Feet on the ground, eyes in cyberspace

A report for The Business of Dance about the seminar –

Distribution for Dance Works: Getting your work seen

The Clore Studio, Royal Opera House, 28 May 2013 by Anne Engel

INTRODUCTION Kate Scanlan

FROM THE PANEL OF EXPERTS

1. From the community to the mainstream Kendrick ‘H20’ Sandy and Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante

2. New forms of distribution Joe Bates

3. A new approach - from a major booker Tamsin Ace

4. Making work across disciplines, across media and in new venues Adrienne Hart

5. Discussion – summary of key points Led by Kate Scanlan

SUMMARY OF THE DISCUSSION

o MOVING INTO THE INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION o THE DIGITAL PANORAMA - REAL OPPORTUNITY (and a few issues) o MARKETING UPDATED o NEW WAYS OF ATTRACTING AUDIENCES AND MONEY

FEET ON THE GROUND, EYES IN CYBERSPACE A checklist of ideas and tips

Introduction

A group of around 40 dance professionals and students trudge up the many flights to the Clore Studio on Tuesday 28 May. We meet in the large, light space. It strikes several of us that we have three front-of-house staff looking after us: here we are, in the venue that probably has the best and biggest infrastructure (of which it is generously lending us a slice) in the world. And we are talking about how to get emerging contemporary dance seen by more people in more places, in difficult times.

The thoughtful presentations of the five panellists address the wide concerns of a contemporary dance audience. The audience, in turn, come up with their own inspiring and hot-off-the-press tips. Below is a summary of personal and whole company experiences that make up a useful fund of ideas.

Kate Scanlan in the chair, introduced the speakers: she points to the huge increase in festivals, the explosion of Youtube and Vimeo images and ever more commercial work. Set against this growth, touring for small scale contemporary dance is shrinking, in numbers of dates and in fees. The new perception, accepted by the Arts Council, is of ‘distribution’ which can consist of two or more venues or ‘moments’, be they very small or massive.

1. From the community to the mainstream Kendrick ‘H20’ Sandy and Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante

We started in 2001 in the youth sector (with Boy Blue Entertainment), performing in parks, working at Stratford Theatre Royal, Stratford Circus and the Town Hall. We weren’t even looking for audiences, we were showing off. Then we did Hackney Empire nights.

“We developed 5 minute sets, 3 minute sets” – our reputation in East London grew, mainly because of the shows at the Theatre Royal. With the ‘Book of Koraka’ in 2005, we really got the love from the audience. Then in 2006, came ‘Pied Piper’ with Ultz at the Theatre Royal. Families came to see us and people from the contemporary dance world came too.

The Breaking Convention, as a hip hop platform, grew out of what was just a competition at Fairfield Halls in South London, not an artistic platform. Then the audience changed, the Breaking convention mixed it, gave street dance a platform, grew a profile for new companies.

Our first UK tour in 2009 started at the Barbican and followed with six London venues, then Birmingham, Sheffield, Exeter, Newcastle, Cardiff. We’d had no vision, previously, of tours. Mikey took the managerial role, Kendrick wanted to do the shows. The energy of Kendrick, his attitude, and the responsiveness of Newham and the area made us very popular locally. But at first we had no thought of going anywhere else. Then we began to see opportunities. With the 2009 show at Barbican, we just thought of it as another stage, the major thing was the work, not a specific mindset, just ‘do a good job, get people to see it, anyone can’. We made the budget work.

“We match up the offer to what the booker has available. we make sure the work can fit into any space”

Then we went to HongKong in 2012, with our two man show Touch. We see Boy Blue as an opportunity for young people to grow and learn, we give them a live situation. We’ve avoided being in one bubble, we do corporate gigs, festivals, I recommend just getting more gigs but don’t restrict yourself to one particular area. Things outside can help, like Kylie Minogue’s choreographer bringing contemporary into the commercial area. It’s important for dance to be appreciated across the board.

‘Touring’ is just semantics; the artists we work with do ‘tours’ by going to different clubs and putting the list on a poster. We do schools tours; it’s how you put it there out to make people understand. Where there’s a space there’s an opportunity. There’s a certain level of realism, sometimes it’s the technical specification that takes us to an artistic place rather than ‘I must have this or that facility’.

