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
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:
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