How to organise a paid aerial arts showcase

You've found aerial performers whose work you love, and a venue owner has said there's plenty of height. You're already imagining the poster. Then somebody asks who is approving the rigging, how long the apparatus changes take, and whether the front row can actually stay where you've drawn it.

Those questions need answering before the tickets go on sale. To organise a paid aerial arts showcase, start with the specific acts and have the relevant circus, rigging and venue specialists establish whether they can perform in that space. Agree performer readiness, rehearsal access, the audience layout and the full cost before you announce the bill. For a first production, I'd choose an indoor venue with relevant aerial experience and keep the apparatus changes manageable.

You can still make an ambitious show. Choose work your team can deliver, with enough rehearsal and paid support to do it properly. A beautiful routine doesn't become suitable for a different venue because the performer has done it many times somewhere else.

This guide follows the decisions behind a seated, spectator-only showcase. We'll use a fictional producer, Lena, to connect the programme, rehearsal schedule, ticket inventory and budget. The example is a planning exercise, with invented US dollar amounts and proposed timings, not a technical specification or a claim about what aerial shows normally cost.

Decide what kind of showcase you're selling

The first thing you want to do is describe the experience in ordinary words. Lena's working offer is an evening of aerial performance by adult artists, with a host and short floor performances between parts of the programme. The audience watches from seats. There is no participation session, competition or invitation to try the apparatus afterwards.

That last detail matters. A spectator event and an introductory aerial class involve different activities, supervision and booking promises. Don't add a casual have-a-go session because you think it will help sell tickets. If participation is central to your idea, develop it as a separate, properly planned activity with the appropriate specialists, arrangements and capacity.

Choose whether you're presenting professional acts, a student showcase or a deliberately mixed programme. A student showcase can be a paid public event, but buyers should understand what they're attending. Explain the school's involvement and the nature of the work without promising professional touring production values that your rehearsal schedule and budget cannot support.

For Lena's first show, an adult professional bill makes the production brief simpler. It doesn't remove the need to assess each act. It means she can avoid building her first event around student assessment, parental communication and child performance arrangements while also learning how to produce the show itself.

If your actual concept includes children performing, address that before you announce places in the cast. GOV.UK's child performance licence guidance explains that a child under school leaving age may need a licence and directs the event organizer to the child's council; it also notes different rules in Northern Ireland. Confirm the applicable local rules, supervision and safeguarding arrangements for your event. Calling it a showcase doesn't settle those questions.

Then choose an artistic reason for the audience to attend. Perhaps the programme brings together contrasting approaches to aerial storytelling, or pairs established artists with a local company's new work. Give the evening a recognisable character. Six unrelated highlight clips can look impressive online and still leave you with no clear explanation of the show someone is buying.

Our guide to planning a ticketed circus show covers the wider production process. Here, the decisions turn on the specific aerial work: what the venue can accommodate, how performers are approved for this production, and what happens between their acts.

Find the people who can assess the proposed work

Before asking venues for a price, identify who will lead technical production and who has the competence to assess the proposed aerial rigging. Depending on the production, that may involve a specialist aerial rigger, structural expertise, venue technicians and other qualified people. Agree their responsibilities directly. One impressive job title doesn't establish that every part of the work is covered.

Ask about experience with the actual discipline and proposed setup. Someone who regularly hangs lighting may have valuable theatre knowledge, but you still need relevant expertise in supporting aerial performers and the forces their work creates. Get a clear account of comparable projects, responsibilities and the information they need before they can advise you.

Equity's Fit to Fly checklist, developed with circus and rigging specialists, recommends exchanging venue and performer information before a booking. It covers act requirements, venue-specific assessment, equipment records, clear space, assistance and time. Use it to prepare that conversation. It doesn't turn an organizer into someone qualified to approve a structure or a rigging arrangement.

Give the specialists a paid planning scope. Say which acts you're considering, which venues are possible, what decisions must be made before commitment, and what written findings you need. Ask what remains conditional until the final installation and rehearsal. That distinction lets you make an informed booking without pretending a preliminary discussion is the final approval to perform.

Lena asks her technical lead to compare possible venues against the proposed bill and identify the cost of making each workable. This is more useful than asking, "Can we do aerial in here?" A venue might accommodate one version of the show comfortably while another version needs more equipment, a different audience layout or access the owner cannot provide.

