Open Performance Booking
We have a general Open Stage policy. If you come in and start playing an instrument (or reading poetry, dancing, doing magic tricks, whatever), we will generally not try and stop you so long as you are being respectful to the space, staff, and other guests. Any staff reserve the right to ask you to stop. If you give us trouble, then you will not be welcome back as a performer or guest.
We do target some specific timeframes for PLANNED open performances, as listed below. Sign-up page for all Open Performance events is here:
OPEN PERFORMANCE EVENT BOOKING PAGE
Thursday night Open Stage is booked in 15-minute slots, and we reserve the last slot of each hour for walk-ins. In other words, there are 16 total slots, four of which are not pre-bookable. It is highly recommended that you schedule a slot in advance.
B.Y.O. Shows
This is a "book, organize, and promote your own show" situation. We provide the room and day-to-day traffic, and the rest is up to you.
The Main Room, East Room, and North Patio are all bookable Mon 7-9pm and Sat/Sun 3-5pm (so long as there is not a conflicting event in that space).
RULES FOR BYO SHOWS:
1) Anyone can sign up to present their own show, up to 2 months in advance.
Music, poetry, comedy, dance, magic tricks, whatever. Just don't hurt yourself.
2) Tip jar only. You absolutely cannot charge admission to these shows, and you cannot disallow the general public to use the space.
3) Occupancy of the East Room is legally limited to 46, and the North Patio to 25. Main Rooms shows will be table/chairs arrangement with an occupancy of 71 (as opposed to standing room events, which we can legally hold 150)
4) Staff is not GUARUNTEED to be available to assist with these shows, with the exception of managing any public guests that are already occupying the space where you start setting up. Please do not attempt to manage our public guests. It is not your place to ask our guests to relocate. Ask staff to assist with such situations.
5) We will promote your show in a regularly updated "Open Acoustic Performances" poster and Facebook Event, but beyond that the promotion of your event is ultimately your responsibility. Please feel free to use THIS BCOPD LOGO (unmodified) on any posters/graphics that you make to promote your show, and please do bring/email us a poster and tag us on any related social media posts/photos!
BCOPD LOGO:
https://netorgft7133888.sharepoint.com/:i:/s/AllStaff/EWp1XW21CW1GvFlebl0gZ94Br5opKiiIRqRKfqZ9EarXxg?e=STbyNN
6) You can move around tables/chairs as needed to fit your setup and audience arrangement, UP TO ONE HOUR IN ADVANCE OF THE SHOW.... but you need to PUT EVERYTHING BACK where you found them immediately after your event. Do not attach anything to our walls/ceiling. Do not take tables/chairs from other rooms of the building without asking.
7) Respect the space, and do not damage anything, including leaving anything that belongs inside OUTSIDE which gets stolen or rained/snowed on.
8) Be respectful with your content, especially in regard to present audience (e.g. kids).
9) Be respectful with your VOLUME. East Room/Patio shows you CAN bring a small PA if you want, or arrange in advance to use our portable "B Rig"/"C Rig" PA. However, these areas are small enough that a completely acoustic show would do just fine. Amplified guitars/keyboards are ok at reasonable volume, and light percussion is fine. Full drum sets can only be used for Main Room Shows. For Main Room shows, we MAY be able to set you up with the PA/lighting, time/staff allowing,but please email us to coordinate this well in advance of your date to ensure that we can be there to get it setup! This is preferred versus you bringing your own PA kit for Main Room, because...that's just silly, there's a great system in there.
10) As always, you're welcome to use the house instruments, but please coordinate in advance as we may need particular instruments for other things going on.
11) Any of our staff reserve the right to cancel, reschedule, shut down, or modify setup of any active or future show for any reason. Please do not give the staff trouble if this happens, just work with us to setup a different date.
If you intentionally disregard any of these rules, you will not be welcome back as a performer or guest.
