Musicians, buskers set to perform on downtown Gainesville street corners for patrons

A variety of street performers will soon be paid by the city of Gainesville to put on shows on designated street corners throughout downtown.

City officials hope a busker pilot project, which could start as soon as the last week of June, will evolve into a long-standing program that helps downtown become an even more enjoyable destination for patrons, while attracting others to the region.

In February, the Gainesville City Commission voted unanimously to kick start the initiative with $25,000 that is expected to pay people $100 per hour to share their talents in the streets through November.

“I’m super excited about this and I can’t wait to go see it in person,” Mayor Lauren Poe said Thursday.

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For months, city staff has been speaking with performers and business owners to get their input about the program, modeling after other cities, such as Minneapolis and Austin, before coming up with recommendations.

The pilot project concept resulted from a meeting between City Commissioners Harvey Ward, Reina Saco and Adrian Hayes-Santos and local musician Trisha "Mama Trish" Ingle, who said she wanted to make sure the project wasn't overly regulated.

"It's a great thing," Ingle said. "It's not very much money for the city but I think it'll be a huge thing for performers, particularly those who have been heavy hit by COVID."

When the pandemic hit about two years ago, Ingle said she took action to help her fellow musicians. At the same time, downtown started seeing large hotels being built, one on a location where Ingle would often play music. She created the online Facebook group, Buskers Guild, to rally performers together to form a plan.

The goal, Ingle added, was to help locals, while also providing a service to the public.

"I love street performing," Ingle said. "I love it more than playing in a bar."

Over a two-week period, the city received 61 applications to perform as part of the project, dubbed "GNV Streetshows," with a wide range of acts that include Jazz fusion, folk music, story-telling and ballet.

Chelsea Carnes, the events coordinator for the city of Gainesville, said in recent months staff has participated in focus groups with 20 performers to get their input about the program. Feedback will be gathered throughout its duration.

“Really pleased with the diversity (of performers), both demographic and diversity wise of folks present,” she said. “We had everyone from soloist performers, musicians, dancers, circus folks, clowns. It was a good time and I got a lot of perspective from folks who came.”

Performances will only be one to two hours and made up of local talent instead of recruiting out-of-town performances.

A small sample of business owners in a survey were generally supportive but expressed concern over buskers overtly soliciting tips, generating too much noise or disturbing diners. The city factored those responses into the implementation of the pilot program. Ingle said there are existing ordinances that alleviate those concerns.

Even if the plan doesn't receive continuous support in the future, Ingle said the amount spent is a drop in the bucket and offers little risk to taxpayers.

"Even if it doesn't continue, it's $25,000 in the pockets of hungry musicians and performers and 25k in the local economy," she said. "If people want to stop and listen, they can."

Ambient performers were preferred instead of "in-your-face" juggling, clowns and puppetry, Carnes said.

Buskers can have tip jars out but are restricted from soliciting tips since they are already paid. Performances will also be limited to two hours at a time, can't block sidewalks or stand in front of business entrances. They will also be asked to be courteous with their volume to not disturb diners.

“We have designated spots for this, so none of them are within 20 feet of a business that would be open during the times the busking will happen,” Carnes said.

Buskers will be required to take a video of their performance before being paid so it can be used on social media to promote the program.

Commissioners Desmond Duncan-Walker and Cynthia Chestnut asked to ensure that minorities will be among the paid performers. Zeriah Folston, the interim director of diversity, equity and inclusion for the city, said that office will be monitoring the equity component.

Mayor Lauren Poe said he was "incredibly excited" about the program, adding that his parents were music teachers and at the dinner table they often talked about access to the arts not being available to everyone.

He said he'd like to see non-traditional performers, perhaps from the international community, and hopes people walking downtown come across "something they’ve never heard or never experienced before and just being blown away."

Finding performances

Three “busk stops” have been chosen for the pilot program, all of which Ingle says she often performed at previously.

Busk Stop 1 will be held on the corner of Southeast First Street and Southeast Second Avenue, with performers from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturdays.

Busk Stop 2 will be at Southeast Second Place and Southeast First Street from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturdays.

Busk Stop 3 is set for Main Street and Southeast First Avenue from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Musicians, performers set to take over downtown Gainesville streets