The Arts Council invited us and asked why we hadn’t come to talk to them about Pied Piper. In fact, we had just put a bid in – we had never relied on ACE, never thought of them, didn’t know about them.

We think about the kind of people who appreciate expression, emotion, that’s not limited to people with an artistic eye. Someone who does not have anything to do with art can be inspired. Sometimes those areas we go to don’t have the privilege of seeing movement, they don’t show any love, because where they live at 7 p.m. everything is closed.

“We try to give people an experience, so there’s a legacy. It’s like the ‘experiences’ that are sold by companies...”

At the Barbican, 70% of our audience was new. You have to sell, you have to get them to buy tickets. The ages were totally varied, I’m glad we managed to touch so many. Give them a great show, they will come back again: ‘You know what, those performers are good, those people are strong’. If you give them good work, they will come back. We were a 50 strong company then, so mums and dads, cousins, they buy tickets.

Boy Blue started with 30 kids in each venue and with a set, which was very expensive.

“Two people on the road, that would be great! “

It’s an interesting time, with the necessity for ever more innovative work and greater consciousness of who you want to reach.

2. New forms of distribution Joe Bates

Amongst other things, I run an arts services company, Morton Bates, with Claire Morton. We work with independent choreographers, with middle scale touring companies, we do large events. It’s very tailor made to clients, with partnership-building, negotiating contracts, logistics, anything really.

Also, we do tour booking, but no longer for small-scale contemporary dance, that’s now too difficult, too labour intensive, too costly. Five or six years ago, it needed roughly one day of our time for a gig, now it needs five or six days. There’s been a shift to fewer dates. We provide a wider package and it’s hard to take on new clients. They might just do a distinct piece to get their name out there with us. Profile-building is important. We make very strong relationships with 2-3 partners. We work with partners who are clear about their own work. It’s part of a package, when we have a relationship with an artist or a company. The ‘Get a date, do it, leave’ approach – that’s over. There are different ways of distribution, often outside theatres.

“It involves taking dance to audiences: libraries, museums, bringing children into museums, shopfronts, digital installations, large-scale participation projects, children’s work, the residency model with a community for two weeks, say. “

With Tim Casson, online, for instance, he was getting members of public to choreograph, then performing those pieces in each location and putting the work online.

These are the issues I see now: Fees are down – the fees now are lower now for an established company than the fees for postgraduate performers 10 years ago. Bookers know you have to get dates to get Arts Council funding. Dance doesn’t sell as well, it is cut first, many venues programme one dance show per season and there are more companies around. Often people do free events or festivals. How do you make money? Do people expect art to be free? How do we continue to make money?

Venues promote dance less, middle-scale companies are moving into smaller venues, say 100-200 seaters. Where does that leave small-scale companies? Venues have less money, they have to prove viability to their boards. It’s hard to give smaller companies all the support they need, when large companies have their own marketing people working alongside. In a smaller company, you would be in the studio all day, or teaching. Communication with venues is hard, they all have different booking cycles, some might be confirming gigs for this July, others are already booked to summer 2014. For instance, Laila Diallo, right now, is touring to seven venues, she’s significantly subsidised, with very strong partners, the Royal Opera House, the ICIA - she could not do it without that level of support. It took three people to get that together.

With Yael Flexer, we had to slash the budget in terms of what could be expected from venues. It’s quite concerning how quickly this has happened, despite it being her 20th anniversary tour.

“The life-cycle of projects is now about 3 years (that’s a lot longer) to get momentum”

A tour of six to eight dates is excellent, people don’t realise the costs: six dates cost £20- 30,000, the costs only ever go up. Add a dancer, and it’s an extra £10,000. Diversify your income, earn money in various ways, that’s a good way of looking at a business. Know your product and sell it.

3. A new approach - from a major booker Tamsin Ace

I’m the big bad venue. Programming has shifted a lot over the last 5 years. Julia Carruthers programmed dance very successfully at the South Bank Centre. What does dance at the South Bank Centre mean now? Jude Kelly is cooking away her vision.

