Castle Invitational Program Book

The Castle Invitational Program Book is a booklet designed, printed and sold in conjunction with the annual Castle Invitational. Not only does the book provide information about the invitational, including a schedule of events, individual information highlighting each school’s program and show, and a space to write in scores, it also is a home for a plethora of community businesses to advertise and show their support for not only the Castle Marching Knights, but the arts as a whole. Additionally, information about The Castle High School Band Program is included throughout the book such as purchasing merchandise, recognizing staff/invitational committee/seniors, and highlighting The Castle Band Program Fund in honor of Sophie Rinehart. In 2018 the book was sold for $3. The profit made from the books is used to breakeven with the cost of printing the book, but also goes to The Castle Band Program if there is additional funds remaining. A book is always available each year for purchase by all invitational attendees.

The target audience for The Castle Invitational Program Book is anyone attending the Castle Invitational. More specifically, these audiences typically include parents, grandparents and friends of the performers, so adults are the main target audience demographic.

One of the biggest parts of the program book is the actual design, so in 2018 we reached out to a Castle Marching Knights alumnus to take on the role of program book designer. The directors of the program received the program/show information from band program attendees via email, the Band Booster president received the business advertisements via email, and the band secretary compiled all other general content used in the program book. This information was then forwarded to the designer as soon as it arrived to be included in the program book design. After the program book was ready to go to print it was sent off to a local print shop.

2018 Timeline:

• August 15 – Band program attendees send in information about their program and show
• August 20 – Overall design completed
• September 1 – All advertisements submitted
• September 8 – 2018 Castle Invitational Program Book went to print
• September 14 – Program Book delivered to the high school
• September 15 – Program Book on sale at the invitational

The whole budget was used for the printing of the books since the designer volunteered to create it.

With the amount of sponsors that requested an advertisement for the book it was difficult to get them to be sent in all right on time. There were a few advertisements that were not received by the deadline, so the Band Booster president was in charge of reaching out individually to the sponsor and getting their advertisement.

With over 300 books sold, 2018 marked the year of most books sold at the invitational. Because the program book was more visually appealing this year compared to others, we believe that is one of the reasons more books sold than usual.

One of the biggest things this book is able to do is connect businesses and create mutually beneficial relationships throughout the community with The Castle Band Program. The advertisements not only create a small source of revenue for the band, but also encourage the attendees to shop/purchase/support local businesses.

Find a local business to aid in the printing of the book. Being able to find a person, especially someone who is familiar with and passionate about your program, to design the book for free or for a low cost is also a good financial choice.