FNCI Grantees Willing to Answer Music Biz Questions

Greetings to All interested in what's happening in the Native music world!

This blog is here to provide folks exposure to the current works of Native musical artists. It is meant to be interactive. Please feel free to ask pertinent questions relevant to the field of Indigenous music! The artists are more than happy to be of assistance.

Best To All!

Georgia Wettlin Larsen
Director
First Nations Composer Initiative

Who Are "Presenters"?

"Presenters" are those individuals or groups that present or promote performing arts events, such as program directors, executive directors, festival directors, or club owners. The breakdown of different types of presenters can seem convoluted, so I will narrow them down and use, say, a solo or small music ensemble as the artist searching for performances.

SMALL presenters include: coffeehouses, restaurants, house concerts (booking usually by other artists sometimes), libraries. The presenter profile is:

Small
--coffeehouse or restaurant owner
--staff
--not consistently accessible
--constantly changing
--not booking decision-maker
--not performing arts professional
--genre not well defined
--no budget

MIDLEVEL presenters include: clubs, bars, coffeehouse circuit, school productions. The presenter profile is:

Midlevel
--club booking agent
--club owner
--small non-profit org/volunteers
--not easily accessible
--not performing arts professional
--genre fairly well defined
--has no presenting budget/charges at door

FESTIVAL presenters include: outdoor and indoor festivals & cultural events. The presenter profile is:

Festival
--organization/booking committee
--festival program director
--some for-profit, some non-profit org/volunteers
--accessibility varies
--usually performing arts professionals (i.e., they know what they are doing)
--genre very well defined
--has presenting budget
--annual event

BIG presenters include: performing arts centers, theatres, huge festivals, corporate events. The presenter profile is:

Big
--program director or executive director
--PAC board
--difficult if not impossible to contact during the year (only accessible at conferences)
--performing arts professionals
--genres fairly well defined
--larger presenting budget

More descriptive elements of presenters to come. Some of the questions that will be covered are
1. What's a presenter's mission & responsibility?
2. What exactly DO they do and how do they do it?
3. How do I interact with various presenters? Are their temperments all the same?
4. Are they all honest and forthright? Should I be honest and forthright with them?
5. What are the important things I need to know about presenters specifically (trends, budgets, when they are booking, their funding, etc.)?

Cheers.

Bear Claw

Making a Business Plan for a Career in the Performing Arts

Why is a business plan is important to have? Again, your approach to the performing arts has to function like a start up business. In order to have the best chance for success, an artist has to have a clear vision of the business purpose, a strategy to attain short & long-term goals, an idea of where the artist wants to be over time. A sound business plan is a road map (which can be modified over time) that helps an artist have a clear direction of where they want their prospective career in the performing arts to go and what she/he clearly wants to achieve. (See graph.) You will be spending a great deal of time and resources on your venture—a business plan reduces the amount of guess work and increases a better sense of timing and logistics.

Key Features:

Relationships—The business of the performing arts is all about relationship building. Presenters (mainly in the larger market) will only engage artists they know and trust. Strategies of how to build your relationships is a key element in your business plan. There are several websites that list venues in the smaller markets, festivals, and you can often get up-to-date presenter lists from your state arts council free of charge (California is one of the only exceptions.). Attending booking conferences is the BEST way to develop and foster relationships with presenters. There are several types of booking conferences, from state consortia to regional to national. And don’t limit yourself to just performing arts. There are festival vendor conferences, NACCA (National Association of College Campus Activities), and several corporate events conferences.

E-marketing—More and more artists and presenters are using the internet to communicate. It is a healthy medium, and is the cheapest and fastest way to reach the largest demographic of presenters and the public. An artist MUST have web presence. (There will be another in-depth post about e-marketing facts and tips.) Make your website easy to navigate with as little clutter and flash as possible. If you have streaming video, that’s a plus.

Database—While part of your e-marketing, your database should be functional and constantly updated so that you have accurate information about presenters. There will be a post in the future devoted entirely to "E-marketing--what you need to know in the new era of communication."

Product—Do you have DVDs or CDs? If not, you will need these to market yourself. Don't budget on this part of your plan. The more polished and professional looking product you create, the better your chances of landing bookings.

Capital—The hard reality is that you have to spend money to make money. For many start up businesses, it often takes years before you will see profit. You need to budget & plan appropriately so that you don’t put all your resources into THAT part of your business plan that is less strategic than other aspects of your plan. More posts will follow on the topic of "avoiding pitfalls in spending."

Markets—Know your market of presenters. You will develop lasting relationships with presenters if you know something about their venue before you actually meet them. This will also help you determine which markets are appropriate for your plan. Presenters will more likely return your call or email if you know something about their venues. If there is a particular festival or club that you are interested in pursuing, make sure your genre matches the venue’s preferred genres (i.e., if you are part of a native American dance ensemble, don’t try to pursue a booking at a rock music club or bluegrass festival.)

Next post will focus on Markets & the different players within them. I've left out info on other aspects of your business plan, but I will cover them in future posts.

Cheers.

