My name is Richard Erno, and I am trying to unify the standard of street performance permits around the world. Most permits either allow only for local performers, or have a deadline for application stopping even the most professional touring performer from local pitches. This infringes on first amendment rights and also against the charter of rights and freedoms.
Im proposing a North American permit regulation that costs 40 dollars for the id card and each pitch will be strictly “draw and cue” — meaning the performers meet in the morning and draw numbers to see the order of performance. The government has no right to make the permits 150-500 dollars this is just another example of a government trying to make the little guys their cash cow.
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THE PERMIT
With this permit, performers would have the ability and the right to perform wherever they wanted (with common sense). Each busker would know and enforce their rights to perform in any zone, without having to pay over and over. This would allow buskers from Europe and Asia to be able to busk at local pitches in Canada and the United States and not have to go broke doing it.
The benefits are clear: you would have unique, international acts on the pitches, which would invite tourists, and interest the locals, as the pitches would have a more diverse crowd, instead of the same buskers always in the same spot.
SUPERVISION
Local delegate(s) (also professional buskers) would help provide information about the rules and regulations to buskers on their pitches, and to work directly with city officials, police, bylaw and parks and rec’s.
In the case of dangerous acts, they would have to provide insurance (www.clownsoftheus.com, for example) to show they are safe and that the responsibility falls upon the performer, not the city — this is the reason why currently some cities forbid these acts; they are afraid of lawsuits.
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SPECIFICS
There are three types of buskers: walk by acts, small circle acts and big circle acts. It is the city’s responsibility to make buskers aware of what areas are available to each category. A walk by act is defined as an art that people can enjoy without having to watch an entire show (i.e., musicians). A small circle act is an act that creates a show requiring a small amount of space and or a small amount of performers (a one man band, a partner circus show, a mime). A large circle show is a group of performers or a show that requires lots of space (chainsaw acts or trapeze shows, for example).
DRAW AND CUE:
Each performer who wishes to perform should meet at the pitch desired at a certain time to put their name in a hat. When your name is drawn you get to pick your time slot, until all the numbers have been drawn. If there are remaining slots, the last person gets to draw again, then the second to last, and so on, until it gets back to the first again.
This system has two major benefits:
• The cities would not have to pay bylaw people to enforce rules and regulations
• International street acts could access local venues
RESULT:
Open systems like this would help in creating an epic, local, cultural mosaic of entertainment worth logging off the internet for. This would also boost the local artisan market and allow top talent to be recognised and recruited by larger events and organisations.
Its a win win situation.
thanks
Richard Erno
http://people.tribe.net/firephoenix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoDAM-G270I