Before you apply

At this stage we ask one thing from you, please take the time to understand what BOFF! is and if anything isn’t clear please reach out to us with any questions, we are always happy to talk.

BOFF! is a collective of artists teaming up to give each-other a space to perform. It is run off volunteer labour, which means that it’s run by you. As an artist with BOFF! you automatically become a volunteer so if you have any problems with the way we do things, then you’re fully welcome to do something about it.

BOFF! runs on a very simple model of being as cost-effective as possible, our venues don’t charge us for their space and instead benefit from increased traffic. Really, the only money we spend is put towards printing the brochure. The tech we supply is as minimal as possible and we find the cheapest ways to hold it. Because we don’t charge performers for a space, we don’t think it would be fair to charge audiences for tickets, although we do encourage donations to the artist. We run off the core principle that art is for everyone to create and experience.

Please note that if you have a show with us, then that show will not be shown on the official Brighton Fringe Brochure or website. If you would like your show with BOFF! to also be a part of the Brighton Fringe, then that is possible but you will need to organise that with the Brighton Fringe, please reach out with any questions.

If you submit an application you can expect an email from us regardless of whether or not you have an offer. Most of our offers will go out between December-February but we will be sending out offers to fill cancellations right up until the start of the fringe so please keep an eye on your email. If you have received an offer from us please re-read all the information on our website and ensure you are ready to make the commitment before you accept.

What am I responsible for as an artist?

BOFF! provides space, community and a small amount of promotion, you do everything else.

Submitting Image and Blurb

After accepting an offer with us we will send you a form to submit your blurb and image, more information about the length and format of both will come later. We ask that you submit this as soon as possible. We will tell you the date we will be printing our physical booklet (approximately mid to late-April), the cut-off for submitting your materials is three days before that date, if yours aren’t in you’ll have filler blurbs and images, that will be bad for you.

Audience

Each show is responsible for getting its own audience. The amount of work you do in terms of flyering, postering, social media and pushing word of mouth really does equal the bums on seats you’ll have in the space. It’s worth noting that as a performer with BOFF! you won’t appear in the official Brighton Fringe brochure, you will appear on our website and our social media but that’s it. Although we try our best to get the word out there we don’t pay for any additional marketing, and neither do we expect the venues we work with to do any other forms of promotion.

Printing Materials

We would highly recommend that you create at least a couple items of physical media that advertise your show (e.g posters, flyers). There will be an area in the venue where you can place and put up flyers and posters. This can be done with as little cost as you like and it still isn’t compulsory, just something we highly recommend.

For flyers and posters we require all designs to contain the BOFF! logo, it’s also useful to put facts like age appropriateness, free entry and obviously make sure to include the address, dates and times. If you’re having trouble designing a graphic please reach out for help, we prefer people asking for help than using AI.

Social Media

Depending on what your relationship is to social media, it could be a shout to do a bit of online promotion of your show. Whilst you’re doing so we would really appreciate it, if you tag and collaborate with BOFF!’s instagram at every chance you get. It makes it so much easier for the volunteers running the ig to just accept and repost, rather than think and design posts- it’s really the only part of running the festival we don’t like. Doing this will also help you as it means your content will be shown on our page as well as yours.

Equipment

We guarantee that every venue will have a very basic PA set up and house lights. Some might have more and you can find out about what equipment your venue holds when you receive your venue report. Anything beyond what is at your venue is up to you to provide, because we’re a co-operative that loves to lift each-other up, you’re also welcome to lend equipment to others in your venue, things work best when we all help each-other.

Crowd Control and Show Transition

You are the Front of House staff responsible for controlling audiences, and ensuring a smooth transition between shows. Arrive 10 minutes before the show before you finishes, stand at the door and stop audience members from walking into the performance space during the last 10 minutes. When the show finishes, offer the Book of BOFF! to the departing audience, and then assist the last performer with duties like making sure the space is clear of audience members, clearing away glasses, and general packing up. When welcoming audiences into your show it is absolutely vital that you do not over-fill a room. There will be a room capacity listed on your venue report, do not go above that number, doing so risks your venues license and is also a major safety hazard.

Running BOFF!

