(CHRISTCHURCH) Comedians, daredevils, dancers, singers and acrobats will hit the streets in January to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the World Buskers Festival. Fifty-five performers representing 14 countries will descend on the city for the annual 10-day festival from January 18-28.To celebrate 25 years, there will be five headline shows. After making it through to the America’s Got Talent final last year, The Boy with Tape on His Face is coming home to premier his new ideas. Urzila Carlson will perform her new show Unacceptable and the Topp Twins will entertain the crowds with their classic Kiwi humour. A Night at the Musicals, featuring Le Gateau Chocolat, will bring musical entertainment, as will Crossdresser for Christ, featuring Ginger Minj from RuPaul’s Drag Race.

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(SEATTLE) It takes one glance any day of the week to see lots of buskers performing at Seattle, Washington's Pike Place Market. The popular and colorful water-front marketplace is alive and well.Busker Central reporters recently visited the scene and observed that street-performers were literally on every block. Pianos, guitars, saxophones, and clarinets were all making music leaving the possibility wide open for larger circle shows. Although the pitches are now permitted, some performers had been busking the market for over 10 years.

A huge tourist mecca, Pike Place Market is also home to the first Starbucks coffee shop. The line to enjoy a cup of java was well outside the door and down the block. Beside the line, a guitarist was busy performing classic rock songs and really seemed to be enjoying himself. Down...

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(WWW) Contrary to popular belief, it's probably better to have no talent whatsoever when first starting off busking. This is great news for those just starting.If you want to get involved with busking but don't know where to start, this information will prove invaluable to you. However, if you're a musician of several years, you'll probably want to use your talent to produce music.

Musicians are the most popular, the most talented, and least paid. Unless you have professional tapes and cd's produced ready to sell, the muse faces the task of entertaining a walk-by audience for tips then selling cd's. The best pass the hat. Musicians take years to perfect their craft. Some stay with it and become excellent artists while many give up and pursue other venues. Musicians also usually sing so they must...

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(SACRAMENTO) Watch out San Francisco. The California capital is taking measures to encourage buskers and street-performers to entertain their fair city. Dozens of new murals have been painted on buildings around midtown and new legislation allows for more of the performing arts both inside and out.Buskers were once pushed out of Sacramento and other downtown areas pressured by frustrated business owners and residents who complained about the noise or said the musicians were blocking sidewalks. But as Sacramento’s urban core continues to develop and momentum continues in the local creative community, bringing back the buskers has become a hot topic around town.

The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission as well as the Creative Economy Pilot Project will soon receive funding for projects over the next two y...

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The Galway, Ireland busking community has published their own code of conduct ahead of the implementation of city council bylaws to regulate the activity. The code is being launched as part of the ‘We Support Friendly Busking’ campaign.Galway Buskers Community argues there is no need for busking bylaws, stating its new document promotes positive and responsible practices among street performers.

The group is also promoting a new slogan ‘Our Art, Our Streets, Our Responsibility’.

The initiative aims to improve the relationship between buskers and the business community with focus areas including noise levels, duration of performances and crowd obstruction.

The group says any move to rollout bylaws or permits would seriously impact Galway’s reputation as a major arts and culture hub. New bylaws to...

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