I was curious how much interested there would be out there for a martial arts studio that has facilities developed specifically with Western Martial Arts in mind. I don't know what it's like elsewhere, but my own experience here in St. Louis is that practitioners are pretty much using whatever space they can find; Community athletic centers, parks, arranging for space at dojos, back yards, etc.
There's really no facilities out there that are set up specifically with WMA in mind. What's out there is therefore workable, but not necessarily ideal (for the longest time I couldn't use vom tag above the head because the dojo the first group I trained with used had a ceiling that was a good couple feet too low). Most dojos won't have pells, and they certainly won't be happy if you beat up their training dummies with feders or wasters, which means having to bring your own (and they're not the most transportable of equipment). Training in back yards and parks are at the mercy of daylight, weather, and season. And the fact groups may not have a permanent home can make advertising and recruiting much more challenging.
There's so many dojos set up specifically for Eastern martial arts traditions, but I always thought it would be great to see a studio designed specifically for the needs of ARMA/HEMA.
The couple challenges I'd see with it are:
1) Would there even be enough interest? Having a building specifically designed for the purpose may not be viable if there's not enough local practitioners to actually make use of it.
2) How would you support it? Running a studio costs money, and at the very least you have rent, utilities, and insurance. SOMEONE has to foot the bill.
3) Could such a thing even be operated by a member of ARMA (or HEMA, for that matter) without running afoul of bylaws. What if you have both an ARMA group AND a HEMA group in the same city, both wishing to use the space?
Regarding point 2, a thought I had was that rather than charging individual student fees, floorspace would be rented to the organizations as a whole. However that then brings up point 1: Would a WMA-focused studio offer enough the make it worth a group's while, rather than going somewhere less ideal where they can train for free? And would it be a single flat rate, whether a particular group has five members or fifty? Or would the rate be determined by the size of the group?
And what about opening the facilities to students outside of a formal guild? How would this be affected by point 3?
(Personally I think combining both approaches would be ideal: Organizations could rent space at the studio to train X nights per week, while also running group and private classes unaffiliated with any one organization. The guilds could also use the space as places to recruit from the "casual" students.)
Of course, there's also the possibility of hosting seminars, tournaments, and other events that could help operations, as well.
Has anyone ever put any thought into this?
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