Also name the artistic decision maker. Someone must decide whether a technically feasible change still delivers the show you want. The technical lead can explain that a particular transition requires more time. The director decides how to make that time work for the audience, within the technical team's requirements. The producer pays for the resulting plan or changes the concept before selling it.

Send an enquiry people can answer properly

You can save several rounds of messages by sending the same short production brief to the people assessing the booking. Start with the event rather than a request for a rigging quote with no context. Your specialists will need more technical information, but this gives them a useful first description and makes missing answers visible.

Here's an adaptable enquiry for Lena's show:

• We're planning one indoor, seated aerial showcase for a public audience. Admission is spectator-only, and the proposed cast consists of adult professional artists.

• The draft bill contains six aerial routines, host links and short floor performances. We will supply the proposed acts' videos and technical requirements for review before confirming the programme.

• Please identify who can assess the venue's suitability for this work, what information they require and whether an initial visit is needed before you can quote.

• We need an itemised proposal covering the access, specialist planning, equipment, staffing, checks and rehearsals required for the agreed production. Please identify anything supplied by another party or still unconfirmed.

• Please state the booking conditions, payment dates, change charges and the process if the proposed work cannot be approved or a required person becomes unavailable.

That enquiry deliberately doesn't tell the rigger how to design the installation. It tells everyone what business decision you're trying to make and invites them to define their own required scope. Don't ask for the cheapest possible setup and reveal the actual programme after accepting the price.

When replies arrive, compare omissions as carefully as totals. One proposal might include a planning visit while another assumes the venue supplies all supporting information. Ask who is doing that work and what it costs. Mark a question unresolved until the person responsible answers it; a lower total with an unexplained omission isn't yet a cheaper version of the same show.

Check whether the venue can accommodate the proposed acts

Send a clear enquiry before the visit. Describe the disciplines, whether performers bring apparatus, the intended audience format and the access you expect to need. Ask the venue to identify the person who can discuss the structure and existing installation. A sales manager's assurance that aerial artists have performed there before is an introduction to the right conversation, not its conclusion.

At the visit, have your specialists establish suitability for the proposed work and identify missing information. They need to consider the actual installation and performance conditions. Avoid converting a ceiling height, a photograph of a beam or a label on a component into your own conclusion about the complete system.

HSE's overview of lifting equipment duties explains, for Great Britain, the need for appropriate equipment, competent planning, supervision and relevant examination where those regulations apply. Have the responsible specialists establish which requirements apply to your setup and what evidence is needed. An inspection record for one item does not answer every question about a complete production.

Next, work through the practical venue booking. Can the equipment reach the performance space? Is the access equipment your contractors require available at the agreed times? Where can artists change, prepare and warm up under the arrangements their team specifies? Who controls access while work is taking place? Have the venue and contractors answer together when one party's answer depends on the other.

Lena compares a cheaper hall with a venue that already hosts similar work. The hall's initial quote looks attractive, but it excludes the access and technical support her team needs. She asks for complete quotations before deciding. The experienced venue may still be unsuitable or too expensive, but at least she is comparing the same proposed show and the same working hours.

Put those hours in the agreement. Include the planning visits, installation, required checks, artist access, rehearsal, public admission, performance, audience departure and removal that your team specifies. Confirm who pays if any of those periods extends. Our event venue contract guide helps you turn the answers into a hire discussion instead of relying on a vague promise of "all-day access."

Don't announce a venue while a major suitability question is unresolved. You can make a conditional enquiry or negotiate an option if the owner offers one. Once the event page promises a particular show in a particular room, changing your mind creates work for buyers, artists and the box office as well as for you.

Book the exact acts and a clear readiness process

A performer saying "I do silks" doesn't tell your team enough to plan their place in the show. Ask for the exact act being proposed, a current full video where available, its duration, apparatus requirements, music and the conditions in which it has been rehearsed. Send the technical information to the people responsible for assessing it.

For each booking, agree what the performer supplies and what the production supplies. Include apparatus ownership, transport, rehearsal attendance, assistance, dressing facilities, access times and the people who must be present. Keep technical requirements attached to the agreement so they don't disappear between a message thread and the venue's working document.