The South Bank was built in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain, to imagine what a future might look like, with a year-long festival, and, mid-way through the year, the government changed and half the site got bulldozed. You were meant to know you were part of a cultural environment, to be inspired. Jude Kelly wants to return it to a Festival site – it has 21 acres, lots of indoor and outdoor space. So there has been a shift to a festival way of thinking, both as one-offs and annual events. The idea is that the minute you step over the boundary, into the space, you feel everything is there for a reason. Now there are Art Form Heads and Programmers, who come together for each event. There are political and social agendas, free programmes to consider, not too many things are programmed in isolation. It amounts to around 1000 events a year.

We need to ensure the work makes sense, that’s a subtle shift. When Wendy Martin was appointed as Head of Performance and Dance, the aim was to present work in a different way, as part of all the annual Festivals (Imagine, Wow, Alchemy, Chorus, London Literature, Summer etc). Now with the 2013 Festival of Neighbourhood, a story weaves through the whole programme, there are allotments along the river, graffiti... it runs May to September, and then there’s a Winter Festival.

We are always looking for a context and a reason, when we meet artists, matching and balancing work. Wendy had been used to being given dates and going out to find work, to find ‘the best’... When she gave in to this new way of programming, she found it liberating, there’s more of a story, more layers (like Claire Cunningham and Menage a Trois for WOW). It helps us bring marketing together, to get a buzz going. We layer the experience for the audience, with many ways for them to interact. Zoo Nation now works with the South Bank Centre, it makes sense, it doesn’t step on Sadlers Wells’ toes, that worried people before, it just gives youth dance bigger exposure in London.

We have so many spaces, you can perform anywhere, it’s a great place to showcase, it brings in new audiences, it gets it known as a place where you can just turn up and see something free (and then buy a ticket). Of course we also programme work we just think is great. Help us to sell your show, think about the venue, what can you bring to it.

“Companies need to be aware of the context in which they are performing when they offer work”

We work with Dance Touring Partnership, whose work has many entry points and cross-art collaborations. We want to breakdown idea of competition in London, the ‘Only perform with us’ mentality. There’s a big portfolio of work and contacts to be found a context.

We have not got a huge commissioning budget – we have a public duty to make sure there is a lot of free programming. Commercial programmes makes the money, we try to balance it out, family shows and eight or nine comedy shows per annum can bring in a surplus that can subsidise the rest.

“We offer seed money for ‘Works in progress’ so others can pick up the work”

We have Festival artists in residence. We get artists to do lots of different things. We are growing our circus and cabaret programme, Udderbelly, commissions that make money, build links with Live Art.

We have six participation programmes, to help create work that is woven into festivals

And then, more incidentally, look at what’s on-site, it’s an urban site, there are hundreds of dancers who rehearse there every day, for free, running their own classes from The Cloakroom, we’re very happy about that. We programme Zoo Nation and street dancers to build on those already coming to use our site. It’s a unique, different, stand-alone focus, not like other dance houses in London. 4. Making work across disciplines, across media and in new venues Adrienne Hart

I choreograph small-scale work. I create work for stage and screen, it’s quite new, almost 10 years now. I wanted to learn through observing people in other disciplines, I worked as a publicist in the music business, as the scene was falling apart, I merged classical and other forms, for a range of audiences, making it unusual and exciting.

“The digital revolution makes ‘live’ even more powerful, but how do you get the audience to that live event? Use both digital and physical means”

In 2010 when I commissioned Peter Broderick for ‘Music for Falling from Trees’, we met only after the premiere, we collaborated online for the Revolution festival at The Place, where there are now more urban dancers. We were approached to record and released the soundtrack, with the images as part of work, this was mentioned and it appealed to a wider audience than those who just liked the music. There is also funding that relates to digital platforms.

“Where to present work? Well, at the Edinburgh Fringe, every young choreographer should, you really learn how to sell your work”

You come out with good reviews and have a clear sense of who your audience is.

We sold our show to Glastonbury for £2,000, which is quite good, ‘It’s something different for your Festival, it’s worth this much…’ That enabled me to present work in theatres and expand beyond.

In 2006, I was living in Oxford, I always enjoyed cross-collaboration. Once or twice a week, I went to a club to hear a band, it was packed, there was great energy. So I commissioned local musicians to create a score and wondered how to get club audience into a venue. There’s a stigma attached to some venues that stops people...

