Arsenal Drum & Bugle Corps

Arsenal is a junior drum and bugle corps based in Albuquerque, New Mexico that was founded in 2016.

Starting a corps in an area with little or no drum corps history, founder Spenser Lotz opted to have the corps perform in Drum Corps International's (DCI) SoundSport to hold down costs over at least the corps' first two years. The 33-member 2017 corps, with no guard or front ensemble, took "Best of Show" at the SoundSport event held in conjunction with the DCI Southwestern Championship inside San Antonio’s Alamodome. Having added a guard and front ensemble, Arsenal will return to San Antonio in 2018 and will also perform exhibitions at several regional DCI contests. Arsenal's plans are to move to Open Class in 2019.

On November 2, 2018, Arsenal announced their application to become an Open Class corps in 2019.

Following the DCI Annual Meetings (January 10-13, 2019) Arsenal's director invited marching members of Pioneer (DCI membership revoked) and Oregon Crusaders (inactive for 2019) to join Arsenal with discounted membership fees for the Summer. In doing so, he also publicly criticized the leadership of both corps, an action that is a major violation of DCI policies and which was performed without the knowledge or consent of the corps' Board of Directors. DCI on January 16 placed the corps' evaluation for Open Class membership on hold for 2019. The director submitted his resignation, and, while trying to figure out what had just happened, the Board accepted the resignation, cancelled the audutions scheduled for the January 19-20 weekend, and.began working on putting the pieces back together.

In 2019, the corps relocated operations to El Paso, Texas while continuing to represent the area from El Paso to Albuquerque.

[Arsenal Performing Arts Inc; Drum Corps International; SoundSport]

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