A single page edited highlights of the ideas and
advice on the walls on the 23rd May 2014 Shift and
Share Gathering at Tobacco Factory Bristol
Venues please note what it is artists most need:
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Time to talk honestly and openly about programming decisions and what venues want or expect –
and definitive answers
More collaboration with marketing and engagement
More than single night bookings – a cohesive programme of work
Honest feedback afterwards
Networks of venues communicating and collaborating to create more coherent touring,
marketing and audience development
Artists on venue boards
Key questions artists want to ask venues:
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How do you like to be approached by a company and how do you make decisions on programming?
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our current and new audience want?
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What are the struggles for getting an audience for dance and how can companies help most? Are
there 2 or 3 things you can suggest we provide/offer?
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Do you programme work that will get ‘bums on seats’ over more risky or younger emerging
company work?
Artists please note what it is venues most need:
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Clear, engaging, accessible copy – avoid jargon, technical or “industry” terms, pretentiousness,
academia, patronising language
Strong lead marketing image – imagine it on a poster on a telegraph pole in a village – why will
local people be compelled to attend by seeing it??
dynamic, clean, bold – help you imagine the movement – vibrant, colour, intrigue – but must have
a sense of movement!! – need to demand attention in a busy brochure – needs to “shout dance”
Staged not production/rehearsal images please
Must be high res at least 300dpi
Both the copy and image must accurately explain the following:
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Why is this work important? What do you want to say? Why is your work unique?.... and how will
you communicate this to your audience? – What are key hooks for ordinary audiences?
What it is actually going to be and look like! What will it feel and sound like?
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Outreach work to accompany the performance
Simple story well told or identifiable narrative structure/journey/progression
Contrasting dynamics – beware repetition, taking too long over the same motif etc
Dramatic choreography
Golden tips for dance makers from venues
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Offer chances to preview your work – ways of people getting a real feel for what they will
book/see in advance – live ideally but also on film and in progress as well as complete
Clarity re who it is for and how a non dance audience might engage – and ensure this is
communicated unambiguously in all marketing materials – from the beginning
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Show your work in the right context for it...
...Or create work that isn’t precious about where it is performed or who it is performed to
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Think how you want the audience to feel when they see your work and a week after ... and how
will you achieve that
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Be aware floor work won’t be seen from two rows back in some venues
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Cut your coat according to your cloth – don’t make shows that are more expensive than what
could possibly be earned on box office
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Be adaptable/scaleable with technical requirements – to open out options for booking the work in
as many different places as possible
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Create as much strong – short, snappy engaging, rich digital background material for social media
campaigns as you can – vox pops, trailers, rehearsal images, blogs, etc etc, etc
Check out Ballet Boyz on Instagram
Check out Earthfall and Candoco marketing packs
Check out Stop Gap for web insights to their dancers