How Much Does it Cost to Produce a Pole or Aerial Show? Maximalist Local Venue

Putting on a pole dance or aerial showcase or creating a production (competitive or noncompetitive) in your own community at a local venue outside of your studio can be a daunting task full of potential expenses.

This post is specifically about producing a show in a local venue outside of a studio, at the high end – presuming you are spending a lot of money and potentially making the maximum amount of money.

Who is in your show?

If you choose to put on a show rather than a competition, you may have to run auditions to cast your show.

If you choose to run a competition, you may have people simply sign up online or go through some sort of process (digital or physical) to decrease the number of competitors.

If you want to open casting to additional members of the community, you’ll have to rent a space suitable for auditions, like a local studio or theater space. If you’re hosting open auditions you will also have to be clear on if performers need to provide their own equipment or if you will be providing equipment, and get insurance accordingly.

These estimates presume buying all new equipment, which you can depreciate over time.

• Studio Rental: $40 – $50/hr, lets estimate auditions run 2 hours = $80-$100
• Stage Pole: $1000
• Aerial Silks + Rigging: 107.25 (13 yards of fabric)  + 88 (carabiner, swivel, carabiner, rescue 8 set up) + 41.40 (round sling to attach to structure) = $236.65
• Lyra + Rigging: 249 (34 inch tabless lyra) + 91 (round sling, carabiner, swivel, carabiner set up) + 8.95 (shaft collar to keep round sling from slipping) + 41.40 (round sling to attach to structure) = $390.35
• Crash mat for aerial work: $170

Total: At least $1,897 (assuming wherever you rent is rated for rigging from the structure, otherwise add about $4,000 for a portable rig).

Renting or purchasing a truss system (to safely install poles and aerial equipment) can cost thousands of dollars and require specific contractors to install and uninstall.

Contracts and Rehearsals

Once you have your cast secure, you’ll want to send contracts to your performers outlining expectations. These contracts protect both you and the performer and set expectations for the duration of the planning and presentation process.

Contracts could outline when and where rehearsals are, how much performers and understudies are getting paid for rehearsal hours, if there is specific studio time set aside for solo acts to rehearse and when group acts are rehearsing.

Contracts should also stipulate who is providing the costume–you or the performer. If you provide the costume, is the performer keeping it? Don’t be surprised if some of the talent you’d like to retain can’t accept the contract due to other gigs or can’t take the wage you’re able to offer.

• Venue rental for rehearsal time: $40-$50/hr X 4 hours per week X 12 weeks to put on a show = $1,920-$2,400
• Pay performers for rehearsal time: $50/hour X 3 hours per week (assuming performers can miss a few rehearsals for other obligations) X 12 weeks to put on the show = $1,800 per performer
• Costumes/wigs: $400 per performer

If there are 8 performers in your show, costuming could cost up to $3,200.

For rehearsals. assume everyone is helping each other with rigging and stagehand work. That brings your rehearsal total to $16,800 over 12 weeks of rehearsals (cost per week is only $1,400.)

You could choose to pay performers less for rehearsal time; however, if you drop that price too much many professionals will have to turn down the opportunity.

If running a competition, you would not have any rehearsal costs.

Advertising and Marketing

You’ve put all this work into getting your show together, gathering your equipment, your cast, your crew, now it’s time to gather your audience.

If you’re putting on a show large enough to warrant renting a theater, you’re likely going to need to advertise beyond the performers’ friends and family (the people most likely to make up a showcase audience).

• Ads on Meta: $1-$1000 per day, based how many profiles you want to reach
• Printed local news paper: $569-$21,335 per week, depending on ad size
• Online with local newspaper: $500-$600 per month
• Classifieds Ad with local newspaper: $50-$500 per run, depending on size

These numbers are very variable, and don’t even take into account things like advertising on podcasts, radio, or television nor do they include labor time to hire a public relations company (it relevant) and/or have a graphic designer create any visuals.

Tickets

Now that you’ve put in all that work, found your cast, practiced the show, spread the word, threw in all your blood, sweat, tears, and glitter, it’s time to price your tickets.

You’ll need to figure out how much renting your venue costs and what comes with that rental.

Some venues will require you to use their light and sound techs which may be included in the venue rental or may be a separate cost.

Theaters have different pricing structures. Some will charge a flat rate, others a flat rate plus a percentage of ticket sales, some just a percentage of ticket sales. Once you have this information you’ll price your tickets accordingly.

When picking a venue, consider the location and consider what it offers. If it has a built in truss structure, that could save some money!

Most venues also require you to have appropriate insurance. Some may even have requirements about security or other unexpected fees. Make sure to ask questions!

Night of the Show

You’re going to have at least one show, potentially more.

Theater rental is a huge variable. If you have a showcase, you will have to pay your performers, if running a competition, you won’t pay competitors but you will pay staff to run the show.

Estimating a 2 hour show with intermission:

Performance: $100/hour X 2 hours X 8 performers = $1,600 per show

Theater rental + 3 staff from venue: $1,100 (numbers are from a community center, other venues will vary)

At least $2,700 per night, not including any additional insurance you may need to purchase.

Ticket sales: $40/ticket X 200 seats = $8,000 per sold out show, every night

You have an earning potential of $8,000,if the rental agreement with the venue states you keep all ticket revenue.

Adding it All Up

If you went BIG with this show, purchased a stage pole, silk + rigging, lyra + rigging, crash mat, rented a studio for each rehearsal, had every performer attend every rehearsal, rented out a 200 seat theater for the night of the show and spent $500 on advertising, we will also throw in another $1,200 into this budget for incidentals which brings our total spend to…..drumroll….. $21,897 to put on one show; $24,597 if you put on two shows, $27,297 if you put on three shows and $29,997 if you put on 4 shows.

(The equation breakdown: $23,597 + $2,700(number of shows) = total spent. Since we are going maximal here, we are assuming every show is a sold out show and you keep all ticket sales so you’re making $8,000(number of shows) = earnings)

With this math, you would have to put on at least 4 shows and sell out the venue each time to make even a little profit ($23,597 + $2,700(5) = $37,097; $8,000(5)= $40,000; $40,000-$37,097=$2,903).

But remember, the more shows you have, the more tickets you need to sell.

Selling out a 200-seat theater is extremely challenging for your first show. 

Is your local audience large enough to justify these costs?

The purpose of this post was to look at the higher end of running some sort of aerial production, costs will vary dramatically depending on how you choose to run it as well as venue and rigging costs.

Competitions can cost less because you are not paying performers. Paying performers for rehearsal time might be something you choose not to do for your first show. There are plenty of ways to get some of these costs down, but that’s for another post!