✨:Wonderville Handbook

The Wonderville Handbook

This is meant to be a guide for running one of the recurring wonderville shows. If you’ve been sent this in advance of organizing one then it should (hopefully) cover all the information you need to run a great show!
It’s fairly long so you might reasonably choose to read it in bits and pieces or just make reference to it as you go along.

The only required reading is Process and Deadlines. Please read that section first!!!

Performer Selection and Money are strongly recommended for first-time organizers as mistakes in those categories can be a fairly big deal.

Process and Deadlines

Wonderville’s staff is working to improve and formalize their own processes and we are of course cooperating to the best of our ability. Below is the step-by-step rundown of the deadlines we need to hit to make a show run smoothly. Hitting deadlines is very important for the event to run well. The most important pre-show deadline is 3 weeks before the date when organizers must give wonderville the show details.

time is expressed ala a space launch so "-1 week" means one week before and "+1 day" means the day after

• First the wonderville point person will find organizers and give them these notes

• after organizers are found and any previous show business with wonderville is concluded the point person will start an email thread with organizers and the wonderville staff

• 4-6 weeks ahead The organizers release an open call for performers

• 3-6 weeks ahead The organizers should begin creating promo material and selecting the lineup from applicants

• 3 Weeks before the deadline Organizers must submit the show details! Show Details Submission Form The form includes:

  • ticket price (minimum 10$) typically 10-20 sliding scale

  • Are you ticketing the entire bar or just the arcade?

  • completed run of show (list of performers in order with time estimates)

  • this means organizers need to finish Selecting Performers

    • Information on equipment and technical needs see Equipment and Backline

    • completed flyers and promo material

    • livecode.nyc social handles

    • Submit all of the info above to tinyurl.com/WondervilleEventBooking

  • please follow this format from the wonderville staff

• 2 to 4 weeks ahead of the show Promote the show!

• 1 to 3 days before The Organizers should have a plan for the following

  • Do you intend to stream?

    • If yes read streaming

  • Do you need extra logistics help from the community (carrying gear, helping first timers get sound out of sonic pi, etc)

• On the day of Organizers should arrive early but when exactly is up to them.

• Wonderville opens at 5:00PM Friday and 2:00PM Saturday, and generally cannot provide access any earlier.

  • Organizers may ask if there is a possibility of getting in sooner but that is at the full discretion of the wonderville staff. Please be respectful of their time!

  • tech checks!! When wonderville’s sound staff arrives organizers will need to work with them to test the setups with as many musicians and vis artists as is reasonable.

    • 100% completion on this is unlikely so prioritize new performers and complex setups (ie hardware synths)

  • Contact the door person and give them a list of names for the guest list. ensure that they are aware of our masking policy.

  • Perform! Have Fun!

  • Document the show as much or as little as feels good.

• After the last set: Wrap Up!!

  • clean up the stage

  • ask sound engineer if they need help

  • turn off the wonderville streaming setup if it’s in use

  • return any borrowed cables/adapters/etc

  • leave the space better than you found it 💖💖

• The Day after the show Collect any documentation

  • Provide a digital storage location for documentation!

  • return any borrowed gear

• Withing a week after the show distribute the ticket proceeds

The Wonderville Space

The Stage

The Stage at wonderville is 12 feet wide by 8 feet deep and approximately 18 inches above the arcade floor. It is backed by a sort of dome shape and is painted white to allow projection on.

The stage is not ADA accessible.

The Greenroom

The greenroom is located through the door to the house-right of the stage. The door is self-locking with a code. The Code will not be documented here for security reasons but several long-time livecode.nyc organizers know it as well as the sound and technical staff at wonderville.

The room is also wondervilles workshop and as such it is generally pretty crowded. It’s best if only a couple performers are in there at a time.

The greenroom is an addition onto the original building and is not climate controlled. It is generally safe from wind and rain but not temperature.

The Booth

The booth is located up the small spiral staicase at the back of the arcade. It is where the sound engineers mix from and also has the streaming PC.

Equipment and Backline

Wonderville lists their equipment here
some notable inclusions:

• Wonderville has one main stage projetor with HMDI available on-stage

• Wonderville has a collection of DI boxes which is the on-stage box that laptops and other "unbalanced" audio is sent to the sound system.

• Wonderville has microphones for organizers and/or performers to speak into

Notable Exlusions:

• Wonderville DOES NOT have a second projector for the musicians to show thier code. Organizers need to find a second one.