So I was bold and went to Modern Art Oxford, to the Director, Andrew Nairne, I was very clear about what I could offer, I made it achievable. The Museum had gaps between shows, he gave me the space, £200 and ticket sales, we got some money from Oxford City Council, made it the same price as a local gig venue and sold out.

“As artists, you need to be savvy about what is a venue, digital or physical, to present your work.”

My last point: this year we’ve gone beyond the UK; the assumption is that you start small and do your time and then earn your ticket to the big time. There are other structures to help you get beyond your locality.

I decided I wanted to show my work in Berlin, I did my research and looked at organisation there: Dock 11, has Eden, a sister venue, a beautiful theatre, they run classes, for professionals and the community; I went to teach for three weeks and then did a residency in the Eden space and invited music programmers to see the work, because of my previous collaboration. Now I’m premiere-ing a duet called ‘The Intention’ for 2 nights in December in Berlin. You can do it beyond the UK.

“You can do it beyond the UK”

Did anyone ever have a manager that did all their tour bookings, I have someone working for me one day a week, but we partner with other dance companies, or musicians or film- makers. There are places that are well curated or endorsed by a particular artist, like at Rich Mix, who offer 80% of the box office to artists.

“We need to do the work and be clear who we are as a brand and what we’re offering audiences”

5. Summary of the discussion Introduced by Kate Scanlan

We’ve had a series of interesting models and ideas, always driven by creating great work. All the artists tonight have talked about a broad audience, cross art collaboration, how you have to sell your show, all have talked about community. Plus the length of time it takes to book a tour: Jonzy D, for instance, has 19 dates, but it’s a very small piece, a one-man show, it’s low cost.

Avant Garde have a twelve-day tour; the best way is to offer more than just a show and to think of how you enrich the show. Breaking Convention now tours and does lots of other things besides performance.

The Festival model is really interesting,

“We should not expect to work for free and we should avoid creating ‘culture-for-free- ness’.”

One experience I had involved performing as part of a community event that ran over two days, where everything else was free except them; then they wondered why no one was booking tickets for the show.

From the South Bank Centre, doing your research was mentioned.

“Are you ready for the venues you want?”

Where do you do you fit, what is your Unique Selling Point, who is the community you are bringing with you or that you want to develop? We all need to think differently in an entrepreneurial way.

I met an economist on the Clore Leadership Programme, who talked about how we are going into recession, ‘How do you flourish and think, when you have limitations? Start thinking creatively! How are you going to you find ways around it?’

Breaking Convention taught us never to assume anything. If you are working commercially, with young people, where are you going to take your audience next? If you haven’t thought this through you might be losing audiences, and investors. The dance sector is a hive of creative ideas, but it is the poorer sector.

Creative thinking: as soon as you frown, you disengage your creative brain, smile and think good thoughts, turn your frown upside down. It’s a huge amount of work to do all this, there’s no time for a life, but you still need to find time for some things, like a morning class, for instance, to feed the creative self. Contributions from the panel and the audience

MOVING INTO THE INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION The British Council in individual countries may fund specific work, like Candoco who received money from them. Sometimes it’s easier to rely on funding in the host country. There are European-funded dance projects like DanSCe Dialogues*. Aerowaves*, led by John Ashford, is doing lots of work across Europe, as is Dance Umbrella* at Central St Martins. Be aware of other companies at same level as you and link up with your region’s Arts Council. Never make assumptions about different countries – they are all different - Gerogia and Armenia,for instance, are completely different, although neighbours. Internationally, there are various networks of people who control who does what. Fees are often paid to networks. Are you connected to your dance agency? The Director of a dance agency has programming responsibility and is always looking for hot new things. Dance Agencies have a remit to talk to local artists Check twitter and Facebook for connections, find helpful individuals – Assis Carreiro is an example, she’s now at the Royal Ballet of Flanders, she’s always on, on twitter, on Facebook, she always responds. In the US there is more British and Russian dance watched because of live cinema screenings, more people watch them than watch North American companies

