire Clarification

We have made a slight adjustment to our day-of-travel attire language. The updated document "Miscellaneous Tour Information" may be found HERE. In summary, the language now reads:

Students and staff will wear the following on travel days:

Top: Black, long-sleeved Tour Shirt (please also wear an under-shirt)  

Bottom: Please choose from the following options:

• Nice jeans; no large rips
• Casual dress pants
• Leggings/Yoga Pants; full-length, solid fabric & color

Shoes: Comfortable walking shoes.

We ask students to balance comfort with professionalism, being mindful of how our group-appearance reflects on the institutions we represent. 

Money Management 

In addition to the information shared on the "Money Management" sheet, we promised to share the name of ALTOUR American Express, and their representative's contact information. This is an additional resource if you would like to travel with any cash. As stated at the meeting, we do not believe students will need cash as long as they have a functioning debit or credit card. 

ALTOUR American Express

Monica Batkiewicz

Financial Service Representative

1600 W 16th Street

Oak Brook IL 60523

T 630-574-5050

F 630-574-5065 

E monica.batkiewicz@altour.com

www.altour.com

Required Medical Form

THIS MEDICAL FORM should be printed at home, completed in the next two weeks, and brought to the required London Participant/Guardian meeting on Wednesday, November 16, at 7 PM in the Clarence Johnson Auditorium.

There will be many other forms (requiring on-site signatures) and pieces of information distributed at the meeting (along with t-shirts, jackets, hats, luggage tags, and case-stickers). However, given the complexity of the Medical Form and the amount of information required, we believe it is important to complete this form in advance of the meeting.

Please Note: Page 2 of the linked form is intended to collect an image of the participant's Medical Insurance Card. Please treat this as an old-fashion copy/paste assignment, and submit a form to us that has the front and back of the card displayed inside the provided rectangles. Thank you for your assistance.

tinyurl.com/DGNLondonMedicalForm

Tour Choir Prepares for London International Choral Festival

The DGN Fine Arts Department welcomed Berlin based Conductor and London International Choral Festival Choirmaster James Henshaw to campus today to work with students in the DGN Tour Choir. Members of the choir are preparing for their performances in London, England on December 29, 2022 and January 2, 2023. 

Traveling to London? Need Tickets for DGN Concerts? Time Sensitive Survey!

If you are someone who has made independent travel plans to be in London, and you would like to attend performances by the DGN Band and DGN Choir, please read THIS DOCUMENT very thoroughly, and respond to THIS SURVEY by Monday, October 10, 2022, at 8:00 AM CST.

If you are someone who is traveling with the official “Tag-Along” tour, sponsored by DGN, your tickets - for all performances - are included. You may read the linked document to understand more completely the details of various performances, but you should NOT fill out the survey for independent travelers. 

Special Rehearsals Calendar - Updated 10-6-22

THIS DOCUMENT (also linked in the left-hand column of the tour website) has been updated to show a running list of all remaining London Tour rehearsals for Band and Choir students. 

This combined list should make it easier for families with students in both Band and Choir to see the complete schedule. 

This document reflects the most recent updates/changes shared out by faculty on October 5.

Flights & Flight Groups Announced

This morning we received our flight information from Destination Events. Our students will be divided into two flight groups. Each flight group will be led by five adult chaperones. Please review a message sent to participant families via ParentSquare to view the flight itinerary, and to determine if your traveling musician is in Flight Group A (American Airlines) or Flight Group B (British Airways).

Outbound

Flight Group A: American Airlines Flight # 86 (Dec 27)

Arrive DGN  2:00 PM

Depart DGN  2:30 PM

Arrive O'Hare  3:15 PM

Depart O'Hare 6:14 PM

Arrive London 7:50 AM (Dec 28)

 

Flight Group B: British Airways Flight # 296 (Dec 27)

Arrive DGN  4:15 PM

Depart DGN  4:45 PM

Arrive O'Hare  5:30 PM

Depart O'Hare 8:30 PM

Arrive London 10:10 AM (Dec 28)

 

Inbound

Flight Group A: American Airlines Flight # 47 (Jan 3)

Depart London 11:55 AM

Arrive O'Hare 3:00 PM 

* Picked Up at O’Hare by Family or Friends 4:00 PM

 

Flight Group B: British Airways Flight # 297 (Jan 3)

Depart London 3:30 PM

Arrive O'Hare 6:20 PM 

* Picked Up at O’Hare by Family or Friends 7:20 PM

* Travelers must be picked up at O’Hare upon arrival back in the United States. There will be no bus transportation back to DGN.

