This thread has been valuable to me and I welcome additional ideas from the trombone community.
As a former pro-am trombonist looking for higher quality repertoire and groups to perform with I began taking matters into my own hands about 5 years ago. After getting a semblance of my chops back by playing with local community bands, I embarked on a trajectory that has so far met with a measure of success.
First I joined a decent brass band. Second I joined the board of that band and began to influence the programming and repertoire. To do this money talks. I submitted proposals for competitively awarded grants. After winning a bunch of grant mula $$ (which surprised the management) the band was compelled to program my selections in their concerts. When covid hit I disagreed with the management's draconian measures (masks, vaccines and the like) and I have gone my own way. I didn't want to leave but the circumstances were untenable.
I began by forming my own smaller groups (sextets to dectets) to keep things going. Finally I began winning grant mula $$ again and began renting own venues and producing my own concerts. The "Afternoon of Brass #1" concert was held in June 2022. 'Fanfare from La Peri' was the opener for part 2 of that concert:
https://youtu.be/76GMgeOJCcg (BTW: I had a blast playing the third trombone part in this outstanding group).
BUT, the issue of small audience size remains the toughest part of all of this. It's not just about paying for expenses with grants. It's about live performance with a large live audience. So much more rewarding.
The Afternoon of Brass #1 offered:
a) Professional brass players from across North America, b) a well-known radio celebrity as emcee, c) one of the finest concert halls in the world, d) magnificent musical repertoire e) livestream to the world. The size of the paying audience was disappointing and almost embarrassing.
I agree with other posters that there must be another angle to attract an audience. It can't simply be about the music. There must be a personal connection of some sort. I like the idea of including music repertoire from "the gaming community" and intend to follow through on that.
I already tried programming music that combined organ, brass and a chorus (50 voices) but I was disappointed that the non-brass elements (viz., chorus and organ) drew very few additional audience members. Perhaps I chose the wrong chorus.
One programming idea I'm currently working for Afternoon of Brass #2
https://ab2nbe.eventbrite.com/ is a concert that combines Shakespeare readings with Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliette"
https://youtu.be/hqZ3hfxTf3Y I'm not sure how that will turn out yet.
Another idea is to link the program with a non-profit entity that has an existing following. It may be like looking for a unicorn.
Thoughts?