Talent Buyers: Simplify Your Performance Scouting
Jim Schwartzkopff
Arts Management, Event and Venue Management, Special Projects, Technical Theatre
If you’re in a position to book talent--say, for a concert cultural series, or a summer festival or special event--you’re probably inundated with emails and social media posts from groups and individuals that want to perform.
These days, the electronic press kit is king: everyone sends you videos, photos, audio samples, links to their websites. They hope you’ll invest your precious time in watching them for more than 15 seconds at a pop.
It takes time to wade through all that electronic data. Afterwards, when you look up from your screen, two things are true:
* You’ve still only seen the material from groups that contacted you, and
* You’ve just spent a bunch more time sitting at your computer.
The Colorado Performing Arts Jamboree, Fri., Jan. 20, at Jefferson County Fairgrounds, offers a different approach.
It’s a one-day, five-hour trade show featuring Colorado-based artists in all genres— jazz, blues, rock, folk, theatre, dance, ethnic traditions, and children’s entertainment.
In just a few hours at the Jamboree you can browse over 100 acts and talk face-to-face with the artists who interest you, without being tied to a particular agent’s rosters or fees. Admission is still just $27 per person or $65 for three from the same agency, and your copy of the 2017 Guide to Colorado Performers is included.
You can get away from your desk, purchase lunch, network with colleagues, and discover some new acts and fresh angles you hadn’t even thought about.
And you can still get back to your computer before the end of the day, with a big load off your mind and time to spare for cat videos.