Secure venue

• Schedule the tentative performance date with the Director/Supervisor of the venue.
• Fill out all of the paper work to reserve the venue space, taking into account any possible dressing rooms needed.
• Be sure all of the appropriate signatures are on the reservation forms by following up with a representative from the venue.

Contract

Sign and date the Contract or Agreement from Great Leap, Inc. Send Great Leap any requests for additional information, in order to expedite the payment process. If your school or venue requires additional information such as a Vendor ID form about Great Leap, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Tech requirements

Verify that the venue can accomodate the technical rider, as soon as you receive the rider. Notify Great Leap at least one month prior to the performance if there any problems meeting with Great Leap’s technical requirements. Contact Great Leap’s technical director at least two weeks prior to the performance to finalize all technical requirements. Sometimes you will need to order additional equipment well in advance of the performance. Please make sure to include any potential rental fees in your budget.

Publicity

This is the number one factor in bringing an awesome audience. After all the hard work you are going through putting on a performance, you want to make sure there are people there to actually enjoy it. People cannot attend the performance if they do not know about it, therefore advertise, advertise, advertise!

Below is a list of organizations and people you may want to contact, in order to better market Great Leap’s performances.

Obtain the publicity materials such as photos, bios, program descriptions from Great Leap as soon as the contract has been signed, if not before. Great Leap will provide your school with a master flyer, with your performance information on it. If your school chooses to deviate from this flyer, please notify Great Leap of any changes. Make sure all of the appropriate names, dates and sponsors are correct before mass producing the flyers. Be sure to include special student/general public/group rates (if applicable) and contact info on all of your publicity.

Other outreach suggestions:

• Distribute flyers and posters throughout your entire campus three weeks prior to the event.
• Contact the school paper. Submit press release for immediate release two weeks prior to the event. Contact Great Leap if you need any assistance with writing the press release.
• Contact local newspaper editors for coverage of your event. Ask us for sample press release materials.
• Contact the departments in charge of displaying information on your school’s marquee, electronic message boards, email lists and other displays throughout campus.
• Contact the school and local radio stations. Submit PSA (Public Service Announcement) which is usually one paragraph double spaced.
• Contact professors in departments which may be willing to offer class credit for attending a multicultural performance, such as an Ethnic and Women’s Studies Department.
• If you are charging a fee for the performance, have discount tickets on sale prior to the actual performance, as an incentive for people to purchase their tickets in advance.
• Offer discounts on tickets for group sales.
• Distribute tickets to various clubs or organizations on or off campus and have each of these club members sell about 10 tickets to people they know.
• Have students make presentations or announcements to campus organizations.
• Collaborate with neighborhood stores, organizations and businesses about the possibility of having tickets for the performance available. In return, your school can publicize or offer complimentary tickets to these particular organizations.

Final checklist: (one week before show)

• Please give emergency phone numbers of key organizers, students or staff people to contact in case of emergency for the day of the performance and the day before the performance.
• Send map and directions to the campus and venue to Great Leap.
• Send parking passes and parking info to GL Rep and technical director.
• Have flight arrangements been made? Are the artists renting a car, taking an airport shuttle, or do they need to be picked up from the airport?
• Do the artists know how to get to the venue, and what time they need to arrive?
• Has housing or hotel information been reserved and forwarded to Great Leap?
• Who is going to pick up the artists from the airport or hotel?
• If clearance is given to Great Leap to sell merchandise, please be sure to have a table and two chairs ready for the Great Leap representative prior to the beginning of the performance.
• After you have printed the programs, be sure to send at least three programs to Great Leap.

Check verification

Make sure the check is ready at least one week in advance, in case there are any problems. Checks should not be released to the artists. Checks should only be released to Jennifer Kuida, Managing Director or Nobuko Miyamoto, Artistic Director. Otherwise, checks should be mailed the day following the performance.

Following the performance

• Please send Great Leap any comments, evaluations or suggestions after the performance at your school.
• If you have any photographs or newspaper reviews from the performance, please send a copy to Great Leap.
• Please tell your friends about our show!

If you have any further questions, contact Great Leap at (213) 250-8800 or send e-mail to booking@greatleap.org