THE DIGITAL PANORAMA - REAL OPPORTUNITY (and a few issues) Are film and digital work a marketing tool or can they be commercially viable? (Dorcas Walters) Local cinemas streaming live means more people are watching dance. Why are we not defining a parallel relationship? We heard about work with with new live streaming equipment (Andre Portasio). When you talk to promoters or producers, how do you prove you have an audience? You need to be able to say ‘I have x twitter followers’ I can bring to your venue… After nine months’ work to present contemporary dance through Art Stream TV, it now includes conferences, talks, pre-performance talks. It comes from the necessity to create a platform, when touring is so difficult and internal. A live streaming channel can present quality and it doesn’t cost £24,000 for six shows. It also lets people to watch at home and chill with a beer As a choreographer, working on a production, with recorded material, I worry that it’s not good quality. If it’s compromised because of cost, it might be better to market with really good photography; 30-seconds of poorly streamed material can let you down. (Fleur Mellor). Staged versions have lighting and effects; a camera is not as good as your eye, so you lose something. You need the right material to record. It works for conferences or backstage. To stream dance you need to work with a choreographer, to give the structure relevance. You need things that are easy to produce for You Tube, which is watched for 2 minutes on average. The difference between live work and a digital platform is the 2D screen. They need to be sold as two different entities. They’re catering to different audiences. With film and live streaming you can go for venues, like cafes, or events and get places buzzing, and conversations going… Find venues with a big screen. However, two minute videos and DVDs are no longer interesting, everything has to be linked, so they’re not too time consuming, market yourself with an easy link: for the booker “Watch it, like it, don’t like it, then it’s done”. It has to be something that makes you want to watch the whole thing live, like the trailer of a film. It gets your product out there, to people you’ve never reached before. Programmers want to see something that makes you want to see more, that’s high quality. Howdo we get new audiences to the new channels if they’re not searching for them? We’re mostly just circulating within our little group (Jane Coulston)? Use a digital advertising agency, like you would use a PR company, a digital agency gets traffic to your website. Inside Dance TV* promoted the contemporary dance world. As well as marketing or telling the story, show people. Twitter is about the personality. Decide when it’s the time to make relationships, it’s not just a hard sell, know your brand, your work and get people to understand. Now there might be three shows a promoter wants to see at the same event and live streaming can enable that to happen. Two Breaking Conventions were streamed live, (on the Arts Council’s SPACE), it brings up issues around branding. The second Hackney Live, through Hackney Borough Council, delivered dance, music and visual art, with a live event at Hackney Empire. It got 150,000 people at live sites and worked locally. What audience was it? Breaking Convention knew the audience, and developed it; that needed legwork. Pay-to-view is big. How do we capitalise on it, monetise it…no one in dance hereknows how to do it yet. New financing methods will allow payment online (the current example of ‘text me £1’ is already in use). Asia already has Pay-to-View hiphop. Ballet Rambert has a pay- by- text fundraising system. It is possible to process tickets, but as live streaming is so new, people still expect it for free. US sites enable pay-per-view. Youtube has paid content. A FEW ISSUES A warning story comes from a performer about the lack of control on how material is disclosed online: a story shared in the studio, assuming it would go no further, with around 300 people watching, went online, with no consultation and was potentially seen by thousands.

With live streaming, is the choreographer consulted about whether material stays online? It’s the choreographer’s responsibility to look after dancers, and their privacy etc Put nothing personal on Facebook, always ask your performers first, it’s very difficult to exercise choice and control of material online. Music royalties, photographic consent are key for online work If it’s a disaster, work out why and have honest conversations, build critical relationships, people will see your work progress, don’t run away and hide. Ask for feedback – it makes people feel responsible. MARKETING UPDATED Always apply for commissions, for everything, make sure your name is out there, it’s part of marketing.

Always invite all programmers to your work. Make sure your work is ready if you invite promoters. But, if it’s a disaster, work out why and have honest conversations, build critical relationships, people will see your work progress, don’t run away and hide. Ask for feedback – it makes people feel responsible.

People don’t want the hard sell, they talk to each other, make sure you ask them the questions, find out what they want

If you want to manipulate the audience, you need to think about them. “How would I feel, as an audience member?”

Heather Maitland – researching for Dance Touring Partnerships – wrote about dance audiences being the most diverse, going to see far more art forms, considering themselves dance audience, but might only go to dance once a year, and on average travel at most 20 minutes to see a show.*

NEW WAYS OF ATTRACTING AUDIENCES AND MONEY Pay-to-view is big. How do we capitalise on it, monetise it…no one in dance hereknows how to do it yet. New financing methods will allow payment online (the current example of ‘text me £1’ is already in use). Asia already has Pay-to-View hiphop. Ballet Rambert has a pay- by- text fundraising system. It is possible to process tickets, but as live streaming is so new, people still expect it for free. US sites enable pay-per-view. Youtube has paid content.

