Artists Application Guide

Port Fairy Folk Festival March 11 – 14, 2011

Read this guide before completing the Artists Application & Quote Form on line. Please read this summary of what PFFF is all about in order to better understand the way you make your application. There are and must be some restrictions we all need to work within to help get this festival from “the ideas to the stage”! Welcome to PFFF act application pages. Please complete the sections after reading the guide.

Two Years Break: We do not consider re-booking acts until they have had a minimum of 2 - 3 years break from this festival. It may be more and rarely may be less.

International acts intending to tour to Australia MUST engage an Australian agent to arrange all tour, immigration and visa details. The festival can deal only with a local agent.

A Festival Of Inspirations: We see the festival as a unique adventure of words and music, of dance and stories; it is living culture; it is a life-changing voyage of discovery for many… a wonderful and uplifting experience for most!

Program: From Friday night to Monday afternoon we run up to twenty venues staging everything from concerts, Theme Concerts (shared on-stage round robins), workshops, classes, sessions, jams, comedy, “Street Invaders” (Street Theatre), Children’s Venue (The Folk Circus), choirs, poetry and more. We encourage a high level of artist and audience interaction; we thrive on the surprises and unexpected delights.

Selection: Every year we have many hundreds of expressions of interest and applications. The reality is that we book about 80 music acts plus acts for children, the street, hosts and special events. In the end we make our decisions based on what we believe is best for the next festival. We do ask that you leave us free to make those decisions as best we can. Please note that additional phone calls or lobbying will not really help in any way.

We provide: We provide accommodation to as many as we can. In general we provide for international guests as a matter of course and for most who are traveling a long distance. Unfortunately we cannot provide for everyone but we would rather have acts at the festival than not have them purely because of accommodation. For various reasons, some acts are able to organise their own accommodation. That certainly can take the pressure off us. The accommodation we have covers everything from camping sites to B&B, motel, home stay and houses.

If you are booked, you MUST tell us of allergies/medical problems which could arise from your accommodation. Eg – Cat and dog allergies?

Meals? You provide your own meals and drinks. There is free ‘breakfast’ (toast, fruit, tea and coffee) at the

Green Room in the morning.

The Green Room: We have a private area where you can rest, rehearse, chill out, meet friends, have a snack and even spend time with us! Our sponsor,

guitar maker Maton, provides a couple of Happy Hours and the bar is open until 2am.

The Instrument Lock-Up: This facility is situated near check in and beside the Green Room. It is efficiently run by the Port Fairy Lions Club and works a treat.

Travel & Ground Transfers: Artists are booked on the basis that they organise their own transport to and from Port Fairy. Once at Port Fairy we provide on site transport service. We also provide a large Instrument Lock-Up and instrument transport around the festival site. (Performer vehicles are not permitted on site). It is just a matter of letting our friendly transport team know what you need on the day.

Catering “Riders”: In the festival context, there is a No Riders policy. All back stage areas are Alcohol-Free and Non-Smoking.

Production: We have developed our sound and lighting to an excellent standar. It is run by dedicated and very experienced crews. The Production Manager – Brian Cavangnino – takes care of pre-festival planning to ensure that all is in place well before the event. There are limits to the backline we can provide. If you are confirmed to perform, you will need to make enquiries directly with our Production Manager.

Sound Checks: Please note that, as for most festivals, it is not possible to provide time for a pre-concert Sound Check. A line check is possible, but extensive sound checks are not. Our crews are very experienced and have an amazing ability to make you comfortable, relaxed and sound wonderful.

Bookings:

The Give and Take: Artists are usually booked on the basis that they will be at the festival for the whole weekend and be flexible enough to make anywhere from 2 – 4 appearances in concerts plus 1 -2 possible workshops, classes or theme concerts. Some acts may be engaged for just one or two days. 90% of the artists are booked to be at the festival for the entire weekend.

Participation: We love acts which embrace the festival ethos of being willing to take part in a variety of program opportunities eg concerts, theme shows, workshops and events.This means we can mix and match in programming. It also means multiple appearences grows your audience and CD sales.

