(LONDON) An article in The Guardian examines where the streets have no change - and how buskers are surviving in cashless times.A recent hot topic, the article asks is it time performers turned to contactless readers? After all, dropping coins in a hat is increasingly, well, old hat.

Speaking of hats, they're down in London. Again, society is changing. Spending our money is much more convenient nowadays using plastic rather than carrying around coins and notes. Americans have gone plastic for decades but now it's becoming more of a world-wide trend.

For buskers, touchless card readers are now "the thing" since people are carrying around a lot less cash. With plastic, even if you get robbed right there on the street in broad daylight, the poor crook doesn't have access to your PIN number(s)....

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(LONDON) Where's the best place in London can you catch buskers, shop, eat, play, work, and live?
"Since the 1660s Covent Garden has never missed a chance to put on a performance. The first record of Covent Garden street entertainment came in 1662 when Samuel Pepys’ diary notes that a marionette show featuring a character named Punch took place on the Piazza. It's the home of London street performers today."A shopping and entertainment hub in London's West End, Covent Garden centres on the elegant, car-free Piazza, home to fashion stores, craft stalls at the Apple Market, and the Royal Opera House. Street entertainers perform by 17th-century St. Paul’s Church and the London Transport Museum houses vintage vehicles. Upscale restaurants serve European cuisines and nearby theatres draw cro...

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I have made a home for myself on Pacific Ave as well as the Boardwalk. It's tough to get people to pay attention though. The areas are so small and congested with performers doing the exact same thing as me. I feel like the amount of talent I have is irrelevant in that situation. People can only take so many guys with guitars before they get bored. I've started looking at other cities to take my show. It's time to hit the road. I think a fresh street will do me some good.

(SHARJAH) Get ready for the world's largest performing arts festival running from January 16 to February 1, 2020! Sharjah is a place known for it's arts and crafts and is the cultural capital of the UAE.For 17 days, the emirate's streets and theatres will come alive with buskers, circus pros, artists, clowns, mimes and world-class performers featuring over 600 shows and thousands of hours of pure entertainment. Over 50 international acts are to perform.

The first of it's kind in the arab world, it's being billed as a fringe festival to include as many performers as possible.

By hosting the festival in Sharjah, the event wants to send a message that Sharjah is 'a city of choice'. The city wants the 200 plus nationalities residing in the UAE to connect with the global language of arts. At the same time, Sharjah...

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(TEXAS) Austin is using a bankroll of $150,000 in private funds from site developer Trammel Crow to create a Busking Pilot Program in the new Green Water development in the Seaholm District downtown.“Busking is a hugely overlooked art form. From it, you can gain exposure, a surprisingly diverse fan base, other paid performance opportunities, paid practice time in front of a live audience, and perhaps make enough to live on. Many benefits can be gained from an underrated thing such as street performance if you really work at it. It is definitely something that every artist should take advantage of especially where it is open for anyone and everyone.”

The music office plans to pay musicians to perform at the development each weekend for a full year. They are currently accepting applications from street mus...

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