Crowdfunding has had some good results The short film ‘COPTER’ was marketed to geeks, to people interested in film, it touched dance people accidentally, then raised $1500, produced more film and gave it back with exclusive content. I’m a big believer in film, we can make it work.

With film, the piece not aimed at an audience may have more viewers. The Universal Onlooker is a presence. You either make work for a trend, or work that you believe in.

Independent Dance presents dance in a visual art context, in galleries, commissioning dancers to be there in that setting. A commission from Oval House gave the artist has 3 week run of shows, which is unheard of for dance, with reviewers who then have 3 weeks to review and get an audience in, word of mouth can spread. (Iris Chan)

Working out of doors is also a huge market, with higher fees, and opportunities to tour internationally. Maresa von Stockert, with Tilted, worked in Cromer for a month, local shops saw it happen, they cooperated with it. Working in a location creates local celebrities, marketing occurs via the cast.

There was a pay-off for open space: free work at the South Bank Centre when the cafes and bars showed that the audience for free shows brings in money for drinks and food, and we get some of that money ploughed back (Tamsin Ace)

Pop-up culture like Box Park in Shoreditch loves dance stuff, food traders can get extended time for selling. But the companies and dancers have to have a real interest in doing work in unusual places

“Dear Lido” raised £45,000 for a UK tour to lidos, it’s being done again, as well as at South Bank Centre. It’s rolling and keeping going, with new work for regional venues and a European tour next year. “Dear Lido” received sponsorship from Waitrose and Teapigs, as ‘association marketing’. It was voted one of top 10 things to do (Time Out/Vogue etc) and so dance can be part of something aspirational. (Rose Whitney Fish)

Kate Scanlan in closing added a few notices: o Become a member of DANCE UK o Got to Greenwich and Docklands International Festival 21-29 June 2013 o Get to East End Festival 25 June-10 July - free screening 6 July o See Boy Blue Entertainment: The Five & the Prophecy of Prana - 22 Oct - 2 Nov 2013 FEET ON THE GROUND, EYES IN CYBERSPACE A checklist of ideas and tips that came out of the meeting, both from our expert panel and an audience full of innovative suggestions.

THINK BROAD o Fit into a cultural environment (like South Bank Centre, with themes) not just a performance space o Make sure you can do lots of things besides performing o Get out there and see a broad range of arts work, find out where you fit in, find allies, collaborators o Check out new marketing – look at Media Junction website’s 10 marketing ideas (for the music business but with lots of potential to adapt to dance) http://www.mediajunction.co.uk/upload/Digital/pdf_files/TEN_MARKETING_IDEAS2.p df

THINK SHORT o There’s a new Arts Council perception of what touring is: two or more venues/moments can constitute a tour o Shift to fewer dates – distribution rather than tour o Where 5-6 years ago, it needed roughly 1 day’s work to get a gig, now it needs 5-6 days

THINK SMALL o we make sure the work can fit into any space o develop short( 5/3 minute) sets along with full-length work o Where 5-6 years ago, it needed roughly 1 day’s work to get a gig, now it needs 5-6 days.

THINK LONG o ‘Get a date, do it, leave’ approach – that’s over – plan and offer a whole package o The life-cycle of a project is now about three years o Residency model with a community for two weeks, then project/performance follows

THINK WHERE? o Outside and in o Fit your work to the ‘story’ of the place o huge increase in festivals, many interested in dance, many more have the potential to be o pop-up culture and dance are made for each other, get support from the commercial partners who will sell to your audience o Where there’s a space there’s an opportunity o Dance is working in libraries, museums, shopfronts, swimming pools, sports centres, parks o Don’t forget the Edinburgh Fringe, huge for marketing o Dance Umbrella Outdoors began in 2007 with free events in unusual spaces (watched by 32,000 people) o If you work in a theatre context, there is a run for a show (2-3 weeks for fringe) which is unheard of for dance, and reviewers then have time to review and get audience in, word of mouth can spread