The artistic review should consider the complete routine. How does it begin? How does it end? Does it suit the audience you've chosen? Does it add something different to the bill? A short clip may show a striking moment while leaving out a long introduction or an ending that creates an awkward transition into the next act.

For a student bill, appoint the appropriately experienced teachers and production specialists who decide readiness. Ask them to define how routines are submitted, reviewed and rehearsed, and when a performer receives a decision. Agree an alternative if a routine isn't ready. Don't make audience ticket sales or a student's enthusiasm the reason to override that process.

Make the change policy explicit for every performer. A new partner, different apparatus or revised routine goes back to the relevant reviewers before it enters the show. The production can't work from one description while the artist arrives intending something else. Encourage early disclosure by making the process clear and respectful, rather than rewarding people for keeping a problem quiet until rehearsal.

Look at each artist's complete working day as well. If the same person appears in several routines, ask them and the appropriate specialists to confirm the preparation, recovery and rehearsal arrangements they need. A gap that looks generous in the public programme may contain a costume change, technical discussion and another person's rehearsal. Record those commitments before offering a second performance or adding another appearance. Don't assume an artist can replace someone else's routine simply because they work on the same apparatus. Any proposed substitution needs its own artistic and technical review, along with agreement on the revised booking.

Lena's booking note records the submitted act, the agreed version, required reviews and the last date for proposed changes. It also states that an unresolved technical or readiness issue can prevent an act proceeding. Her written agreements cover the resulting payment, cancellation and replacement arrangements; she doesn't assume that permission to stop an act settles every financial obligation.

Use our artist performance contract guide for the wider booking questions, including fees, rehearsals and promotional permissions. A lower artist fee won't help if the agreement leaves you paying for unexpected transport or if the performer cannot attend the rehearsal your production requires.

Build the audience layout before setting the ticket quantity

An aerial show gives people more than one place to look. A seat that works for a floor performance may have a poor view of work higher in the space. Ask the artistic and technical teams to check the view across the actual performance area, including positions where the audience's view changes as an act moves.

Have the responsible team establish the boundaries between performance, technical activity and the audience. Then check how people reach their seats, toilets and exits without entering those areas. HSE's venue and site design guidance, for Great Britain, addresses venue suitability, circulation, capacity and shared responsibilities. Your venue and specialists must determine the arrangements for your particular production.

Here's Lena's fictional inventory exercise. The initial audience plan contains 220 positions. The production removes 24 for its agreed performance and technical boundaries and another eight because the view isn't good enough. That leaves 188 audience places. Lena then allocates four production holds and four complimentary places, leaving 180 places available for paid tickets.

Those numbers illustrate ticket allocation, not a safe-capacity calculation. The approved plan must address accessible positions and companion arrangements from the start, along with the venue's rules for counting children, staff, performers and other occupants. Keep those requirements in the real plan rather than assuming every person belongs in the same audience-seat subtraction.

Don't sell the uncertain positions and promise to sort them out later. If the team needs a further assessment of a particular section, withhold it until that assessment is complete. A sold seat is a commitment to a person, even when you privately expect to move them if necessary.

Once the layout is approved, Loopyah's seat charts let you map seats and sections, set their prices and let buyers choose their seats. You supply the correct layout and descriptions. The useful connection is that the ticket offer can reflect the room you've actually agreed to use, including meaningful differences between sections.

Test that offer on a phone. Can a couple find seats together? Does the description explain a genuine restriction clearly? Can someone ask about access before paying? A premium label should describe a better experience you can substantiate. Being closer to an aerial performance doesn't automatically mean having the best view.

Programme the apparatus changes as part of the show

This is where an aerial showcase can become much more demanding than its total act time suggests. The audience sees a routine finish, then waits while the next setup is prepared. Multiply an optimistic estimate across the bill and your tidy running order stops resembling the evening people attend.

Have the technical team define the required transition process and time for each change. Your director can then decide what the audience experiences during that period. The solution might be a host introduction, a short floor performance in a separately approved area, an interval, or a different ordering of the acts. The team must confirm whether simultaneous work is appropriate; a floor act isn't automatic permission to work above or beside it.

