National/State Coordination of Guest artists for Middle School Band Programs!

Directors,
This blog will probably end up as a forum, however let's start by discussing the basic notion of bringing in a guest artist to perform (not conduct or clinic, that's different and it's already in the forums) with your middle school band. In the past, guest artists with middle school bands could be cost prohibitive because of transportation, now through this forum we should be able to coordinate a bit.
Let's say I wanted to have a guest artist who lived in Georgia, come perform with my band in Florida. Great, if we as directors post our intended clinicians, other programs can "get on board" if they are looking. We can all share the transportation costs and everyone gets a guest artist for the price they are asking.
This type of logistical outfitting and coordination really needs to be discussed so that students everywhere can benefit. Please post your ideas here in this blog, include dates, States and times so that other programs can build off of your initial efforts. If you know artists that work well with this age level of musician, please invite them to join msbanddirector.com, create a page that shows their commitment to this age learner and members can check them out by exploring their page. Perhaps it will end up being organized through the individual artists pages. Either way, we all win big.

RW