Granville Island, Vancouver Busking Discussion

[GIbuskers]

Call for Performers
SUMMER ENTERTAINMENT ON GRANVILLE ISLAND (SEGI) PROGRAM 2008

Head West this summer! Work one of the most spectacular busking pitches in one of the most amazing cities in the world. The Granville Island Buskers, located in beautiful Vancouver BC, in the heart of the city on Granville Island, are looking for new, unique and dynamic acts to become a part of their Summer Entertainment on Granville Island (SEGI) program.

Granville Island Buskers is a year round busking program that creates a special program in peak season to place high quality, crowd gathering and dynamic entertainment at our two premier busking locations, the Triangle Square and the Public Market Courtyard.

Selected Acts will be pre-programmed into these locations from May 17, 2008 through September 14, 2008 on Saturdays, Sundays and holiday Mondays. Fridays will be added in part in June and all day during the peak months of July and August.
PERFORMERS WILL NOT BE PAID; however, accepting donations and selling CDs during performance is permitted. This is an opportunity for experienced performers only.

Once in Vancouver there are also potential opportunities to perform downtown as well as to head up to Whistler for a few days and perform there. Look for these performing opportunities in the coming months.

REQUIREMENTS
General for all performers
Must be a unique, family oriented performance that engages the public
Must have a professional, fully rehearsed, well flowing show
Must have a consistently high quality performance, a full 45 minutes in length
All accepted applicants will be required to register as Granville Island Buskers ($50-$110)
All accepted applicants will be expected to follow the guidelines of the Busker Program

Variety Acts/Circle Shows
Must be able to draw and maintain a crowd of at least 200 people
Must have a smooth, well rehearsed, unique show with a defined beginning, middle and end that is safe and family oriented
Must demonstrate a high degree of proficiency and comedic timing when performing

Musical Acts
Must have a diverse, extensive set list
Must demonstrate a high degree of proficiency when playing instruments and /or singing
Any backing tracks must be created by the musician and will be subject to approval
No karaoke style acts permitted

HOW TO APPLY
Application forms and guidelines are available from www.giculturalsociety.org or from the Granville Island Cultural Society office, address below. Please submit your application materials by 5pm March 31st 2008. Materials received beyond the deadline will be considered as space allows.

Visit our website or call for more details on the SEGI program and application procedures.
Thank you for your interest!

Contact: Beth Mackey
Phone: 604.683.0846
Granville Island Cultural Society
101 1398 Cartwright Street, Vancouver BC V6H 3R8
Email: gibuskers@telus.net
Web: www.giculturalsociety.org

[Butterfly Man]

Come work free for me ... if you're good enough.

My credit score is just 781 ... do I even qualify?

[martin ewen]

So as I understand it I pay you to boss me around .
When do I start?

[Scot Free]

now living in toronto

used to be the best pitch in canada, 'till they came along...

[Mr.Taxi Trix]

Hey! Protocal nazi here. Don't like a gig? Don't apply. You both know a good act could seriously coin in a spot like that. (I also respect your views, and am a gun for hire only myself, but...)
Best behavior in gig threads, gents. We want to nurture them, be your scary selves in BBB.

[Jim]

OK, I moved the criticism of this "gig" here for further discussion.

Carry on.

[jeep caillouet]

Grandville island

I use to work there some times . It was a great place to work for a guy like me !

[jeep caillouet]

then a guy like me!

I also worked Robson street , the steam powered clock, and Victoria Island. Didn't cost nothing

[Butterfly Man]

Last time I had a toothache, I called all the qualified dentists in my area and told them I would only charge them a small fee to drill in my mouth.

P.S. I lost my tooth.

[Stephon]

Robert, I understand what you're saying, and, make no mistake, I agree.

However, don't you think the venue might argue that if they were giving dentists a location to set up a sales and promotion booth, and were also going to promote the event, they would charge the dentist for those services?

[Isabella]

Here's what I sent along, just fyi.

Hi there - I read with interest your call for performers for Granville Island on the Performers.net forum.

