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| Booking
and Organising a Banner Performance |
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Who Books Banner? |
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Our aim at Banner is to perform largely to community audiences and each year we do about 60 performances, touring throughout England and Wales, mainly in community centres, social centres, clubs, schools, but also in some arts centres and, very occasionally, theatres. Banner's roots lie with the trade union and labour movement and we are booked regularly by trade unions and trades union councils. We are also booked by community groups, racial equality councils, local authorities, schools and colleges, conferences, campaigning organisations and arts venues and festivals. Recently, as a result of touring with productions about asylum seekers, refugees and migration, we have been booked by a range of community, cultural and educational organisations for events like Refugee Week (held annually in mid-June) and Black History Month (held annually in October). Recent Banner bookers include arts venues, campaign groups, community centres, community organisations, conferences, local authorities, racial equality councils, schools, trade unions and trade union councils. Ideally, we like to receive a fee from the individual or organisation that books us and this can be negotiated to some extent, though we do have to cover our own costs. If you are interested in booking Banner but need more information you can always contact us and we can supply you with further details. |
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Banner does mainly one-off performances and can therefore fit its productions into most venues. Our technical requirements are minimal - access to six 13amp sockets, a performance area of 18' deep and 15' wide, with a ceiling height of at least 8' 6". We also need level access to the performance area (or a lift if the performance space is upstairs) and blackout on the windows. We bring all our own lighting, sound and video equipment and musical instruments. |
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Bookers will tend to know their own communities and how to promote the show to them but we can offer support in doing this. Organisations which may be able to help to publicise a show include local libraries, arts venues and galleries, bookshops, local authority arts departments, trade union branches, trades union councils, racial equality councils, colleges, cafes, wholefood and charity shops, campaigning organisations (like Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Stop the War groups, etc), community groups (councils of voluntary service, tenants groups, etc), the local media (newspapers, radio stations, regional television, what's on magazines and listings) and even political organisations like the Green Party and the Labour Party. We provide A5 leaflets about the show (up to 500 are free), which we can overprint with details of particular performances - including time, date, venue, admission prices, contact number/s for advance bookings and, if required, a logo of the sponsoring organisation. We can also provide A4 or A3 versions of these flyers that can be used as posters but will have to pass on the cost of getting these as colour photocopies. We provide general press releases about our productions and these can be tailored to suit individual performances. We can also supply email flyers about the productions. Both these can be downloaded from the marketing resources section of the website. This also includes links to photographs from the productions - browse through these and if you require a higher quality version you can email us to request one. The best form of promotion for shows is by 'word-of-mouth' through local networks. Paying for an advert in the local newspaper is unlikely to work and can be expensive. It's better to try and contact the reporter at the local paper who writes about arts and theatre events (often based in the features department) and speak to them directly to get a feature article with a photograph. They are usually obliging and eager to find enough material to fill their pages and developing a relationship with them is something that can be useful for other purposes. You may also be able to get an interview on local radio. This promotion and publicity work needs doing about six weeks in advance of the performance and it's worth checking with people about two to three weeks before the performance to ensure everything is OK, so that you have some time to do something about it if it isn't. You can always contact us for further advice if you need it. |
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Tel: 0845 458 1909 Email: info [at] bannertheatre.co.uk