Hi! Thanks so much for agreeing to be a special guest at Moving Voices.
Here is some information for you, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask in the group chat or by emailling jani@thearthousesouthampton.co.uk
You should by now have been added to a group chat on Facebook messenger, if you are an Facebook, otherwise we’ll arrange another way to stay in touch with you.
Info in advance
Please send us a bio, a photo we can use and make sure we know your performance name if it is different to your everyday name, and please also let us know your pronouns. We’ll also ask you to voice note your name if we haven’t met you before, to check our host pronounces it correctly – we do this for everyone as it’s dodgy to assume we know how to pronounce a name! If you need help writing a bio, check out our blog post about this here and ask if you’re stuck.
Also, if you have any access needs, please just make us aware – we also have lots of accessibility info about the space here. The event is on our ground floor, the stage is about 50cm high so if you need assistance getting onto the stage or need to perform offstage, we can sort this out. Performers can be seated or standing.
Tickets and guest list
You don’t need to book a ticket for yourself and can bring 1 guest, just let us know for numbers.
We can cover travel expenses including parking costs – the quickest way is to make sure you have a receipt and bring it with you so we can give you the cash, otherwise please photograph your receipt and send it along with your payment details to accounts@thearthousesouthampton.co.uk
Expenses
If you can’t cover your costs and claim them back afterwards, and need need travel costs in advance, this can be arranged, please let us know. Please also ask if you incur any other expenses so that we can arrange for you to claim them.
Arrival time and tech
If you’re performing in person and just need a mic, please arrive around 6.30pm so we have a chance to say hi and get you settled. If you can’t make it that early, just let us know.
If you have a backing track or instrument, please do arrive by 6.15pm so we can sound check quickly. Any tech questions, please just ask!
Set length
Most guest slots are 15-20 minutes, we may have agreed a slightly different slot with you to suit your material.
Subject matter
As poetry, spoken word and music is often personal and vulnerable, this event assumes that potentially triggering topics may arise and the audience has been made aware of that. The event is aimed at an adult audience and adult themes and language often happen, as do controversial topics. We hold space for radical change and are accustomed to hearing less mainstream views, as well as being actively pro-queer, pro-black, anti-state-violence and anti-oppression. Our guideline is to ‘punch up’ and consider the target of any jokes, criticism or satire to ensure that we are not harming those with less privilege than the person performing – in short punching N@z1 jokes are fine, we’ll laugh, small dick jokes are body shaming and transphobic and we won’t.
We aim to platform a variety of voices here at The Art House, however, intolerant views and slurs* will not be tolerated – racism, misogyny, ableism, ageism, homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia, r*pe jokes, jokes about harming children or joking about violence towards animals is not OK. If you’re worried about anything you intend to perform, please just ask and we can talk it through.
*Reclaimed slurs are absolutely allowed, though, go for it.
Timing
Doors open at 7pm and the open mic starts at 7.30pm, with a break around 8.30pm. Special guests usually go on between 8.45pm and 10pm and we usually have time for a couple of open micers to return at the end. Please let us know if you need to get away early to catch a train or any other reason, we’ll sort something out as we can be flexible.
Changing
We have space for you to change and do makeup if you need to before and after your perforamnce, also a quiet space upstairs if you need time out to warm up or prepare.
Filming and photography
We live stream this event to an online audience via Zoom and a recording is usually available, barring tech failure which does sometimes happen! We also like to live stream sections of the evening to our social media and take photographs to share on various platforms. You are welcome to use any of the footage of you and your performance, giving us credit where possible.
We understand that people have differing levels of comfort with being seen online, so if you have any concerns please chat to us in advance so that we can respect your privacy and agency on this.