Try grouping compatible acts where the team confirms that helps. But don't let technical convenience flatten the programme into a succession of almost identical routines. Discuss both artistic variety and production requirements together. Sometimes a simpler bill gives the audience a better evening than an extra discipline that creates a long interruption and a much more expensive working day.

Lena's proposed public programme contains six aerial acts of six minutes each, making 36 minutes of aerial performance. She also allows eight minutes for host links, 14 for transitions, eight for floor performances, a 15-minute interval and four for closing thanks. The total is 85 minutes. Within a 7.30pm to 9pm public window, that leaves five minutes unallocated.

This is a proposal for the team to test, not a recommended allowance for apparatus changes. If their required transition time is longer, Lena changes the programme or public window before advertising it. She doesn't ask crew to fit necessary work into the 14 minutes because the draft schedule looks good.

Her first half uses 18 minutes of aerial, four of host links, seven of transitions and four of floor work. Starting at 7.30pm, it reaches the interval at 8.03pm. The second half begins at 8.18pm and uses the remaining 37 minutes, finishing at 8.55pm. Writing out both halves exposes a timing mistake that a single total can hide.

Plan applause, introductions and artist exits honestly within the relevant allowances. Confirm that the closing arrangement is workable too. A finale involving the whole cast changes where people wait and how they enter. It needs the same attention as the opening, even though it happens after the final aerial routine.

Buy enough rehearsal time to test the complete production

Rehearsal is where your proposed sequence meets the real room. Book the access your team requires and pay for the people needed to use it properly. An artist checking a routine individually is different from the cast, crew and host running the agreed show together.

Ask the technical lead what must be demonstrated before you commit to selling and what can only be confirmed after installation. Budget for both. A pre-launch feasibility decision can establish a credible production plan, while final checks and rehearsals still determine whether the show can proceed on the day. Explain that distinction to everyone approving the booking.

Create a rehearsal plan with an owner for each session. Include the material being checked, who must attend, the required setup, how findings are recorded and who resolves them. If the session uncovers a problem, give that decision to the responsible specialist or director. Don't leave the cast interpreting a producer's hurried message about whether an issue was "probably fine."

Lena asks for a rehearsal record that distinguishes an artistic adjustment from a technical condition preventing an act proceeding. Both need attention, but they lead to different decisions. A host introduction can often be rewritten. A required technical condition cannot be solved by asking the host to speak more confidently.

Rehearse the support work too. Test the actual music files and cues, communication between the show caller and crew, and the process for dealing with a delayed start. The show caller is the person coordinating the agreed sequence during performance. They need confirmation from the appropriate team before progressing through cues; they cannot personally approve every specialist decision.

For example, suppose an artist's arrival is delayed and the proposed rehearsal order no longer works. The answer isn't automatically to move them into a spare gap. Ask the technical lead, director and artist what can still be completed with the required people and conditions. Then update the plan and tell everyone affected. If the necessary rehearsal cannot happen, follow the agreed decision process for that act.

Also test the lighting as part of the actual routines. A cue that looks beautiful from the audience may create a problem for a performer or someone carrying out a transition. Let the artist and relevant team identify what needs changing. Save the agreed cue version and make sure the person operating the show uses it, rather than an earlier file with the same name.

Include the front-of-house lead in a relevant rehearsal or briefing. They need to know approved late-seating opportunities, when the interval occurs and how to respond if the programme pauses. They also need a way to contact production without walking into a restricted working area or interrupting an artist preparing to perform.

Then allow time to act on what rehearsal reveals. If the final session is so late that you can only ignore its findings or cancel, your earlier planning needs to be stronger. Some last checks inevitably happen close to doors. Resolve the questions you can resolve earlier, and keep the agreed authority to stop when a final condition isn't met.

Work out whether the available seats can pay for the show

Now you can price a production with a defined bill, working schedule and ticket quantity. Include the specialist planning and rehearsal you just agreed. Otherwise you're testing the profitability of a cheaper show that nobody has confirmed they can deliver.

The US Small Business Administration explains the basic break-even calculation as fixed costs divided by price less variable costs. For an event, make the figures specific to money you retain from each ticket and costs that rise with each additional buyer. Use your own supplier terms and tax treatment rather than copying the example below.

