Interested in Hosting the Farm to Ballet Project?
Summer 2023
Summer 2023 venues will start booking Oct 24th 2022.
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Important timelines:
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What does is take to host Farm to Ballet?
HOSTING INFORMATION
Thank you for considering hosting Farm to Ballet at your farm! Through the years, we have learned a few things that have simplified the planning and coordination process with farms. We wanted to share some of the basics here.
Farm to Ballet will come perform at your farm at no cost to you. Tickets are sold to our show at a standard price for every show through the same ticketing vendor- which is managed by Ballet Vermont. We will share the income made from ticket sales with the farm. We work year round to produce this show and share the income to further our goals of supporting regenerative agriculture. It is expected that the money earned for the farm will be put toward an on farm regenerative project.
We try to perform between 6-8 shows each summer and try to get to as many counties in Vermont as possible. We try to limit our Chittenden county shows to 2 per year. The entire Farm to Ballet Company consists of around 25 adult dancers (mostly volunteers). That is a lot of humans to coordinate, so our show dates are pre-set early in the season.
We want the Farm to Ballet show to be an EVENT and an EXPERIENCE for our audience. Each show has a food component. Sometimes the farms we work with are equipped to prep and sell their own food. Some farms bring in food trucks that showcase their food or other local food products. We ask the farms to consider what other experiences they can offer once doors open for that day: farm tours, kid activities, educational opportunities, opportunities for audience members to buy their farm products. We support any activities that day that will further our mission of celebrating and educating about our local agricultural community.
We think that being able to host a minimum of 350 audience members is ideal for all parties. In the past farms that were able to seat between 350 and 700 audience members brought in between $3000 and $7000 in total ticket sales. We value performing at large, well known farms and at smaller family farms in the beautiful corners of Vermont. We have found that a strong promotional force from the farm helps with ticket sales.
We think it is helpful to have a little bit of background on how we make this production happen and how we are able to raise money for the farms where we perform. It costs over $50,000 to produce eight performances of Farm to Ballet each summer. We count on about $15,000-$20,000 of that to be covered by OUR PORTION of ticket sales. The rest of the money is generated through our fundraising efforts on our part that we do separate from selling tickets. We count on the farms to average $5000 in overall ticket sales per show. In past years, this meant around $2500 goes to you (we like this) and we can stay on track with our budget (we like this, too). Some farms will consistently sell much more and some newer or smaller farms may sell less, but this is an important marker that we pay attention to as we make decisions.
Space/Set Up Needs
We have the ability to roll into the farm the day of, set up, perform and take down our own set. It is very minimal. Here are some of the basics that we need in terms of space:
What we need from you ahead of time:
A point person (or two) for coordination- we will work with them around things like:
What we need from you the day of the event:
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HOST A SHOW, PLEASE FOLLOW THESE STEPS:
Thank you for considering hosting Farm to Ballet at your farm! Through the years, we have learned a few things that have simplified the planning and coordination process with farms. We wanted to share some of the basics here.
Farm to Ballet will come perform at your farm at no cost to you. Tickets are sold to our show at a standard price for every show through the same ticketing vendor- which is managed by Ballet Vermont. We will share the income made from ticket sales with the farm. We work year round to produce this show and share the income to further our goals of supporting regenerative agriculture. It is expected that the money earned for the farm will be put toward an on farm regenerative project.
We try to perform between 6-8 shows each summer and try to get to as many counties in Vermont as possible. We try to limit our Chittenden county shows to 2 per year. The entire Farm to Ballet Company consists of around 25 adult dancers (mostly volunteers). That is a lot of humans to coordinate, so our show dates are pre-set early in the season.
We want the Farm to Ballet show to be an EVENT and an EXPERIENCE for our audience. Each show has a food component. Sometimes the farms we work with are equipped to prep and sell their own food. Some farms bring in food trucks that showcase their food or other local food products. We ask the farms to consider what other experiences they can offer once doors open for that day: farm tours, kid activities, educational opportunities, opportunities for audience members to buy their farm products. We support any activities that day that will further our mission of celebrating and educating about our local agricultural community.
We think that being able to host a minimum of 350 audience members is ideal for all parties. In the past farms that were able to seat between 350 and 700 audience members brought in between $3000 and $7000 in total ticket sales. We value performing at large, well known farms and at smaller family farms in the beautiful corners of Vermont. We have found that a strong promotional force from the farm helps with ticket sales.
We think it is helpful to have a little bit of background on how we make this production happen and how we are able to raise money for the farms where we perform. It costs over $50,000 to produce eight performances of Farm to Ballet each summer. We count on about $15,000-$20,000 of that to be covered by OUR PORTION of ticket sales. The rest of the money is generated through our fundraising efforts on our part that we do separate from selling tickets. We count on the farms to average $5000 in overall ticket sales per show. In past years, this meant around $2500 goes to you (we like this) and we can stay on track with our budget (we like this, too). Some farms will consistently sell much more and some newer or smaller farms may sell less, but this is an important marker that we pay attention to as we make decisions.
Space/Set Up Needs
We have the ability to roll into the farm the day of, set up, perform and take down our own set. It is very minimal. Here are some of the basics that we need in terms of space:
- Grassy Lawn Stage Area: minimum of about 30 ft by 50 feet of flat, well tended grass- EMPHASIS ON FLAT, WELL TENDED LAWN
- Enough space in front of/around this patch of grass for the audience to sit (most shows, audience members bring chairs and picnic blankets)
- Access to electricity where the stage is set up (possibly not needed this year, pending we acquire a battery generator)
- 2 hours to set up pre-performance, 1 hour post performance for break down
- Adequate parking
- Access to bathrooms
- A “green room” area for dancers to be out of sight/get dressed while audience members arrive
- The venue needs to be prepared to offer a food/dinner experience to audience members- either through their own production or by bringing in food trucks with local food products
- 1-2 folding tables to set up and sell our merchandise
- 2-3 folding chairs
What we need from you ahead of time:
A point person (or two) for coordination- we will work with them around things like:
- Production staff doing a site visit to see how you are visualizing set up on the farm
- Advertising and promotion of the event
- Ticket sales details
- coordinating details for the day of the event (green room for dancers, space set up needs, educational event planning, what the food experience will be)
What we need from you the day of the event:
- A point person (or two) for coordination- we will work with them around things like:
- Getting situated in the space
- Asking questions about electricity, etc.
- problem solving any unexpected challenges
- making decisions about start time, etc.
- Getting situated in the space
- We ask the venue to please provide dinner for the dancers after the show. Farms have done this differently: sometimes they ask us to have the dancers place orders ahead of time, sometimes they give the dancers a voucher for the food trucks, sometimes they prepare a special meal just for the dancers.
- Dancers need access to the "green room" as mentioned above in space needs.
- We will manage our own volunteers for setting up and taking down staging, selling our merchandise, etc.
- We ask that the farm manage their volunteers around ticket taking, food sales, education events, parking and any other event needs.
- The grass needs to be mowed the day of the event so that it is short and ready for dancing.
- Photography day of the event: If you plan to have photographers at the event, we ask that they sign our photo agreement and that we can approve any images of Farm to Ballet used in the media.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HOST A SHOW, PLEASE FOLLOW THESE STEPS:
- Review all of the information above carefully. Talk it through with your farm team. Visualize the day. What would you like to highlight at the event? Who else can you collaborate with? What would the money go toward?
- Request an application. We will send you a paper and/or digital application. Let us know in the email which you prefer.
- If you are a venue more than four hours outside Burlington Vermont additional requirements may be needed. We will connect with you during the application process to discuss anything additional that may be needed.