Ordering London Tour Apparel

It is time to talk about London Tour Apparel! 

There are three different pieces of apparel that each traveling musician will need on tour:

1. Tour Shirt (Long sleeved black t-shirt, with printed logo)
2. Tour Jacket (Lined black rain coat, with embroidered logo)
3. Tour Beanie (Purple & Gray knit cap, with embroidered logo)

Thanks to generous underwriting by the DGN Friends of Fine Arts, as well as a private donor, we are able to completely cover the cost of both the Tour Jacket ($52) and the Tour Beanie ($10) for each traveling musician. These two items will be provided to each student at no additional cost. 

We learned recently that the cost of the Tour Shirt was not built-in to our tour package by Destination Events (something that had been included in previous London tours). For that reason, we must ask each participating family to order and pay for their Tour Shirt, online through Holy Cow Sports (a local business). The cost for the Tour Shirt will be $14 (tax included). Family members who would also like a shirt may feel free to order them at the same time the order is placed for their student!

What should you do next?

We have some very specific instructions that each traveling musician (and their guardians) should follow. Please CLICK HERE to access the instructions. 

Thank you for reading all of the instructions in the provided document, very carefully this weekend, and completing all steps by October 1st. 

Passport Copy - Submit to Fine Arts Office by September 9

Student Tour Participants and Tour Staff are asked to submit a photocopy of their passport to Mr. Hogg in the Fine Arts Office, beginning Tuesday, September 6. Please submit no later than Friday, September 9.

Please review the sample image HERE. (Do not cross out personal information in the copy you submit to our office.) Make sure to sign the passport before making and submitting the copy. Make sure that the copy you submit is clearly readable. 

We are aware of a small number of tour participants who are awaiting the arrival of their passport. If you have already communicated to us that you are waiting, you do not need to send another email or remind us. Please submit a copy of your passport to our office as soon as it arrives.

The Fine Arts Office is not collecting passport copies for adults participating in the Tag-Along tour. This request is only for student participants, and staff.

London Tour Roommate Preference Survey - Due Friday, September 9

*** DUE DATE: Friday, September 9 ***

All student tour participants should complete this form by Friday, September 9. Please complete the form, even if you do NOT have a roommate preference. 

You are not required to have a roommate preference - we expect there will be a large student group that is flexible!

Please note that we will do our best to accommodate requests, but we cannot guarantee anything. 

If you have a specific person or people you would like to room with, please make sure you are all writing down the same names for each person filling out the form. (You write theirs, they write yours.) This will help your chances, but again cannot guarantee, that you will be together.

You may see a list of all students participating in the tour, listed alphabetically by last name, by clicking HERE. [https://tinyurl.com/LondonTourStudentParticipants]

When you are ready to fill out the form, please go to THIS SURVEY. [tinyurl.com/LondonTourRoommatePreference]

Note: You must be logged into your CSD99 account to access these links.

Passenger Information Form - Due Thursday, September 1

The information requested in this survey will be used to produce a data base for all passengers participating in the Youth Music of the World Festival in Europe.

In particular it will be used to produce a passenger list for the airline(s) from which your travel tickets will be produced. It is therefore IMPERATIVE that all of the information you provide is completely accurate.

One form must be completed per traveler. 

Participating students should work in consort with their guardian to complete this information, no later than Thursday, September 1, 2023.

tinyurl.com/DGNLondon23PassengerInfoForm

Note: this specific form is collecting information for STUDENT musicians (and Faculty), and should not be used to share information about other persons traveling to London as a part of the "Family Tag Along" package, or any other third party tour.