Lena's fictional fixed-cost budget is $5,200. Every amount here is an invented planning allowance in US dollars, not a quote, standard fee or recommended provision:

• Venue access: $1,000.

• Artist and host fees: $1,500.

• Specialist rigging planning and required crew: $1,000.

• Sound and lighting: $500.

• Additional rehearsal costs: $400.

• Front-of-house and assessed medical provision: $350.

• Insurance and permissions: $200.

• Promotion: $150.

• Producer work and allocated business overhead: $100.

The model assumes those categories cover the agreed scope, including required staffing, security where assessed as necessary, breaks, travel and equipment. In a real quote, identify those costs explicitly and increase the allowances where needed. Include nonrecoverable purchase taxes. Artist rehearsal work must be paid within the agreed fees or added separately; it cannot disappear because a budget heading already says "rehearsal."

Suppose Lena retains an average of $36 per paid ticket after selling taxes, transaction charges and the planned ticket mix. Each additional paid attendee adds $1 of cost outside the fixed budget. Complimentary attendance costs are already allowed for in fixed costs. There are no refunds in this base scenario, and borrowing costs and business income tax are excluded.

Each paid ticket therefore provides $35 towards the $5,200. At 140 paid tickets, the show loses $300. At 148, it loses $20. At 149, it makes $15, so 149 is the first whole-ticket break-even point. At 160 it makes $400; at the full 180 paid places it makes $1,100.

That result tells Lena something useful about the first production. She needs a large share of the available paid seats just to cover the agreed costs. She should look for evidence that buyers want this particular evening at the required price before making large commitments. A performer having a popular account doesn't establish how many local people will pay to attend on that date.

Test changes that could actually happen. If a revised layout removes another 16 paid places, maximum inventory falls to 164. At the original assumptions, selling all of them produces $540. If 30 of those tickets retain $6 less than planned, the result falls by $180 to $360. Another $400 of necessary production cost then turns that sellout into a $40 loss.

Keep those changes connected. You can't solve the extra production cost by selling the 16 places the team removed. Review the programme, venue, price, confirmed non-ticket income or commitment before launch. After sales begin, any change must also address the promise and obligations to buyers.

Put payment dates and insurance conditions beside the budget

A projected profit doesn't pay the venue deposit. List when each commitment becomes payable, when cancellation charges increase and when ticket proceeds are actually available under your payment arrangements. Use those dates to decide how much cash the business must provide before the show earns anything.

Lena's access and artist deposits are instalments of the costs already in her budget. She records them on a cash schedule without adding them again to the total production cost. She also records any refundable security deposit separately, because cash can be unavailable temporarily even when it isn't ultimately a show expense.

Ask what happens if a required specialist is unavailable or a final technical condition prevents performance. The answer belongs in the agreements, insurance discussions and contingency plan before it becomes an urgent problem. Don't assume you can replace a particular person, installation or act on the day without the relevant review.

AYCO/ACE's insurance questions for circus organizations recommend asking specifically which activities a policy covers, including offsite performance and use of another organization's equipment. Describe your actual production to the broker or insurer and get its conditions clarified. A policy held by the venue or performer doesn't automatically settle the organizer's coverage.

Check permissions against the activity and location too. Ask the venue and relevant authority about the proposed public performance and associated uses. For UK music use, GOV.UK explains when a licence for live or recorded music is usually needed. Confirm who arranges the relevant permissions and whether the actual use is covered. Permission to play a track in the room should not be treated as permission to use it in an advert or filmed show.

For this first production, Lena commissions approved promotional material and doesn't promise a livestream or show recording. If you want either, develop the permissions, equipment positions, costs and working arrangements as part of the production. Don't introduce a camera platform that takes sold seats or blocks a route because a partner requested footage late in the process.

Sell the experience people will actually receive

Your event page should make the evening easy to picture. Name the format, confirmed performers and venue. Explain who it's suitable for, when doors open, the expected running time, the interval and what admission includes. If the ticket buys a seated performance only, say that clearly enough that someone won't arrive expecting a lesson.

Choose promotional footage with the same care as the programme. Ask permission for the specific material and its intended uses. Make sure it represents the booked work fairly. A clip of an artist in a much larger space can create an expectation that your venue, programme and approved setup won't match.

