Street fairs, park picnics, patio sets... How do you find diverse, professional talent to play your event if you're not used to booking shows?
MusicPortland is here to help. With ConneX, we provide a simple way for artists and public event organizers to meet each other and book successful gigs.
How it works
Local musicians join our database. This includes each professional act's musical style, experience level, and price point. Event organizers tell us about their event: audience, duration, vibe, technical capacity, and budget.
Then we matchmake. ConneX brokers find a set of artists who fit the event on style, on technical/production scope, and on budget.
ConneX ensures that everybody gets well taken care of:
Musicians are never ConneX'd to events that cannot pay them their regular rate. Events are never ConneX'd to musicians who aren't prepared to deliver an experience commensurate to their pay.
Everybody signs a clear contract supplied by MusicPortland. Organizers unfamiliar with hiring live music can expect to be guided safely through the process, and musicians can expect clear guarantees.
Eligibility:
ConneX is a service for organizations and businesses who do not book live music as part of regular operations or business plan. We're here to expand access to music in Portland, not replace working businesses.
ConneX will NOT serve events proposing to pay artists under a minimum rate of $75/hr per player for the first hour, and $50/hr/player for successive hours. Not sure if you're offering a fair wage for the size of your event? Don't worry, we'll tell you!
Financial Aid:
Want to book music for your event - or have already booked music - and need some extra money to pay musicians fair fees? Thanks to the City Of Portland, MusicPortland has $10k in funding to augment artist fees for live music bookings that are free and open to the public. This grant offers up to $400 per event. Artists are paid directly by MusicPortland.
If you believe you will need financial aid for your ConneX event, indicate so at the end of the questionnaire. Your ConneX broker will guide you through the subsidy process with MusicPortland as your event budget and needs become clear.
If you are looking for financial aid but do not need help with finding talent, go to our Grants page!