Street Magic during festival with three magicians

[ArmanMagic]

Hey guys,

So recently my two friends and I had an awesome idea to perform street magic during the Scarecrow festival in our town. This festival attracts many people from different parts of town so we thought it would be a good idea to get our names out there. We all are going to hand out business cards and we're also getting a friend to film us perform so we can create promo videos. We all think it's a great idea to get our names out there but we are having trouble finding different effects that would also suggest that we also would like tips without bluntly asking. We also thought three magicians crowding random people would be quite annoying to people trying to enjoy the fest so we are going to try and switch in and out every 15 minutes.

Any thoughts about this? Suggestions? Tips would be appreciated!

 

[WyattSB]

How many people will be there?

 

[19283grqhwbenjvwqhdb]

Do magic for the people who look bored, are alone, or people just not doing anything. Brighten up those people's days. That's the only advice I can give, but good luck.

 

[ArmanMagic]

How many people will be there?

A lot. I would assume maybe 300-500 come around the day we are going. Mostly high schoolers or middle schoolers on that day.

 

[ElliottTerral]

If it will be mostly school kids, don't even try for tips. Also, unless you're setting up a table on a pitch and doing a show, don't expect tips. Busking is for tips. If you want to get your name out, walking around and handing out business cards is fine, but if you approach someone and expect a tip, you're a glorified beggar.

 

[RickEverhart]

If there are only going to be 300-500 people and there are 3 of you working....and all of you are handing out your own business cards....it would seem a bit awkward. It would almost be as if you guys were all competitors in a weird sort of way. Switching every 15 minutes in and out is weird as well. How long is the event? 3 hours? If so, why don't you each just work 1 solid hour in shifts? I've done gigs like that before at bars where there are different entertainers and we all have a different time slot at the event.

I have worked many street festivals before with other magicians (3 of us at the same time) but we were in different locations and there were about 5,000 people / attendees. I don't normally try to get tips at these types and as mentioned, if it is high school kids and teens, you might as well kiss tips good bye. It just doesn't happen. The types of people whom I typically get tips from are at restaurant gigs where there are large tables and the "father figure" or head honcho is paying the bill for the entire table.

However, if you are set on getting tips I would suggest the following:
Working in 1 set location with your busking table / stand and already have a tip jar out loaded with some 1's and 5's. You may get lucky, but then again if your demographics are what you previously stated...I'm guessing not.

 

[William Draven]

If you are busking, what kind of a hat line are you going to use?

 

[ArmanMagic]

If there are only going to be 300-500 people and there are 3 of you working....and all of you are handing out your own business cards....it would seem a bit awkward. It would almost be as if you guys were all competitors in a weird sort of way. Switching every 15 minutes in and out is weird as well. How long is the event? 3 hours? If so, why don't you each just work 1 solid hour in shifts? I've done gigs like that before at bars where there are different entertainers and we all have a different time slot at the event.

I have worked many street festivals before with other magicians (3 of us at the same time) but we were in different locations and there were about 5,000 people / attendees. I don't normally try to get tips at these types and as mentioned, if it is high school kids and teens, you might as well kiss tips good bye. It just doesn't happen. The types of people whom I typically get tips from are at restaurant gigs where there are large tables and the "father figure" or head honcho is paying the bill for the entire table.

However, if you are set on getting tips I would suggest the following:
Working in 1 set location with your busking table / stand and already have a tip jar out loaded with some 1's and 5's. You may get lucky, but then again if your demographics are what you previously stated...I'm guessing not.

Maybe I wasn't clear, there are probably going to be 300-500 teenagers there, but there are going to many families and other people roaming around the fair throughout the day. So I would best guess about 2000-3000 people are around the whole entire fair grounds. We did realize that it was going to be extremely awkward for 3 of us to work in the same place. But however my friends actually do a tag-team type magic and they both hand out the same business card. Also the event is from 9am to 9pm so we could basically spend the whole day there. We are only doing this to try and get as much exposure as possible, tips would be very nice if that could happen .

 

[WyattSB]

Maybe I wasn't clear, there are probably going to be 300-500 teenagers there, but there are going to many families and other people roaming around the fair throughout the day. So I would best guess about 2000-3000 people are around the whole entire fair grounds. We did realize that it was going to be extremely awkward for 3 of us to work in the same place. But however my friends actually do a tag-team type magic and they both hand out the same business card. Also the event is from 9am to 9pm so we could basically spend the whole day there. We are only doing this to try and get as much exposure as possible, tips would be very nice if that could happen .

I've never done anything like this before, but if you're potentially going to be performing for 12 hours, I think it might be better for each of you to have 2 hour shifts, throughout the day, either with a table or walking around doing street style stuff. That way you get two long shifts each and plenty of rest.