If you are a band, solo act, dancer, comedian, poet or any other performer, AND you:

• Have enough material for a short set eg 20 minutes of music, including at least two original pieces, or 5 minutes of comedy

• Have not really performed live before

• Would like to try performing in a safe, supportive environment

• Want an opportunity to try your material

• Are willing to promote yourself

• Want to be connected to Nelson performance venues

• Want to meet and collaborate with other emerging artists

Then we would like to meet you!

• You'll be in front of an encouraging, supportive audience

• You get to see how your material is received by an audience

• You get to learn how to deal with your nerves - everyone's different!

• You don't need to have a full set of material

• We'll do our best to get a recording of you performing - this gets you some content for your social media, and also clearly establishes your copyright on the material

• We can share your details and your performance with interested venues - they might be keen to get you in once you've developed enough material for a full set. See our Venue Partners here...

• You get to meet and mingle with other developing artists - you might find the perfect match for a band!

• You'll get to meet up with other organisations keen to get in contact with developing artists

• The audience might get to tell their grandchildren - "I was there the first time that [insert your name here] got up and played..."

If you think you're keen, and you meet the criteria, here's the current process:

• Click here to get our contacts

• Email us, connect with us on Facebook or Insta

• We'll get back to you and have a chat with you. The sort of things we're keen to find out are:

  • • The background and name of your act

    • The amount of material you have

    • Practice routines

    • Suitability for the event

    • What equipment you need or have available

• Then we'll need you to send us a couple of basic recordings of your original work so we can get your vibe. The recordings don't have to be perfect audio - we're interested in whether you can make it to the end of your song and get a feel for how polished you are as an act. NOTE - These recordings will remain your exclusive intellectual property. We will not share them or use them in any way without your permission.

• Then we can place you in an upcoming event at a specific time - you just go off and practice and get ready to wow the world with what ya got!!

• Use your social media and contacts to spread the word about your upcoming performance - get your aunty to come along...

• Then turn up in time...

Each event will be a little different. Because we are working to showcase artists with a range of skills, we all will need to be somewhat flexible when participating:

• The focus is on having a good time and learning how to perform in public, rather than being a perfect gig acoustically

• Where possible, equipment may need to be shared eg. drum kits, amps. This is to prevent long changeover periods between acts

• The audio set-up is likely to be very simple, probably mics only

• The order of performance may need to take this equipment sharing in to account

• Acts will need to stick to the agreed performance times

• If the event is in a licenced venue, all underage participants will need parental supervision for the entire time they are present.

• Stuff might go wrong. In fact, it's almost guaranteed!

• We'll try to get a video or audio recording of your performance, which you can use on your social media to promote your act or next performance