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From Busk ‘til Dawn Found in Music CEO, Dr Julia Jones, explains why street performance is currently under threat in the UK.
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id you know that it’s perfectly legal to busk anywhere on publicly owned land in the UK, as long as you are not causing an obstruction or making excessive noise? In recent years, however, local councils have been facing increasing calls to ban or regulate busking. Camden Town in London is known for alternative arts and live music, however, Camden Council succeeded in pushing new licensing regulations through the courts despite objections from performer associations and featured artists. Several other councils are now considering this approach, effectively extinguishing the very essence of spontaneous busking that has entertained people for centuries in the UK. A combination of socio-cultural factors has led to the escalation of this situation. My company was engaged by the Mayor of London in 2015 to form a taskforce and launch the ‘Busk in London’ campaign, to support and protect busking, and to bring together councils, police, residents, businesses and performer representatives to discuss solutions. We created an annual International Busking Day campaign
hosted in Trafalgar Square (the 2016 edition will take place on 23 July) to encourage a new generation to hit the streets and get busking. We created career progression opportunities for the more ambitious performers, and secured featured artists such as Fatboy Slim, Billy Bragg, Corinne Bailey Rae, KT Tunstall, Hugh Cornwell and Jack Savoretti as ambassadors for the campaign. So why is busking so important to the live music industry? Well, buskers can earn up to £300 a day (helping finance recordings and tours as well as pay their rent and buy food). It enables them to hone performance skills and they are seen by thousands of people in high footfall locations. It also delivers unrivalled value in terms of providing accessible performances to people who can’t afford tickets or who are socially isolated. Busking isn’t just a nice quirky thing to have on our streets, it’s an extremely valuable performance art. It’s the funnel of our talent pipeline. We need to step up and protect it. This battle is far from over. www.buskinlondon.com