Please read the following information carefully before applying to perform at Peoples’ Voice Café.

PVC has three requirements for booking acts to play at the café: performance quality, social issue content and an audience base in NYC. Please consider whether you believe you meet all three of these criteria before applying to perform.

1. Performance Quality
Many outstanding performers live in NYC and many more visit from all over the world during the course of a year. NYC audiences have come to expect quality, professional performances in their city’s venues. Given the number of interested performers and the expectations of our audiences, booking is on a highly selective basis.

2. Social Issues Content OR Underrepresented Community
PVC was founded and has been run over its 45-year history by volunteers who believe there should be an established NYC venue presenting music that relates directly to humanitarian and social justice concerns. While all music may be political in some respects, PVC seeks something more direct. For example: a modern day Woody Guthrie; a folk band offering the indigenous music of an oppressed culture; a gay or lesbian singer; labor singers; an act presenting songs about the protection of our environment; musicians speaking out with their music for racial justice; performers offering songs from the women’s struggle for equality, etc.

3. Audience base in NYC
For PVC to survive economically, we need to book acts that can attract an audience either on the strength of their name or through their own grassroots followings. If you meet the first two criteria but don't have an NYC fan base, there are some strategies that may work for you. Some performers have put together a combination show--yourself and someone with a big draw willing to share with you. Perhaps, the other act (with all the NYC fans) has no draw in the town where you are famous and popular, so they do a show there with you as an exchange. Maybe they just like you and believe in you. Another plan is to work with a local group, such as an activist organization or a union, that will support your performance with its members and publicity.

4. Publicity Responsibilities

PLEASE NOTE: If the materials and/or the survey form are not submitted in a timely manner, then the performance opportunity will need to be postponed to a later date or possibly canceled.

• We will need your preferred bio and picture(s), and links to website/social media/bandcamp, etc., no later than 90 days prior to your performance date.

• We will need you to complete a short survey form that will be sent to you. It includes permission for the Peoples’ Voice Cafe to record your performance for livestreaming purposes (restricted audience) and possibly unrestricted posting on YouTube or Vimeo, etc., at a later point in time, for purposes of promoting your work and the PVC. Permission to livestream is encouraged but not required.

• We expect you to aggressively promote your performance. Most of the people in an audience are there because the performer reached out to them. (Your fans’ locations matter less since we livestream the performance). This includes listing the performance on your website, sending email blasts to your list(s), posting on your social media platforms -- particularly during the week immediately prior to the show, and texting or calling fans.

• The PVC will be aggressively promoting your performance through its website, email list, and social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram).

• If you have local media contacts that you can utilize, we strongly encourage you to do so.

• We may also ask you to be available for an optional interview that we will circulate and that you can circulate as well.