Write artist introductions that help the audience understand the work. A buyer unfamiliar with aerial terminology may not know what separates the routines, and a page full of discipline names won't necessarily help. Describe the artistic experience in words the performer approves. Avoid selling danger or implying the artist will attempt something exceptional because your copy needs a more dramatic hook.

Lena prepares a short partner brief containing the approved description, a usable image or clip, the correct ticket link and practical arrival details. The venue and performers can promote the show to their own audiences using that information. They don't need to give her their customer databases or invent a different description for each post.

For people you can appropriately contact yourself, Loopyah's attendee email tools let you select recipients and schedule messages. Send the relevant audience an invitation, then use ticket-holder communications for practical information about the show they've bought. You still need an offer worth buying and accurate details about the evening.

Review paid bookings and retained income against your actual decision dates. If people keep asking whether children can attend or whether they'll sit together, improve the page and booking information. If the offer is clear and demand is still weak, examine the commercial decision before spending more on promotion. Our guide to cancelling an event when sales are too low explains how supplier commitments affect that choice.

Discounting needs the same arithmetic as the first ticket price. Lena's earlier example shows how a modest reduction in retained income can erase the result of a sold-out show. Decide how many discounted places the plan can support and why the offer should bring additional buyers. Don't reduce the whole room because the first sales report feels disappointing.

Agree what happens when the show pauses

Before public admission, the relevant teams need to confirm readiness for their own responsibilities. Name who coordinates that confirmation and who can withhold approval when a condition isn't met. "Everyone seems happy" leaves too much room for somebody to assume a concern was resolved by another person.

HSE's incident and emergency planning guidance, for Great Britain, calls for proportionate plans, clear responsibilities, communication and testing. Its show-stop guidance includes deciding who can initiate a stop and how performers and the audience are informed. Have the responsible specialists develop the arrangements for your aerial production, including realistic rescue and medical provision. An organizer's announcement script is only one part of that work.

Keep the public response separate from the technical response. The host may need agreed wording to explain a delay, while the appropriate team follows its procedures. The host shouldn't promise a restart time before the people responsible have established whether a restart is possible. Nor should a producer ask a performer to continue because ticket holders are becoming impatient.

Rehearse the communication with the actual people involved. Confirm how a concern reaches the show caller, how front-of-house receives the instruction and who communicates with buyers if the programme cannot continue. Test the equipment your plan relies on. Make sure staff know what to do if their normal communication route fails.

Lena also prepares the customer-service decisions that follow a programme change. Who approves the explanation? Who can authorize the appropriate remedies under the event's terms and applicable consumer requirements? Where does the box office record what was offered? Having those responsibilities agreed makes it easier to give buyers consistent answers without improvising policy at the entrance.

Brief the door team about late arrivals and temporary holds on seating. An empty chair may belong to someone waiting outside for an approved admission opportunity. Don't sell it again simply because it isn't occupied when an act begins. Keep sales, assigned places and the front-of-house count aligned throughout the evening.

Finish the first show before booking the next one

After the audience leaves, allow the team to complete removal and venue handback under the agreed arrangements. Keep the required people available for that work. A producer rushing to celebrate or avoid another hour's hire can create pressure precisely when the public part of the evening is over and everyone's tired.

Settle payments against the actual agreements and record additions clearly. Compare the final result with the original model, including refunds, discounts, overtime and the producer's work. If you had to pay for another rehearsal, find out what created the need. A useful next budget reflects the show you delivered, rather than returning to the first optimistic estimate.

Ask the artists and crew about the production as well as the performance. Which transitions needed more time? Did the rehearsal give them what they needed? Were responsibilities clear? Handle incidents, concerns and near misses through the appropriate reporting and specialist review. An enthusiastic audience response doesn't answer those questions.

Then ask buyers about what they could judge: the view, clarity of the offer, arrival, pacing and whether the evening matched the ticket page. Keep those findings separate from technical assessment. A buyer saying the show felt exciting cannot validate an arrangement they weren't qualified to assess.

If you're considering a repeat, start with the changes the first production actually needs. Lena might keep the artistic idea while choosing a different order, a longer access period or fewer paid positions. Recalculate the costs and inventory for that version before offering the next date. The decision to repeat should come after you know what it takes to deliver the show you want people to buy.