Bear Claw

Getting Booked on Your Own in the Performing Arts

Are you an artist, artist in an ensemble, or someone interested in representing artists professionally? Are you at a point where you would like to perform professionally? Are you just getting started, and are wondering how to make a living as a performing artist?

First, to successfully make a living in the performing arts, you have to treat it as a business. Secondly, it’s important to know the various markets that exist (street, coffeehouses and small restaurants, clubs, festivals & community events, performing arts centers, theatres, corporate). Third, don’t undertake the journey in the fog—the more you prepare yourself and become knowledgeable about how the business of the performing arts really works, the more likely you will be able to navigate through it and avoid pitfalls.

Whether playing for tips at a coffeehouse, or performing in a 1,000-seat performing arts center, the performing arts is a profit-driven business where the “bottom line” is the de facto catalyst for deciding who gets booked. You must think of your artistry as a commodity that is going to be sold by you or your enterprise. (We are assuming that you feel confident about your performance enough to present it on stage.) There is a deluge of artists in America that want to be discovered. It is a virtual sea of supply; yet the demand is limited. Therefore, you have to stand out to a presenter. (A “presenter” is someone who presents performances much like a “promoter.”) The best thing you can do to start is make your promotion kit as complete, professional, and unequivocal as your budget allows. Your kit should include: a bio, references, color 8x10 headshot or band shot, press (if any), previous venues performed at, a simple tech rider, business card, cover letter, CD or DVD, return self-addressed stamped postcard (which should ask if they would like to opt in to your mailing list or email newsletter), any professional brochures or professionally made literature. The more professional and polished you appear by your promotion kit, the more likely you will get the presenter’s attention. One never “walks” into the entertainment industry; rather one has to “blast” into it.

Note: With the soaring price of postage, it is advisable to not only have a website, but an online press kit which includes everything in the promotion kits you will mail.

Decide which market(s) to pursue. Find out where other artists similar to you perform. Be realistic in your expectations about which types of venues you are ready to perform in. DO NOT under any circumstances mail off an unsolicited promotion kit. Call or email the booking contact for the prospective venue first. Keep in mind that for the smaller markets (coffeehouses, clubs), presenters receive hundreds of unsolicited kits per week. You also need to call one week after sending your kit. DON’T WAIT FOR A CALLBACK. It’s also important to know that larger presenters (especially festivals, community events, PACs and theatres) often throw away unsolicited promotion kits without ever opening them. (Some even have huge dumpsters outside of their building for these types of kits.) Try to only send solicited promotion kits by making contact with the presenter first so that they know you are sending them one. Otherwise, you will be wasting value time and resources.

In terms of the venues, concentrate on your local region first. Getting bookings that located too far from your base may not be cost-effective. Keep a 4-6 hour driving radius to start. If your base is in the Midwest or western states, the radius will be much larger.

Pertinent Questions: How much should I charge for my performance? The presenter never returns my calls, so where do I go from here? How can I tell if a particular venue presenters the type of music/dance I perform? Should I begin by performing for tips?

Next Blog Topic: The Markets—what they are and how they work

Cheers.
Bear Claw

First Blog Experience

I am honored to have received the FNCI Common Ground grant. I am humbled by the notion that they believe in my work and support my efforts.
My hope is to exceed the expectations of not only myself but those of the FNCI! I have already been able to complete 2 original songs for this project. Both have strong traditional roots but have evolved to very contemporary pieces. We are very excited about them. I can hardly wait to put all of this together...thanks FNCI for making this piece of the dream possible.

Essential Tips and Planning for a Career in the Performing Arts

This is Part 1 of larger synopsis for indigenous self-represented artists interested in the performing arts, and will focus primarily upon acoustic music (although many of the same points apply to dance and theatre).

Perhaps the most important aspect of the business of acoustic music for the self-represented artist is their examination of the business itself, and to determine how much of the artist's perception of the business is fact or fiction. In most cases, the artist's perception of the industry is overly simplistic and naïve. Let's address some of the fundamental issues that an emerging self-represented artist must examine if she/he is contemplating a career in acoustic music in the United States. Because the industry changes and fluctuates constantly, there is no formula or curriculum that can guarantee success. In many cases, success is attained through trial, error, and most importantly…luck.

Perceptions and Expectations of the Business of the Performing Arts
Questions for the forum which everyone should chime in on:
1. How do you imagine the business in really works in general?
2. Can you (or do you wish to) make a living at it?
3. What are the popular myths you've heard?
4. What is a "market"?

Cheers.
Bear Claw

Professional Development Grant

My heartfelt thanks to FNCI and the underwriters of the grant. This grant project was for professional development in the performing arts, and was primarily used for attending professional booking conferences in the Fall of 2007 and this past January 2008.

