PoPville » Metro holding talent auditions for MetroPerforms!, live performances at Metrorail stations

Metro holding talent auditions for MetroPerforms!, live performances at Metrorail stations

Photo by PoPville flickr user slightlyworn

From WMATA:

Metro’s Art in Transit program will hold auditions on July 17 for MetroPerforms!, live performances at Metrorail stations.

MetroPerforms! invites local performers of all genres—singers, dancers, musicians, poets and more—to showcase their talents at select Metrorail station entrances. In addition, for the first time, artists selected for MetroPerforms! will be invited to perform at the Music on the Mall program, developed by Metro in cooperation with the National Park Service and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.

The auditions will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 17, at Metro headquarters, 600 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Performances at Metro stations and the Mall will take place from July through September. Selected artists will perform on a volunteer basis and are expected to adhere to performance guidelines set by Metro.

Performers selected to participate in MetroPerforms! must cooperate with Metrorail station managers and Metro Transit Police to ensure that performances do not compromise station access and the safety of Metro customers and the general public. In addition, performers must pass a background check and will not be permitted to sell merchandise or solicit in any way while performing.

Category: Transit

By: Prince Of Petworth | 13 July 2012 1:30 PM | 5 Comments

emmaleigh504

Don’t see this ending badly at all…

July 13, 2012 at 2:15 pm
textdoc

So they’re basically trying to replace the “buskers” — i.e., people who perform at Metro entrances hoping for some cash from Metro patrons — with unpaid performers who aren’t allowed to “solicit in any way”?

I dunno… seems like it would be better to do what the London Underground did and — instead of forbidding “busking” — regulating it, so buskers get assigned to a given spot.

July 13, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Florista

Wonder if that’s where the rate increases have been going…making the plan, purchasing equipment, soliciting free performances, paying staff to hear the auditions, and on and on…

July 13, 2012 at 2:26 pm
KenyonDweller

Way to suck out all the spontaneity and creativity. One of the most moving musical performances I have ever heard was a woman singing a cappella on a the ACE subway platform at Penn Station in NYC. The sound completely filled the station and everyone erupted in applause when she was done. That will never happen here.

July 13, 2012 at 3:23 pm
weird

“Selected artists…are expected to adhere to performance guidelines set by Metro.”

So they DO know how to set performance guidelines! who knew?!

July 14, 2012 at 7:12 pm