London Choir Tour Rehearsal Schedule Announced

London Choir Members: Please ADD THESE REQUIRED PRACTICES to your personal & family calendars now, so there will be no conflicts with these critically important rehearsals this fall. Please note that the first rehearsal is Wednesday, September 7. 

London Tour Itinerary (as of August 1, 2022)

Please click HERE to review our current itinerary, as of September 8, 2022. This itinerary is subject to minor revisions prior to departure. 

Marching Band Tour Practice Schedule Announced

Please ADD THESE REQUIRED PRACTICES to your personal & family calendars now, so there will be no conflicts with these critically important rehearsals in November/December.

Social Media Launch - London 2023

Participating London Tour student musicians, and their family members, are encouraged to connect with newly launched Social Media channels. Please follow one, or more, to keep up-to-date with tour announcements!

Instagram - @dgnlondon2023

Facebook - @dgnlondon2023

Twitter - @dgnlondon2023

Hotel "Home Base" in London

The DGN Band and DGN Choir will stay at the Thistle Marble Arch hotel as 'home base' for the 2022-23 tour.

Update (May 31, 2022)

Please CLICK HERE for several important updates, including a reminder about CFAR Insurance (which should be purchased by July 1st), and instructions for making that purchase.  

Thank you for reading this entire update carefully. 

Passport Requirement

All tour participants must have a valid USA passport for this trip. In order to insure that you have a passport for this trip, please apply as soon as possible. We will be asking tour participants to provide a photocopy of their passport in August.

As of April 2022, routine service can take up to 11 weeks from the day an application is submitted to the day a new passport is received. 

Passports must be valid for 6 months past our return date of January 3, 2023.  That means that the expiration date of the passport must be no earlier than July 3, 2023. If you are unsure of your passport expiration date, please take a moment to double-check it. 

Please read THIS ARTICLE from the US Government that covers passport applications questions. 

Passport Acquisition:

Downers Grove Post Office [Click HERE to schedule appointment.]

Downers Grove Township [Call for appointments at 630-719-6610.]

Additional Passport Information Resources:

USPS Passport Application: https://www.usps.com/international/passports.htm

DuPage County Passport Application: https://www.dupageco.org/courtclerk/3364/

Passport Operations: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports.html

You've Got Questions. We've Got Answers

As our office receives questions regarding the tour, we will post them here (and respond) if we believe the information shared will be helpful to others.

tinyurl.com/DGNLondonQ-A

Tour Registration Instructions

We are pleased to share the London Tour Registration Instructions, HERE. 

As noted in the linked document, your family should receive an account activation email from Destination Events. Please read through our instructions document carefully before responding to the activation email or making the initial $100 deposit. If you do not receive an activation email, please follow the instructions provided on the linked document.

Tour Status Update - January 14, 2022

The pre-registration numbers for the London Tour were very strong, and indicate interest on the part of the community to move forward with tour planning! As of January 9, nearly 200 individual students expressed an interest in the tour, including a Tour Choir of 80 singers, and a Marching Band of 120 members. Our faculty is confident that well-balanced performing ensembles are possible with these numbers.

What's Next?

District 99 is in communication with the event organizers, and also working to solidify the arrangements for Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR) insurance. We hoped to have a contract finalized & signed today, but there are still a few language details being negotiated. Presuming all parties come to an agreement on terms, families who expressed an interest in the tour through the Pre-Registration form will receive additional information about how to pay the first deposit and formally sign-up for the tour. We hope this will happen within a week's time.

What if you did not Pre-Register, but now that you know the tour is moving forward you would like to join? 

If you did not originally fill out the Pre-Registration Google form, but would now like to have your name added to the list of families that will receive the formal registration instructions, please fill out the pre-registration form now! 

Fan/Tag-Along Group

There was strong initial interest in the Fan/Tag-Along plackage. We will begin to develop that tour as well, and will reach back to interested families as soon as we have more information to share. If you are now interested in adding your name to that list of interested persons, please fill out this form.

Congratulations, again, to our students for garnering these prestigious performance invitations!