WAA 2007 (Western Arts Alliance), Los Angeles, CA--on the floor of the exhibit halls

Arts Midwest 2007, Columbus, OH--Exhibit hall; me and colleague at cocktail hour

Pics from Arts Presenters (Jan. 08) and OAPN (Oct. 07) will be posted as soon as they are available. The conference season has just ended for me, and since I was a grant recipient of the FNCI program, I was invited to contribute to the FNCIBlog. This is a wonderful forum for addressing artist, agent, and presenter issues in the performing arts field. Over the years I have mentored many artists and agents on the various markets and reality of the performing arts industry in the U.S. I hope to contribute many postings which address issues and answer questions regarding the business of the performing arts. I will submit an outline of blog topics so that it is linear and easy to follow. It's also helpful to keep the prose as short and concise as possible for ease of reading. I hope these contributions help those of you with burning questions about how the business of the performing arts really works.

Cheers!

Bearclaw

Native Noise

Postcommodity, a contemporary Indigenous artist collective comprised of, Kade L. Twist (Cherokee), Steven J. Yazzie (Navajo/Laguna) and Nathan Young (Pawnee/Delaware/Kiowa), would like to thank the First Nations Composer Initiative, Georgia Wettlin-Larsen and the FNCI staff, the FNCI Advisors, the American Composer Forum and the Ford Foundation for supporting our work in experimental Indigenous forms of music and international, cross-cultural collaborations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists.

Postcommodity (Kade L. Twist, Steven J. Yazzie, Nathan Young)

During a recent residency at the Center for the Future in Slavonice, Czech Republic, Postcommodity had the unique opportunity to collaborate and record with Ivan “Magor” Jirous, one of the most important Czech poets and intellectuals of his generation; a visionary of William Burroughs stature with the dirty realist lens of Charles Bukowski. Magor is, perhaps, best known as the artistic director of the avant-garde, psychedelic rock band the Plastic People of the Universe. Magor transformed the band into living symbols of the Czechoslovakian underground movement (e.g., anti-communist, anti-colonialist, cultural self-determination movement) and in the process united an entire generation against the communist regime, which paved the way for the Velvet Revolution.

Ivan "Magor" Jirous

The Postcommodity recording with Magor is an important document of American Indian and Czech cultural resistance, and transborder, transdisciplinary exploration of common ground.

There are profound similarities between Indian Country in the U.S. and the southern Czech border regions near Austria where Slavonice is located -- land, culture and political wills have been in conflict for hundreds of years. There is a shared postcolonial narrative of social, cultural, political and economic disenfranchisement, which enabled Postcommodity and Magor to establish a profound sense of connection. It is also important to note that Magor, the Plastic People and the Czech underground movement were considerably influenced by American Indian tribal culture, worldview, mythology, philosophies, histories, writings, visual art and music. Magor and the underground movement drew inspiration from the tribal narratives of self-determination, tribal sovereignty and resistance to colonial forces. For Magor, American Indian resistance was a benchmark for Czech resistance. Magor’s desire to collaborate with us, as well as the recording, is testament to this fact. In many ways this collaboration was an opportunity to draw a circle in the earth for Indigenous Americans and Czech people, to engage shared experiences and inspirations and develop new forms of expression in the process.

With the generous support of the FNCI Common Ground grant Postcommodity will produce, digitally remix and master these important recordings and press them on compact disks. The collective will also produce and design the CD packaging, which will include a book insert with Magor’s translated poems (the first time that his poetry will be translated into English and made available internationally), original linocut prints by Steven Yazzie and full liner notes for a limited edition release on Foxy Digitalis here in North America and Torst in Europe. Postcommodity would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Center for the Future, Torst and RADIOS.CZ for their support and logistical assistance with this project.


About Postcommodity

Postcommodity is a contemporary American Indian artist collective comprised of, Kade L. Twist (Cherokee), Steven J. Yazzie (Navajo/Laguna) and Nathan Young (Pawnee/Delaware/Kiowa). Postcommodity’s mission is to promote the creation, development, distribution and exhibition of American Indian art, music, film media, literature and performing arts. The collective composes and records its music (e.g., noise, drone and sound art) for sound installations and multimedia installations that are exhibited in art spaces and museums. The collective also performs noise and sound art live as a band. Postcommodity uses a variety of instrument configurations (tribal, western, found objects and homemade) to create multiple layers of sound, feedback, harmonic chord cycles and group improvisations. The collective’s music is a contemporary tribal form of analog and digitally mediated ritual and spiritual explorations. Postcommodity’s work, whether exhibited in museums or performed on stages, are sonic trickster ceremonies that attempt to rationalize the postmodern American Indian experience, and as such, comprise an important part of the American Indian music tradition.

Greetings To All Past & Current FNCI Grantees

Through this blog site, we invite all current, and/ or past FNCI Common Ground & Community Engagement Grantees to share their experiences, trials and tribulations, and triumphs throughout the length of their grant project activities.
We invite you to share your experiences in order to inform, educate and enlighten other established and/or emerging Indigenous artists as they travel on their career paths. Your shared experiences will serve as a model in assisting them, should they decide to apply at some future time
We invite you serve as on-line mentors and representatives of your respective genre’s and, particularly to our Native Youth.
Through on-line information and discussion, the American Indian musical arts will, we hope, be celebrated and advanced.
We invite all who share these interests to use and to contribute to this interactive blog site.

Warmest regards & Wishes for a Wonderful 2008!