Audiences for independent theatre, dance and other performing art forms are often limited, forcing even the most successful small companies to look beyond the confines of their own cities in order to thrive and grow. But without the backing of Performing Lines or a major festival, touring is an expensive option, as the many artists who return deep in debt from the Edinburgh Fringe each year can testify.
Even done on the cheap – sleeping on friend’s couches and splitting publicity costs by printing back-to back flyers – or on a relatively small scale, such as performing at one of the country’s many Fringe festivals, touring is a challenging business. Nonetheless, it’s also an important strategy for all performing artists, and should be a key part of any small company’s long term business plans.
Gerard Van Dyck, co-founder of the physical theatre company KAGE, recently completed a 17 week national tour of their production, Sundowner. For him, the value of touring is in ‘making the connections [and] finding new audiences, really. It’s the proliferation of your brand.’
But be warned: touring is not easy.
‘Doing a season in your home town is almost the polar opposite of touring. The logistics behind a tour are huge, especially when your tour is as busy as our Sundowner tour was, with so many venues over a very long period of time,’ Van Dyck said.
‘Even I get confused with the number of parties involved. It started off with Road Work pitching it and supporting it; there was a small consortium of venues going ‘Yes, ok, I think we want it’. And then it got pitched at Long Paddock and more venues put up their hands, and of course the more venues, the cheaper it becomes for them all,’ Van Dyck explained.
‘And then it was Performing Lines that managed the scheduling, along with us, with KAGE, and made it as realistic as possible, so from venue to venue, places that were relatively close by to each other; and of course you have to do that so far in advance anyway, because any theatre will be organising… say now, they’ll be organising the second half of next year. It happens so far in advance.
‘So then Performing Lines outsourced the logistics of booking accommodation and flights to a company called Arts on Tour, who specialise exactly in that; and Performing Lines also outsourced to a company called Gyspy Entertainment, to take care of the set travelling, and that was essentially a driver and a truck.’
The resulting tour took Sundowner everywhere from Port Macquarie to Port Pirie, and Bunbury to Hobart, successfully exposing KAGE’s work to audiences who had never seen the company before. But that wasn’t the only benefit Van Dyck gained from the tour.
‘The experience of actually putting [the tour] together was probably just as important as finding the new audiences. There’s a real exercise in – for me, for us – having completed that monumental task,’ he told ArtsHub.
But not every tour needs to be on such a scale. Indeed, for emerging artists, starting small is usually the only option.
Daniel Clarke is the CEO/Creative Producer of Melbourne venue, Theatre Works, prior to which he worked as an independent theatre maker, directing and producing a number of productions, including My Name is Rachel Corrie at The Adelaide Fringe and a subsequent Melbourne season at fortyfivedownstairs. He has also worked with New York act, The Wau Wau Sisters, for several years, producing their work in Australia and the UK.
Clarke stresses the importance of touring as a means of building one’s profile, connecting with new audiences, and developing valuable contacts and networks.
‘As an independent artist I self-produced a couple of works and toured them around Australia, and that opened up my work to interstate audiences … and exposed me to a whole lot of different venues and presenters and producers, most of whom I remained in contact with, so it was a starting block for a longer term relationship,’ Clarke said.
Nonetheless, he also acknowledges that ‘it is hard to take that that risk, that financial risk, on your own … And some of the touring structures and mechanisms that are in place throughout Australia – I know, from my independent artist point of view – that it’s sometimes a long process to get picked up by something like Mobile States or Playing Australia or the whole kind of Long Paddock thing.’
So why should independent artists and companies tour their work around Australia?
‘It’s very valuable … [because you are] always reflecting on and looking at the work and developing it, keeping it fresh,’ Clarke said.
Touring also exposes artists to the work of their peers in other states and cities, preventing their work from becoming insular.
‘For artists who are wanting to take their work to different cities, especially within Australia, I think it’s good to have a sense of what other work is going on and where the work is positioned.’
Clearly, touring one’s work is an important part of one’s professional development as a performing artist. So what should artists know before they try to organise their first tour?
‘You need to have the knowledge and you need to have a strong plan in place,’ Clarke said. ‘Visit festivals, speak to other artists, and – and this is a key one – to other producers; speak to independent artists and producers who have presented work in those cities or those venues. There are a lot of people … who are willing to share their knowledge, including myself, but yeah, it’s about asking those questions and really having clear expectations from the outset about what you want from it. Is it to make money, is it to get a producer to pick up your show, is it for an actor to find an agent in Sydney? Be really clear about what those goals are, and that will make it easier.’
Gerard Van Dyke also stressed the importance of preparation when attempting to catch the eye of a producer.
‘What I’ve come to learn is that any curatorial authority, whether it be a venue director or a festival director, has their own likes and dislikes, so you’re not going to get everywhere you want to get to, full stop. But forming a relationship with them, even socially, is, in the first instance I think, a good step. And from then it’s basically making sure that they have information on everything you’re creating. Not swamping them, but constantly touching base with them, letting them know when you have a show, giving them the reviews – the good reviews, obviously!
‘And then of course when all the arts markets and conferences are on – for example, Dance Massive – when all the presenters are around, make sure you speak to the funding bodies, the organisational bodies, and say ‘I want in, how can I do it?’ … It’s about playing by the rules, being diplomatic, being a good person, in what is a very mechanical situation. It’s a long cycle. But it is possible.’