The Aerial Angels are a three-woman circus/variety act featuring aerial silk and hoop, fire-eating, whip cracking, acrobatics and comedy, on and around our free-standing 24 foot rig. We are a professional act performing street, festival and corporate entertainment work, and we certainly meet your extensive requirements, having won juried and audience prizes at internationally respected festivals and presenting our show in theatres and for clients including major corporations and Disney. But, so that I do not waste your time or ours, I'd like to ask a few questions before applying to see if your venue meets our requirements as a profitable and enjoyable venue in which to perform.

"Pre-programming" - we have a busy schedule for our summer/fall season that includes three teams presenting our act around the world. Are we able to specify a date range during which we are available? How many performing days are we guaranteed during our time with you? How many shows per day? We would be coming from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and would attempt to schedule our time with you back-to-back with other festivals in the region (that cover our housing, and often our travel and an appearance fee as well as hat pass).

Shows/crowds - Do we share a pitch with others? Are the shows themselves at scheduled times? How are those times publicized, or how is the venue publicized as a place to see entertainment? What is your advertising budget? Is there a set time limit for length of show? Is there a rain location where the audience is sheltered?

Quality of performance experience for us - do you allow amplification? Do you provide an electrical outlet, and how far from the pitch is it (I checked your application and guidelines, but I'd like to know about the specific pitches used for this series)? Is there a dressing/stretch out room? Is there a place to store props and equipment during the week and overnight? Do you provide parking? Is there a loading zone? Is there a non-public bathroom?

Income - Do you have any documentation or references on the size of your audience, their demographics, and typical hat passes for large circle shows? For our needs, a gig that wants us to pay our own travel, presumably house and feed ourselves, have five no-show days per week of being in the area, and pay a fee to perform, must be doing hats (for us) of at least $300 per show on crowds of at least 300 per show. While we know there are never any guarantees, we would need to speak with other performers about the hat and crowd quality before sending you our application.

Do you have any information on additional performance/workshop opportunities in the area? Do you work in partnership with the entertainers to help them take advantage of those opportunities during the five days a week there are no shows for you?

I don't mean to sound impertinent - I'm sure this is a lovely opportunity for local acts who use you as a home base and travel elsewhere at other times, but for us this would be a major travel commitment, and given that you are looking for professional calibre acts to pay you to perform, we want to make certain that this would also be a professional calibre experience for us, with appropriate pay and treatment. If based on our questions, you feel we would not be right for this particular series, we would love to submit materials for consideration for specific festivals or events at which you hire and bring in professional entertainment.

Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Allison Williams
Artistic Director
Aerial Angels

https://www.angelsintheair.com

[Isabella]

Stephon - Yes, they would be within their rights to charge the dentist, because the dentist does not add a service to their venue that is provided free of charge to their patrons and enhances the patron experience. And really, one might look at this as comparable to being charged for office space in which to ply one's trade. The office landlord is in the property rental business, and having a free service to attract more customers to the other businesses (say, the Festival of Dental Enjoyment, pay-what-you-like per filling), doesn't necessarily benefit the landlord. Likewise, having entertainment benefits the shops (more customers come and stay longer) without necessarily benefitting the shopping complex itself - they can't raise today's rent because more people turned up.

Where it gets murky is how much are entertainers a service to the tenants like power and water, something that helps them do business and that they indirectly pay for in rents, and how much are the tenants a service to the entertainers, by providing us a venue in which they attract audience members for our shows, as if we are renting an outdoor theatre.

[Butterfly Man]

not that I'd want you to...

I think a gal like you could actually beat Obama.

[Evan Young]

registration is $50 to $110. Who cares. That's like, some snacks and a twelve pack, or one tank of gas, or one month worth of cable TV. That's a fraction of one hat; and you won't have to fight with a stoned dude doing yoga in a clear box for the spot day after day after day, or take turns with a dog show.

it's a minor tax deduction, stop being such a self righteous pussy. I'm dropping almost a grand next week so I can do a college showcase.

P.S. - yeah, i know the difference between a college showcase and a street show.

[Isabella]

For me the issue is not the registration, which if the pitch is decent should be less than half a hat for one show. The issue for me is packing my aerial rig and my fellow performers into a car and spending $600 on gas and hotel and six days of my life to get there and back, at a time of year when everyone else I work for pays me to perform and travels, feeds and houses me.

I've been meaning to post back that I got a really good response to my email from the GI representative, and if we have a logical place to fit it into a geographical tour, we'll probably try to go.

I think you misspelled "pushy"...and thanks, I am.