We’re a co-operative so when you become an artist with us you also become a volunteer, beyond everything listed here you are also responsible for the running of the organisation as a whole, so don’t be shy to put your hand up, most of it is really fun.

Code of Conduct (aka how to act)

There is no way for us to enforce the conditions we will be outlining below, we ask you follow them out of support for what we’re doing, and hopefully you can understand that what helps BOFF! Helps you. We will reserve the right to cancel your run at any point. Here are 5 simple rules;

1. Respect our venues
2. Run on-time
3. Put our logo on flyers + posters
4. Only cancel with very good cause
5. Shout out BOFF! In your bucket speech

Respect Our Venues

It is pinnacle that we foster good working relationships with every venue we collaborate with and we have no tolerance for any performer acting badly. Remember they give us their spaces for free. So please respect the normal etiquette rules that apply when walking into any establishment. If a member of staff tells you not to do something- don’t do it, and as an extra step inform everyone else not to do it either.

If you have any questions about your venue please ask us first and not them, we try our best to be as little of a nuisance as possible. Before your run you will be sent through some information about your venue. This will include details like whether they have storage or whether they allow people to put up posters, please read this list, take note of it and do not ask them again directly.

We promise our venues to leave the performance space exactly how it’s found. That means after each show clearing out all empty glasses, taking them to the bar and helping the next performer set-up. For the last performer of the night resetting it to how the staff would like it left and ensuring everything is unplugged, put away and switched off. You will be sent a photo of how the space should look at the end of the night after it’s reset.

Do Not;

• Do not leave flyers on tables (they become a sticky mess for staff)
• Do not put flyers or posters anywhere outside of the designated points
• Do not bring outside food/drink into a venue
• Do not disobey any general rules imposed by the venue
• Do not do anything that could damage the venue (scratching the floor with furniture, pulling off paint with masking tape etc)

Do;

• Introduce yourself to the staff
• Encourage audience members to buy food/drink
• Say thank you at the end of your run

Running On Time

It is really important that every performer stays within the time-slot they are allocated. We assign time slots in either 50 or 100 minutes, which means if your show begins at 5 it will end at 5.50 and not a minute later. Over-running has the potential to seriously damage the festival. We assign a buffer zone of 10 minutes between each show to set-up and pack-down, that is a very small amount of time and in no circumstances should your show run into it. Please keep in mind that these 10 minutes are both for the packing down of the previous show and setting up of the coming show, don’t assume you’ll have 10 whole minutes to do either and make sure you can set up or pack down in less time than that.

If the show before you over-runs, unfortunately we will ask you to still finish your show at the allocated time that it should have finished. This must be done as if not the schedule will slowly be pushed so far back that the last show is performing an hour after it was supposed to. After you have completed the show please then speak to the artist that over-ran and kindly explain how it affected you, if you don’t want to do that get in touch with us to speak to them for you.

Where “BOFF!” needs to go

When you accept your offer, we’ll send you our logo.We ask you to put it on all flyers and posters. This is important to identify your show as a part of our organisation and will also help you, in enabling your audience to find your show easier. The more audiences that find us, means the more audiences that find you. We also ask that when flyering you hand out our printed “Book of BOFF!” alongside your flyer. Handing out the book benefits everyone in our organisation and means we’re lifting each other up together.

Cancellations

By accepting an offer with us you are making a commitment to be there and fill the slots you have been given. We fully understand that circumstances change, when it comes to case by case situations we are ready to make exceptions, however we do need to emphasise just how much work it creates for us when performers drop out especially at the last minute. If you drop-out for a reason we deem illegitimate we will not consider future applications from you.

Bucket Speech

Please make sure that you also accurately and actively describe what BOFF! is to your audience in your bucket speech, in order to do this you’ll need to fully understand what we’re doing and hopefully be at least a little passionate about it. The bucket speech should have the two goals of having people donate to your show and promoting the festival as a whole.

Go ahead and fill in an application form with us, please try and provide as much info as possible and if you’re not sure, reach out. If you would like to edit an application please email us directly, you can apply for as many shows as you like, through separate application forms. If you are looking for some more information that can be found below, we will make sure you have read through these resources before accepting a slot with us.

Frequently Asked Questions