THINK ONLINE o Forget dvds, videos, market yourself with an easy link: for bookers and programmers, the rule now is ‘ Watch it, like it, don’t like it – done’ fast, with no object to stack or get rid of o A live streaming channel can present quality –it doesn’t cost £24,000 for 6 shows - people can watch at home o 30-seconds of poorly streamed material can let you down – get guidance, work with the choreographer to select simple material – You Tube average is 2 minutes o Live streaming has brought thousands to cinemas to watch Big Name dance and opera. We need to find ways of streaming contemporary work in the right places (cafes/galleries etc) o The big question: are film and digital work a marketing tool for you or can they be commercially viable? o There are digital, as well as physical means to get audiences to a live event. Explore digital adv ertising agencies o Keep track of your Twitter and Facebook followers, bring them to your live venues, tell bookers

THINK MIXED o Avoid being in one bubble o A wider package o Get inside other arts disciplines, borrow o Is there cross-arts collaboration that is right for you? With its wider appeal. o ‘Experiences’ that are sold by companies... o libraries, museums, , shopfronts, , large-scale participation projects, childrens work, o The digital revolution makes ‘live’ even more powerful o Think of a ‘layered’ experience for the audience

THINK INTERNATIONAL o There are structures and funds that can help you reach beyond your locality o Check the cities where UK work is welcome: Berlin o Programmers go abroad to see work; there are big events worldwide where they can take in a lot of shows o Don’t make assumptions about ‘abroad’ – each country is very different, even neighbouring ones o The British Council in individual countries is always worth a try (Candoco who received money from them.

THINK B Y O o Bring Your Own Audience with you

THINK MONEY o Fees are down o 6 tour dates cost £20-30,000 (always going up) - add a dancer, and it’s an extra £10,000. o Find ways to diversify your income, be businesslike o YouTube is starting paid channels – will somebody start a performance/dance channel? o There is funding for digital platforms o How are we going to monetise online content? Pay? o Artists and companies do events and festivals for free (BIG ISSUE) o use free space (like SBC Dancers’ cloakroom) to save money and network

THINK PREPARATION o Are you ready for the venues or places you want to be in? Research o Ask the questions of the venue/booker: ’What are you looking for?’ ‘How do you work?’ o Find out how you can help the venue/event sell your work o Know your audience and why they come to see your work o Always invite all programmers to your work. They will promote it if they like you

THINK WHO? o Who can I partner with? o Who can I share a gig/tour with (and the work to book it)? Beyond dance? o Who is my work for? Where are they? How can I best reach them?

REALITY CHECK Traditional venues: many venues programme one dance show per season and there are more companies around middle-scale companies are moving into the smaller venues fees are down dance is the first to be cut wrote about dance audiences might only go to dance less than once a year* dance audiences travel at most 30 minutes to see a show* most dance attenders aren’t interested in dance per se* are audiences loyal to venues rather than companies? “feelings of intimidation” are what stops people buying tickets most* BUT dance audiences are the most diverse* dance audiences go to see far more art forms* if you show work that’s a disaster, engage with the programmers, get feedback, don’t hide

* Dance Touring Partnership 2007 OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH INTO CONTEMPORARY DANCE by Heather Maitland

LINKS http://www.dancetouringpartnership.co.uk http://www.aerowaves.org/ NB applications open 1 June 2013 Dance Platforms information for events abroad, good to start action research www.Danscedialogues2.eu for Franco-British opportunities for research, collaboration and exchange http://www.danceumbrella.co.uk/ thedancewemade.co.uk/‎ Tim Casson online http://www.idmn.co.uk/‎ Dance Management Toolkit training 19 June 2013 IDMN | Independent Dance Management Network http://www.independentdance.co.uk/ ‘Crossing Borders’ talks on moving through different disciplines, science, dance econolgy (next Oct-Dec 2013) https://www.facebook.com/InsideDanceTV http://www.jardindeurope.eu in particular check Wild Cards (foster transnational circulation of artistic development and the further education through residencies, choreographic research offered to emerging choreographers and professional dancers). Application eligibility, procedure and deadline therefore differ from slot to slot! http://www.tamasolajos.com/?portfolio=copter – ‘Copter’, vimeo footage www.tilted.org.uk

www.artsstreamingtv.com (website being developed)