Promo Materials: We really need promo websites or EPK at first. Only send other promo materials & CD if we ask for them. We do not return materials unless you provide stamped and addressed return post pack.

Act Conflicts: While we love interactions and maximum participation we hate the nightmares of impossible programming conflicts when bands share playing members. We reserve the right to veto this except in exceptional cases.

Quotes: The festival is a non-commercial, independent, community arts event run by a tiny staff and hundreds of volunteers. The festival provides moderate fees but an extravagant and invaluable festival experience.

The festival was started by artists and the program is still organised by artists. Hopefully, we have an empathy with the needs of artists. We aim to be fair and open in all our dealings with artists and provide a great festival experience.

Guide to Fees: Judging a fee to quote can be difficult. We are often asked and the best guide to give is quote a fee that is fair and reasonable for you. This is it!

The main considerations:

• you would not normally plan to be out-of-pocket so at least aim to cover expenses.

• a festival booking offers a unique opportunity and real value as promotion and exposure.

• many CDs are usually sold at the festival and will help your bottom line – often a great deal.

• with the festival booking comes a large boost in your profile and promotion.

• you have unique opportunity to share the experience with many of your peers from Oz and overseas.

• some form of accommodation is usually provided at a significant cost to the festival.

• interstate acts should budget on fees or travel expenses, but it is not usually possible for us to cover both.

• the festival is a non-commercial, independent, community arts event run by a tiny staff and hundreds of volunteers.

• we do not cover international fares; we do not have airline or fare sponsors.

Tax, GST, ABN, SBS: ABN & GST: Artists must have an ABN (Australian Business number) and register for GST (if necessary) or have a SBS form (Statement by Supplier) form or pay 48.5% tax.

You will need to select one of the following:

• a) You inlcude GST & are registered for GST. You supply a Tax Invoice with your ABN (states GST has been included).

• b) You do NOT include GST. You are not GST registered. You have an ABN. You supply an Invoice with your ABN (states no GST charged).

• c) You have no ABN. You provide a SBS (Statement by a Supplier). You also supply an invoice.

• d) You have no ABN or SBS form: under PAYG Tax Law we must withhold & provide 48.5% of the fee to the ATO on your account

International Acts: The festival does not directly book overseas acts. It does not organise tours. It does not act as a sponsor or arrange immigration VISAS. Acts must engage a local agent who will run the tour and handle visas & all immigration, sponsorship and tax matters. For an outline on these see: www.newsouthfolk.com.au/imports.html

CD Shop: We run the festival CD shop in house with 20% commission on sales.

Festival fr•IN•ge: We have booked in 10 to 12 acts to our fringe program designed to create an opportunity to attend and perform on new smaller venues. There is a small performance fee; passes & camping are provided plus profiles in the program. Indicate if you are interested to be considered for the fr•IN•ge on the application form.

What happens next? We love to get hundreds of applications. We hate being able to book so few.

We get ten times more expressions than it is possible to fit in. We usually aim to book a range of new acts, book a variety of music styles from traditional to contemporary. Choices are made for a complex range of real, vague, strange and even intangible reasons.

• we will contact you if we feel that you or your act is a good fit for the PFFF and if space is available, then we will contact you. There is so much great music out there but we have a limited number of sets and shows to fill for the festival.

• We do not undertake to routinely respond to all applications due to the limitations of our tiny staff and volume of applications.

Deadlines: The closing date - July 31 - may seem early but we finalise our bookings early to meet deadlines for the booking brochure which is early.

THE CHECK LIST:

• Read the Application Guidelines

• Are you authorised to represent the act?

• Will you be responsible for updating any changes.

• Will you advise of any conflicts that may arise with other acts applying for the festival?

• The festival does NOT provide “RIDERS”.

• International Acts are responsible to find & engage an agent to arrange Visas, Tour, Tax.

• You MUST have Public Liability Insurance for each member of the act and be able to verify this. If you need insurance we recommend Folk Alliance Australia (www.folkalliance.org.au).

• CD Shop: The festival run shop sales commission is 20%.