how is the credit crunch affecting you?

[hannah]

Hello buskers

I am a reporter at The London Times and I'm looking into a piece on how the credit crunch is affecting you.

Are your earnings taking a hit? Are you finding people to be less generous?

I would be so grateful for any comments on this. You can reply to this thread, pm me or email me on hannah.fletcher@thetimes.co.uk.

I look forward to hearing from you

Hannah Fletcher

[Mr.Taxi Trix]

Hi Hannah.

I've had two unexpected cancellations, and one sweet gig fall in my lap when a church group in LA keelboshed their 9 cirque acts from all over the planet and decided on lil old me, my mate, Terri, and some aerialists, to save money.

Other tales of minor woe:

http://www.performers.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13811

[gav]

I've yet to do a show since post crash, but I doubt it would make much difference to me here in Croatia. This country is always in huge debt.
Hannah, I suggest it might be more relevant to your English readers if you pop down to Covent Garden and ask the performers there.

[jeep caillouet]

Key West, Fl. use to be one of the better places in America to busk and still is. There were so many people here at one time one could hardly find a spot to work. Now It seems we pass a 100 or so people and or tourist among 8 to 10 performers here.It's still the great place it always was, but it seems that it has priced it self out of the market. Rooms here run $300 to $500 up per nite .If you buy beer in the the bars here they run $4 to $5 each and don't forget the tip. Restaurants aren't cheep either. Oh and there's nothing free in Key West. So I get me a can of sardines for $1.29 and an 18 pack of beer for $10.95( sorry Jim) and write on Pnet for something to do. There's still plenty of women and whiskey to go around so come on down,we're closer to Cuba than Miami,and there's always a party at my house! Toodleloo .

[Irina]

credit crunch

I work mostly at state fairs/art festivals, doing face-painting for kids, and my income dropped about 30-70% at different shows since USA media started pushing "Economic Crisis". The forcosures and drop in job market was here for quite a while, but it did not affect fair-goes mindset till September, when the stock market dropped, and "Crisis" was officially declared...People just do not go to state fairs anymore - it is a lot of $$ for the family to pay for admissions, rides, food etc, and even if they do go, they are really holding to their money!! I never had so many "Is it free?" questions before...I will have to rethink my whole business strategy for now, and become a corporate/party entertainer instead of running an art-vending booths...All vendors are loosing lots of $$, and the fairs are raising prices for the vending spots - so it really does not make any sense to do it anymore...I will keep only the festivals which are free or very cheap for me to set up and the best of my state fairs, which I just do not want to loose, even if hardly 'break even" for a year or two, just to make sure I keep my seniority. I also noticed that suburbia is more affected by the crisis then big cities - city-folks usually rent their flats and use public transportation, so they care less about mortguages and gas prices, and city festivals are usually admission-free...

[Evan Young]

My street shows in Baltimore seem unaffected so far.

I talked to a subway musician in NYC who said that it's hitting her super hard. She said her hats are down to less than 30% or her average. I imagine the difference is the proximity to wall street.