How to Start Travelling As A Performer

How far is your arts career going to take you? No, we don’t mean how successful you will be! Rather, how far are you willing to travel as a performer? Are you lured by the idea of your name in lights across all sorts of continents, or are you content with never leaving your zip code? Many performers early in their career yearn to travel, but it’s easy to set yourself up for a bad experience if you don’t plan this important career move perfectly. And the day after you’re invited to perform internationally isn’t the time to first think about it! Here’s some top tips from the experienced team at Performing Arts Travel Insurance to make sure you travel like a pro (performer’s travel insurance included), even if it’s your first gig.

Have A Plan

As we mentioned, it’s not ideal to first start thinking about travelling as a performer the day after a client asks you about a distance gig. It’s easy to feel pushed and rushed, and make mistakes that can impact your earnings, safety and comfort if you don’t know how you’d go about it, who would provide your performing arts travel insurance, or how to get your passport renewed fast.

So even if travelling is a bit in your future, it’s time to give it a little thought. When you have a rough plan in place, it’s far easier to come over as a confident, suave travelling performer to your new client, rather than seeming gauche and unsure.

What to Consider

So, what should that plan look like? A lot of this is going to be checking in with your own goals, milestones, and comfort levels, so fire up a word document, pull out Google Drive, or grab a cup of tea and your favourite journal!

Let’s start with the bare-bone basics. You have to get yourself and everything involved in your act to a destination where you can’t just hop in your car or onto the underground and make a plan if something goes wrong. So start by creating a ‘gig list’ that encompasses everything (and everyone) you need to make a successful show, down to the last guitar pick and cable.

This is going to be a valuable point of reference, as it will help you get your ducks in a row on everything from discussing the number of performers (and support staff, where relevant) that need to travel to remembering all parts of your instruments, props, or costume kit when trying to ship it or get artist’s travel insurance. It also helps make sure you don’t forget critical parts of your act and allows you to plan how to compensate for parts that could be problematic when travelling.

Identify Boundaries and Logistic Issues

With that in place, it’s time to also brainstorm about what you will and won’t accept. A single performer travelling alone, for example, will want accommodation in a professional setting like a separate hotel for safety, professionality, and privacy, not the gig-bookers home! Consider things like:

• Will you have to self-drive or will the client provide transport?
• How will you get your gear to the destination?
• Is the offered fee inclusive of accommodation, flights, meals, and other aspects?
• Will there be time to visit the destination, or are you expected to only work?
• What visas are needed, and who will provide them?
• Are there customs or taboos at the destination you should know to alter your act accordingly?
• What is the event and your role in it?
• What happens if there’s a medical event? Can you rely on the client?
• Who will provide your gig insurance?

There are a lot more critical questions to cover, and they will vary depending on what kind of performing artist you are. Being ready with your questions and concerns when there’s no pressure will help you respond professionally when approached for the booking.

Identify Potential Problems

Knowing where you may have snags as an act can make the difference between a smooth first long-distance gig and having a dream booking fall through because you couldn’t get everything together.

What kind of problems? Again, it will vary by artist and act, but some common ones include:

• A member of your band, crew, or act doesn’t have the same passport/nationality and needs different visa arrangements
• One of you hasn’t got a current passport
• One of you has a criminal record or another status that may make issues internationally
• Someone uses prescription medication and needs a doctor’s note to carry it
• Part of your act is difficult to ship and will need special consideration from an airline
• A prop or item is very fragile and needs special shipping and insurance
• Part of your act is illegal to cross borders with or needs special permission. Fire artists, for example, are unlikely to be able to travel with fuel and may need to get special permission for their props
• Certain aspects of the act need special insurance- this is why using performing arts travel insurance, which has the knowledge to cater to an artist's unique needs, is usually advised.

Anticipating these issues in advance lets you address them and have a plan in place.

Find Insurance Providers

When you’re in a strange place, something as simple as buying a headache tablet can be difficult. So you must have a reliable, dependable source for artist-specific travel insurance ready to go at the drop of a hat. Some established performers will even take out annual performer’s travel insurance so they’re covered for all distance gigs in a year, which takes a lot of strain away when a client wants to book fast.

Consider aspects like your medical coverage- few countries have a free-use medical system like the UK, and it may not be accessible to foreigners. So make sure your artist’s travel insurance covers all medical areas you could need.

Unlike many holiday travellers, travel insurance for performing artists may need to be very tailored, which is why it’s worth approaching a firm that has the experience and know-how to work with your specific niche.

Musicians’ travel insurance for a band, after all, will look a lot different from an ideal dancer’s travel insurance or travel insurance for cruise ship performers. Generic travel insurance policies just don’t cover enough, or the right things, and may not cover you at all if you’re working. Instead, you need to find a partner who’s easy to deal with and understands your industry.

Performing Arts Travel Insurance can’t help you with all the prep work needed to get ready for your first distance gig, but we can take a load off of your mind! Let us handle your performer’s travel insurance, so you can concentrate on what really matters - getting prepared for this exciting new milestone in your career.