A new initiative is looking to hire buskers for Saskatoon’s Broadway district, to give them a place to perform during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The initiative is being spearheaded by The Better Good; the store is looking to hire performance artists to liven up the street this summer.
It’s paying $400 to established artists — such as singers, musicians and poets — to put on a show for at least an hour every weekend.
“We’re trying to bring people who would really like to get out there and show what they can do but don’t have the option to do it right now for pay,” explained owner Cory Neufeld.
“What I’m really looking for is the community to then support them … that they give generously when they see them on the street.”
Musician Malika Sellami helped Neufeld come up with the idea, he said.
“In the last year, performing artists and musicians, we’ve all been kind of struggling getting money out of our art,” Sellami told Global News.
“Performing in front of a screen is very different … that symbiosis that you get with the audience, it really fuels the performer so this is lacking a little bit in our life.”
Performances will start in June and go until the end of August, according to Neufeld.
“The opportunity to go see something like the Jazz festival, that not being there, it really impacts our ability to connect with something else,” he said.
“Bringing a sort of festival environment to the everyday is really powerful.”
Anyone interested in busking can contact The Better Good.
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