Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada
I’m a bit anal at times… This can get annoying to others… Heck it even gets annoying to me at times, but I derive a certain level of comfort from having things organized and in place. Just the way I’m wired I guess…
I’m off to Winnipeg tomorrow for the 14th annual Circus And Magic Partnership (C.A.M.P.) program and to do shows as part of the Downtown Clown Around Program and the Festival of Fools at the Forks. So… Fly to Winnipeg, spend a little over a week in town and be a part of three different gigs – sort of. All three gigs are set up by the same guy, but service three different clients, so it’s like having an agent in your back pocket working on your behalf which is awesome!
Some gigs allow for this sort of freedom… Perform during the day at one venue, dash across town in the evening to perform at another. If you can find these opportunities, you can effectively double your income with multiple bookings in the same location. This technique is often used with booking school shows. I know many performers who have come out to Vancouver for Artscan and have ended up booking tours where they do two or three school shows a day and jam as many as possible into the space of a week or two. This is awesome because when an artist flies in to do a school show tour they get as many shows in as possible in a fairly short period of time, what’s even better, Art Starts in Schools helps set these tours up much like the giggage that’s been set up for me in Winnipeg over the course of the coming week.
Some gigs do have a very specific exclusivity clause in them though.
“Performer agrees not to perform for a competing event with in a two hundred kilometre radius for a period of two weeks on either side of the date of the booking”
Or something to that effect.
The purpose of exclusivity clauses like these is to ensure that a particular event gets to keep you all to themselves. This can be a good thing for the event if you’ve got a particular draw for a specific demographic…
Anyway… I sort of strayed from my original thought and the title of this post – ‘checklists.’
I’m a big fan of having either a written or mental check list that I go over as I’m packing up for a gig and this time around is no exception… I’ve got several things sitting on my desk at the moment that I need to take with me as they’re either gifts for friends I’ll be working with in Winnipeg or for friends I’m looking forward to hooking up with who happen to live in Winnipeg. Other things on my check-list (and I had this on my list for my recent trip to Yellowknife as well) check the weather in Winnipeg to see what the appropriate winter clothing is going to be… (Apparently I’ve got a spread of -14˚C to + 14˚C to look forward to on this up coming trip based on a quick check of the weather in Winnipeg).
It’s always better to arrive reasonably on top of things which is why I’m a big fan of the check list as I’m packing. Arriving prepared is best, but unless you’re in the middle of nowhere and need something incredibly specific chances are you’ll be able to pick up anything left behind at your destination. Arrive ready to go when possible, but don’t sweat the small stuff if you forget something like your toothpaste… They have toothpaste in Winnipeg too…