• Cameron (emptyflash) has a short-throw projector which was left for livecode to use. If you need to borrow one you can start there!

Performer Selection

Selecting the lineup is essentially at the discretion of the event organizers, but we do have some approximate guidelines. In broad stokes, a wonderville show should definitely have some open call slots, and efforts should be made to ensure a diverse lineup.

how many sets to book?

The number of sets to book is up to the organizers! Livecode.nyc has had very successful shows anywhere from 5 sets (with music and visuals each) up to 8. So they should consider what sort of show they want to run.

8 Is defeintely an upper limit and started to feel pretty overwhelming for past organizers. Additionally performers at shows that large have felt that the time slots were too cramped with that lage a show.

If there is a desire to run a big show consider ways to keep the performers from feeling too short on time. Maybe a dual line up with performers in the bar and/or back yard in addition to the arcade?

Format for the open call

Past roganizers have roughly settled on a questionaire to apply for a place in our shows. Generally this ends up being a google form but other options are fine so long as performers emails and names aren’t publicly visible.

The form should provide the following information to potential performers

• Date and time of the show

• Approximate number of performance slots

• Focus and/or themes for the show

• Wonderville is strictly 21+ including the performers, audience and guest list

• Performers will be paid an even cut of the ticket proceeds after expenses unless this is a benefit show

• Contact info for the organizers

• The space is ADA-accesible but the stage is not. Organizers can make accomodations if the step up to the stage is an issue

The open call should collect the following information from potential performers:

• Personal name(s) (meaning what they want to be called, does not need to be thier governmentally recognized name)

• Are you performing as a band/collective?

• if yes ask them to include contact and payment info for all the members.

• Is this form for Music, Visuals, or both

• Stage Name

• discord handle(s)

• email address(s)

• (optional) social links

• (optional) Do you consent to your photo/video being taken and posted to social media

• artist bio and/or description of the set they are planning to play

• Do the act need to be partnered with with the part they’re not playing? (ie a muscian in need of a visualist or vice versa)

• what is the audio and/or video output

• Something along the lines of "Do you identify as a member of a historically marginalized community?"

  • This helps with the selection process which is detailed below. Please make sure to include it.

  • In the case of our pride shows we’ve specified that the lineup is going to be only queer, and then asked if the applicant identifies as a gender or sexual minority.

  • a text box is preferable to a yes/no selection.

• "Did you sign up for a recent Wonderville show and were not booked?"

  • If someone signed up for a past show and was not booked please try to give them a slight priority over people who play with livecodenyc often

• Venmo or other payment mechanism

  • Don't forget this, collecting them after the fact is super tough

• A freeform "do you need any additional accommodation to perform?"

• A freeform "any other comments or questions?"

Suggestions on how to select performers

Selecting the performers for a show is up to the organizers! Curating a lineup, and pairing performers together is one of the most fun parts!

We do have some serious but approachable requirements for the lineups of these wonderville shows however

First, there must be an open call for a majority of the slots in a show. It’s cool to invite a specif act or maybe two but please ensure a fair open call for others.

Second, try to make sure that lineups always have some newer performers. New people are important and livecode.nyc has always endeavored to support them as best we can.
If you are unfamiliar with the people who responded to the open call consider asking previous organizers.

Third, the performers in the show should not be all all white or all men, almost none of our shows ever have been.
Ideally a lineup should not be all straight or all cis either but this is a slightly higher bar. But even then it’s a rare occurrence in recent years.

Fourth, if a performer has signed up previously and was not booked please consider giving them priority over acts that played more recently.

If initial responses to the open call seem insufficient for selecting a well rounded lineup (which can happen) organizers should consider re-announcing the call, and sending it via other communication channels. Additionally they can consider personally inviting performers to balance the lineup so long as that invite is respectful.
Don’t think of this as a policy to fulfill but as an opportunity to include the talented people who are often excluded from technology and art 🌱

If you’re organizing and nervous you shouldn’t be, livecode.nyc certainly inherits some demographic skew from the greater technology world but we strive to decolonize our shows and ourselves.

