General

The Minstrel Booking Chair provides general oversight for the Folk Project’s weekly Minstrel Acoustic Concert Series, establishing its artistic direction and ensuring that all operations remain true to the spirit and specifics of Folk Project policy, as defined in the organization’s Constitution and By Laws.

Work Activities

Specifically, the Minstrel Program Chair is responsible for:

• Attending monthly Board meetings to report on Minstrel activities and participating in the general business decisions of The Folk Project.

• Working with the Minstrel Volunteer Chair, Head Staff and other members of the Minstrel Committee to establish procedures for the successful operation of the Minstrel concert series, including procedures for intra-committee communications.

• Establishing admission price and performer pay policies, in cooperation with other Minstrel Committee members, to ensure that the Minstrel remains financially self-sufficient.

• Establishing a loose definition of the types of music to be presented, setting general performer standards and qualifications.

• Keeping abreast of performers in the genre by attending other venues, festivals, conferences, listening to folk radio, and other means.

• Communicating with performers and agents to program acts for the Minstrel.

• Maintaining a database of performers, including contact information and performance history.

• Working with the Web team and others, producing a Tally Sheet wherein onsite staff can input and record cashflow and other data at each show and distribute that data to the Treasurer, Membership Chair and other parties as necessary. Maintain copies of Tally Sheets for each show for reference.

• Producing contracts or letters that clearly define the performance agreements. If performers provide their own contracts, reconciling any differences between those contracts and the Folk Project’s procedures; signing performer contracts on behalf of The Folk Project.

• Sending reminders to all acts in advance of their appearance to provide stage plots and inventories of their product for sale, and transferring that information to the Minstrel Staffing Committee.

• Creating and maintaining a database for use by the Minstrel Staffing Committee to manage their volunteers. Provide regular updates of the Minstrel performer schedule to be imported into that database.

• Provide and regularly update a Desk Schedule to be kept in the cash drawer with information about each show, including the act names and cell phone numbers, the guarantee for each act, anticipated attendance, and any special information, such as which facilities will be used for food service, etc.

• Provide the Treasurer with the amount of the rent for each month, which varies depending upon the number of shows and the venue facilities that will be used for each show.

• Writing the description of upcoming performers for the Newsletter and the Web site, and providing them to the appropriate committees in a timely fashion.

• Serving as liaison with the venue’s management. That entails negotiating rent and terms of use agreements, discussing general and special logistic arrangements, and being the signatory on any written agreements.

• Maintaining a phone number and e-mail address (either your own or delegating this to another party) through which the public can reach out for information about the Minstrel.

• Posting the Minstrel’s schedule on the Folk Project website through the appropriate input form.

• Maintaining the e-mail list for the Minstrel-Gram bulletin and sending that bulletin on a weekly basis. Sending out the weekly Minstrel-Grams using tools provided by the web team.

• Soliciting performer publicity materials and providing same to the Folk Project’s publicity committee, in a timely fashion. This includes sending reminders to any acts that fail to provide such materials when prompted by the Publicity Committee, or providing the Publicity Committee with the appropriate contact information if that is Publicity’s preference.

• In addition to the time spent on travel to and attendance at Board meetings, as well as on regular attendance at the weekly concerts, this job involves a time commitment of roughly 24 hours per week.

Skills and Experience

Prerequisites for this position are:

• Up-to-date knowledge of the folk music business and familiarity with venue management

• Direct experience in booking performers and working with agents

• An established contact network and/or organizational associations

• Strong interpersonal and negotiation skills

In addition, the successful program chair will be:

• Well-organized, thorough and detail oriented

• Enthusiastic about this style of music and able to pitch the Minstrel concerts to potential performers, Folk Project members and the public at large

Finally, the following would be considered desirable, in decreasing order of importance:

• A genuine interest and demonstrated willingness to participate in the activities of The Folk Project.

• Frequent attendance and onsite volunteer service at the Minstrel.

• Previous service on the Folk Project Board, and familiarity with the Minstrel Program Chair’s role