Book the Gig

College Market Performing Arts Centers may be the next largest event producer along with the student activities office. These events, however, are mostly booked by the performing arts program or artistic director rather than a student committee. The director may also be connected to the theater department. Performances booked into this facility tend to include theater, classical concerts, and other genres of music that the student activities office generally doesn’t book. Productions booked into the performing arts center may also include shows for children where schools bus their students in and season series that cater to a campus and community audience. Shows booked into the performing arts center are generally…

When working in the college market student activities is the most visible event producer on a college campus. There is always a Campus Activities Director who ultimately signs the contracts and essentially designs the events calendar. This person is also the student advisor for the various student committees that help plan the events. Some of the student committees that you may have come in contact with are the Concert Committee, that produces large concert events,a coffeehouse committee,  that produces smaller events, a lecture committee that helps produce a variety of lecture programs with famous speakers, authors, newsy or noteworthy people, to name just a few. These three committees are the…

You might think that it’s not a great time to be booking college gigs for fall, but think again. It’s true that many of the students won’t be on campus right now, but in a week or two, they start returning. Meanwhile, it is likely that the student activities adviser or director of student affairs is probably around getting things ready for the student’s return. So now is the perfect time to connect with the student activities adviser, get their contact info and perhaps begin discussing some early college gigs for fall events for the returning students. Sometimes, this is booked before students leave in the spring and other times…

How can you turn cold calls into friendly calls that get you the great gigs you desire? I'll start a two part series for you this week that helps you do just that. I offer you a 4 part process. Each step is a strategy that can be used alone or in combination with any of the other steps to really maximize your booking process and reduce or eliminate cold calls completely. Once a gig is played, the old contract gets filed away, hopefully. It’s likely that you will get back to that venue’s booker in a few weeks or months as you look for another date later that year…

Focus on the right gigs for you that is. It doesn't really matter whether other acts are playing certain venues. What matters is that you focus on the right gigs and play the venues that are right for YOU. So how do you know what venues are right for you? You need to know two important things to help you determine the right venues. First, you need to know yourself as an artist and your lifestyle needs. Second, you need to know who your audience is and where they enjoy seeing live music. To help with these, here are some questions to assess your choice venues, know your performance preferences…

Timing is everything in festival bookings when to book festivals is particularly challenging. So to have some idea of when artistic directors are most likely to focus on booking next year’s festival will certainly give you an edge. Since so many artists and agents are attempting to contact the festival, their booking schedule is not likely one of those items announced on their website. So here are a few guidelines to follow: One month prior to the festival, they are busy and will be very unreceptive to booking calls. Never call during the week prior to the festival or during the festival. The week after the festival is usually a…

Here's the scoop on how to increase festival bookings—book 2 years on one call. Getting into your festival of choice is not an easy task. There is so much competition vying for so few performance slots. So how can you make yourself look more attractive to the artistic director? First spend some time on the festival site and get familiar with what the festival is about. Get a real understanding of the scope of the festival and what the director is trying to accomplish with their programming. Look over last year’s schedule and read all the workshop titles and who performed in those workshops. See anything familiar or performers that…

When it comes to festival bookings plan your approach for a better response. There’s no doubt that playing festivals can expand your audience within the festival market. There are so many to play and choose from as you plan your festival booking search. If you feel ready to pitch your act to the festival market, then here are 5 steps to take before picking up the phone or emailing a link to your Electronic Press Kit or your website to every festival on some huge list. Set some touring goals as to the markets that are logical for you to tour at this time in your career. Research the festivals…

Tired of playing for small crowds and want to play Gigs With Big Audiences? Want to build your recognition within a larger marketplace? Want to play in front of hundreds if not thousands? Then it’s time to knock on the doors of city hall. Yes local government departments are a great place to find some big audience gigs. You know the ones I’m talking about. Ever see the whole community turn out at the local band stand or amphitheater or city park? Who goes to these concerts-the whole town perhaps? Well why aren’t you playing on that stage in front of all those people? It is possible you know. So…