Promo

Resolutions and formats of promo material

Organizers should make at least one of each of the following:

• 1080x1080 image (instagram, required for wonderville)

• 1440x745 image (WithFriends the ticketing system, required for wonderville)

• 1024x512 image (twitter, required for wonderville)

• 1080x1920 vertical orientation moving video, ideally include some sound (tiktok, reels)

All flyers and formats should include the following

How to promote the show

• Post on social media (duh)

  • Ping @socials in our discord server to ask one of the regular socials managers to post on the livecode.nyc social media

• Provide performers the flyers and ask them to share it as well!

• Update the livecode.nyc website with the lineup and flyer!

• This can be slightly complicated so feel free to ping @websiteer in the discord to contact the members who update it frequently

• once the website is updated the event info will be automatically syndicated to anarchism.nyc and to the #calendar channel in discord.

• organizers have permissions to use @everyone in discord. Use this sparingly as it can ring a lot of cell phones. But show announcements are exactly what it’s for!

• Share the show details anywhere else you see fit! (within reason don’t put it on like 4chan or something)

CoC Monitoring and Enforcement

*TODO*

Masking Policy

For at least 2023 livecode.nyc has decided to make the wonderville shows masks-required. As an org we want to provide some masked activities in an effort to be more accessible.
We’ve met with somewhat middling success so far, this is a bar and people forget. It’s good to have MCs or organizers remind people throughout the evening.
Nobody should pick fights or attempt to remove audience members for not masking, but they can be reminded personally.
Wonderville has offered to provide masks at the door so long as the door person is informed.

Streaming

Wonderville has a permanent streaming setup with one overhead stage cam and board audio. There is a dedicated PC which has StreamLabs/OBs which are connected to Wonderville’s Twitch

If you want anything more complex than organizers should make sure to desegnate a stream operator. "more complex" here includes:
- livecode branding
- performer names and title cards
- streaming to services other than wonderville’s twitch account

Documentation

There isn’t a formal rule for documentation. Some shows book photographers and/or videographers some don’t. It’s up to the shoe organizers to book this if they want it. It is definitely okay for a show to not be completely documented.

Collecting documentation

In the past we’ve settled on dropping videos into google drives, but other storage options are acceptable. Organizers should definitely make this space available ASAP aftera a show, performers and audience members will ask.

Money

Wonderville provides the following deal:

• no bar minimum / no booking fee

• they obviously keep 100% of the bar sales

• door person is 15/hr paid out of the door take

• the sound engineer and security/ID checking is staffed by wonderville

• the remaining door take is split 60/40 with 60% going to the organizers for the show. Organizers who collect more than $600 in a year should expect to get a 1099 issued either via wonderville or venmo/paypal.

Artist Distribution

1 or 2 Organizers can receive the money from Wonderville and are then responsible for distributing it to performers. Some events have extra expenses like videographers, photographers, U-haul rentals, etc. These are usually taken "off the top" so long as they benefited the show evenly (ie all the performers were photographed)

We do generally pay organizers and other people significantly involved (stream operators, etc) for their effort. But prefer not to "double dip" (ie an person gets paid once as an organizer and again as a performer)
This is simply calculated as:

Amount due to each person = (Payout from Wonderille - Additional Costs) / Number of performers + organizers

So for example if we made $1000 after the split with wonderville, and had 10 performers and one additional organizer who did not perform. And the organizers spent $200 for videography services:

($1000 - $200) / 11 = $72.72

So each person should get $72.72

Benefit Shows

We have in the past run "benefit" shows were we give the money to some worthy cause. If the cause is a registered non-profit organizers can probably arrange for wonderville staff to send it to that cause directly. If not Organizers are responsible for conveying that money to the place it belongs.
If you are inclined to run a benefit show, you absolutely must make it clear to performers when they sign up that they are donating thier cut and you need to specify the cause.
Livecode.nyc takes paying our artists seriously even when it’s "not that much money" Show proceeds are still the direct monetary output of the performer’s and organizer’s labor and should be treated with the respect that is due.

"donating to livecode.nyc" is not really a thing

We’ve had performers decline thier cut in the past but it’s not ideal for a few reasons.
Livecode.nyc does not currently have a legal, taxable entity, nor a bank account or other mechanism for storing money. Organizers should insist as much as possible that the money be given to the artists. We don’t have a way to take "donations" like this and it’s much fairer to simply distribute the money.

Names and Definitions

The document is written to be fairly generic so here is a quick glossary of who or what is meant by a particular name

Wonderville People

Here are some of the names you may see in emails or irl. No guarantees they will be working with a particular show but can be a handy reference.