The North Wall as a venue – Flexible, willing & enthusiastic

This is a guest post by Xander, who helped me create the gig, and had much more to do with the venue than I did.

Ben’s Big Gig was always going to have to rely on the nuts and bolts of traditional gig planning when it came to a space in which to hold it, but because of the interesting challenges that we were going to be bringing to the table, the venue was likely to be a huge component of that success. Thankfully, The North Wall was open to new ideas, enthusiastic and technically savvy, and it helped that they got as excited as we did about putting on something ambitious and new.

A good venue makes life much easier

As a venue we can’t fault the North Wall. It’s a flexible space with the ability to alter its seating as necessary to accommodate the staging area you choose, but in addition to this they were both able to meet our slightly odd requirement of ‘cabaret style’ tables in place of the front few rows and also to allow us a flexible arrangement in the upstairs gallery, which gave us the opportunity to hold back a few seats in case tickets sold out (which they did). This kind of flexibility was key to our success and is an advantage that smaller venues tend to have over some of the costlier and bigger spaces. They gave us the breathing space to get on with other stuff, variables that we wanted to control. The venue you use should be there to support you from the beginning, not just to take a cut of the tickets at the end.

These are things that any decent venue/space should, and usually will, offer but there are a host of other ways in which they enabled our slightly bizarre, but entirely successful venture into the world of Cabaret 2.0.

They were willing to take a risk

They said yes to staging an event which we were struggling to describe even to ourselves, and they threw themselves into it. This initial show of goodwill was a clear demonstration of the community collaboration that wove a thread throughout the entire process of putting on Ben’s Big Gig. We went to see them and we asked what was possible – they asked us what they could do, we asked them what we could do and together we decided that we could do brand new things and interesting things, ultimately because we’d started a conversation and got them engaged in the process.

We got them excited. ;)

They have an I.T. department

The fact that it was at the North Wall (and therefore connected to the associated St. Edwards School) meant that we had access to an IT department that was able to create a bespoke wireless network for the gig, open up ports on their ethernet network to allow for video streaming and generally offer support that you are unlikely to find in any other comparable venue. Without this, the process of installing, maintaining and running a network with the capability of live-streaming video feeds would have made the setup for the gig (a ‘one night only’ affair with a limited get in time) immeasurably more difficult. Past experience (#amp09, #tuttle, etc.) demonstrates that the creation of a bespoke network for one off events invariably frustrates and stretches the skills of even the most committed sysadmin. By having the IT department on our side (and it didn’t hurt to have a few alumni of the school in the band) we were able to bypass any ISP issues and corresponding teething troubles that might have turned up if we’d had to start from scratch.

Put more simply, the North Wall’s unique position as both a Community Arts Centre and a part of a larger network of facilities for a school had the result of boosting our technical resources ten-fold. The lesson from this is that if you can find an existing venue that can do what you want, use it. Eliminate potential problems through collaboration and communication and by working out what you want and looking around to see if anyone is already doing it, then ask them for help. Tap into existing resources: more often than not people are more than happy to help. That’s what they’re there for, and they will want to help you (Phil Campbell and his incredible Rezpondr related work at the gig are another great example of this).

The North Wall didn’t necessarily understand what we were doing to start with but they were nonetheless excited about it. That’s key: getting other people excited is what generates goodwill, asking them to help eliminates problems form the start and doing all of this together results in some form of success, without you having done anything but start a conversation.

They saw the big picture

They were enthusiastic about Ben’s Big Gig without being in any way irritated that a one off performance was consuming time and resources. In the conversations we started with the North Wall we were both excited about the possibilities for a whizzy, gadget-linked, internet-enabled gig 2.0. This enthusiasm translated very quickly into their support and assistance. Because we believed what we were doing was going to work, no matter how crazy it seemed to begin with, those around us were in turn inspired by our enthusiasm to do what they could to make it happen. Although this may sound a little like a business self-help book, the reality of your success really is directly connected to your belief that you can succeed. If you don’t believe in it then it’s likely that the venue won’t either. Aim high, talk to people, ask for help and get enthused.

On the night, this belief, alongside the fact that it also translated directly into the crowd that turned up to see the gig, meant that when we asked the venue to do things they normally wouldn’t (keeping the bar open, having a live band play in the bar during the interval, leaving the artwork from the previous show on the walls to add to the ambience) they were prepared to take the gamble.

So, to recap:

Use what’s already there. Start conversations. Be enthusiastic. People will help you. You will succeed.

Tagged with: bensbiggig, Oxford, review, venue

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