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Munich - really pretty town, lots of pedestrian streets, lots of tourists. Seems to be very strong for musicians, especially classical - I saw, for the first time, a classical quintet with a GRAND PIANO on the street. An actual grand piano. Not so good for circle shows.
Permits are issued at the Tourist Information Office in the Rathaus/StadtMitte building on the Marienplatz. When you are facing the giant glockenspiel, the office is ahead and to your right.
There are 10 permits a day issued for musicians, 2 for "action". When we went in on Monday to check it out before a trip to another city, we were told no problem, there are always action permits available (which maybe should have been a message
). I showed the permit-issuer photos of our act (we're a very big circle show with an aerial rig) and he said no problem, we'd just have to do a show he could watch to make sure it wasn't too big. I said great, see you Thursday.
He issued me with a map of where the city controls permits, gave me the hours one can do shows (12:15-22:00) and told me the cost was E10. He also indicated no fire, no amplification, and you can have music OR action but not both. Since the silent trapeze act is a little lame, we also checked out the Hofbrauhaus platz area - the word from the city was, we don't control that area, you have to ask the businessmen. I checked with the businesses around the platz, showed them my insurance, and they were either positive or they didn't care.
When we returned on Friday, the same city worker seemed ready to issue a permit to my partners - until he said, "are you just two?" and they said, "We're three" and he immediately got into full denial mode - no groups of acrobats, we hate acrobats, they're always trouble, no permit for you! And indicated that he was the only person who could be spoken to about this. (I had shown him pictures of the show, including full set-up with crowd).
So we worked the Hofbrauhaus platz. It's average to OK - still no fire, and we kept our amp very soft to not piss anyone off. It's not a very good pitch - it looks like it should be amazing, lots of people, lots of English-speakers, sheltered, shady, acoustically great. But 90% of the tourists are either part of a group that leaves to catch a bus, or they are there to get drunk drunk drunk. Munich is beer tourism.
We did better with atmospheric shows than stop-watch-stay shows, but it really was a crapshoot. I think a performer who works without an amp in a Covent Garden style could build and hold a crowd, but that's not us and we couldn't. Gather, yes, hold, no. And the Americans, I'm sorry to say, were the loudest, rudest, walk-off-est and cheapest.
If you work it, it helped us to introduce ourselves to each and every business around the platz - from the Hofbrauhaus (office through the beergarden, upstairs, turn left, turn left again in the hall, door on right) anti-clockwise, fancy restaurant, cafe restaurant (prefers you not hat their tables), sushi, starbucks, bakery, restaurant, Hard Rock. We said hello when we got there and thanks when we left, and indicated that we'd turn it down if there were any problems. That was very appreciated and even though we wouldn't go back on purpose, we'd be welcome again and so would other courteous performers.
It becomes drunk-thirty at 9:30PM. Like a switch.
We did renegade acrobatics only shows after 10PM, no amp, no rig, on the main pedestrian street leading away from the Marienplatz. It was very easy to get and keep a crowd, and we made more money on 10-minute shows there than longer ones in the other place.
Enjoy!
Allison
Aerial Angels
Permits are issued at the Tourist Information Office in the Rathaus/StadtMitte building on the Marienplatz. When you are facing the giant glockenspiel, the office is ahead and to your right.
There are 10 permits a day issued for musicians, 2 for "action". When we went in on Monday to check it out before a trip to another city, we were told no problem, there are always action permits available (which maybe should have been a message
). I showed the permit-issuer photos of our act (we're a very big circle show with an aerial rig) and he said no problem, we'd just have to do a show he could watch to make sure it wasn't too big. I said great, see you Thursday.He issued me with a map of where the city controls permits, gave me the hours one can do shows (12:15-22:00) and told me the cost was E10. He also indicated no fire, no amplification, and you can have music OR action but not both. Since the silent trapeze act is a little lame, we also checked out the Hofbrauhaus platz area - the word from the city was, we don't control that area, you have to ask the businessmen. I checked with the businesses around the platz, showed them my insurance, and they were either positive or they didn't care.
When we returned on Friday, the same city worker seemed ready to issue a permit to my partners - until he said, "are you just two?" and they said, "We're three" and he immediately got into full denial mode - no groups of acrobats, we hate acrobats, they're always trouble, no permit for you! And indicated that he was the only person who could be spoken to about this. (I had shown him pictures of the show, including full set-up with crowd).
So we worked the Hofbrauhaus platz. It's average to OK - still no fire, and we kept our amp very soft to not piss anyone off. It's not a very good pitch - it looks like it should be amazing, lots of people, lots of English-speakers, sheltered, shady, acoustically great. But 90% of the tourists are either part of a group that leaves to catch a bus, or they are there to get drunk drunk drunk. Munich is beer tourism.
We did better with atmospheric shows than stop-watch-stay shows, but it really was a crapshoot. I think a performer who works without an amp in a Covent Garden style could build and hold a crowd, but that's not us and we couldn't. Gather, yes, hold, no. And the Americans, I'm sorry to say, were the loudest, rudest, walk-off-est and cheapest.
If you work it, it helped us to introduce ourselves to each and every business around the platz - from the Hofbrauhaus (office through the beergarden, upstairs, turn left, turn left again in the hall, door on right) anti-clockwise, fancy restaurant, cafe restaurant (prefers you not hat their tables), sushi, starbucks, bakery, restaurant, Hard Rock. We said hello when we got there and thanks when we left, and indicated that we'd turn it down if there were any problems. That was very appreciated and even though we wouldn't go back on purpose, we'd be welcome again and so would other courteous performers.
It becomes drunk-thirty at 9:30PM. Like a switch.
We did renegade acrobatics only shows after 10PM, no amp, no rig, on the main pedestrian street leading away from the Marienplatz. It was very easy to get and keep a crowd, and we made more money on 10-minute shows there than longer ones in the other place.
Enjoy!
Allison
Aerial Angels