Putting on a traveling pole dance or aerial circus can be a huge and daunting task full of potential expenses.

This post is specifically about producing a show that travels and brings all its equipment with it.

Traveling

For the other types of shows we’ve talked about, traveling hasn’t been a topic, but for a traveling show it’s going to be the main expense.

There are many things to consider such as:

• How is your group traveling?
• Do you already have a van big enough for everyone and everything?
• Are you renting a vehicle?
• Will you be traveling by train and relying on public transit once you get to a particular city?

Depending on the size of your equipment, public transit to and around cities may not be a feasible option. You will likely have to rent or own a van or a bus to get everyone around. Caravans, like the ones bands signed to labels use, are prohibitively expensive, so we are going to say this circus is traveling around in two 8-person vans to ensure space for performers and equipment.

For mileage, we mapped out the first 20 stops of a representative band’s spring 2024 tour as an estimate that could be applied to a traveling pole or aerial troupe. Tolls vary widely. The US East coast has so many tolls, some are variable tolls (depending on traffic) so tolls will be included in the “incidentals” estimate in the final add up.

• Cost to buy 2 8-person vans: approx $80,000
• Cost to rent a vehicle 2 SUVs from Rent-a-Wreck: $3,500 (including insurance!)
• Mileage: $0.70/mile (factors in gas and wear and tear); estimated 6,000 miles; $4,200
• Tolls: in incidentals

If you’re buying vehicles for transport and if the 8-person traveling circus troupe will do more than one tour, that price can be depreciated over time and get some tax benefits.

Who will be in your show?

Assume you are a traveling circus troupe that started as friends and advanced students.

If you ever need to cast anyone, you have people submit video auditions instead of holding auditions in person. You require that artists either move to or visit your city for group training/rehearsal. The only thing you have to spend on casting is your time.

Contracts and Rehearsals

Yes, you need contracts. Probably more so than the other situations.

This time, we assume you’ve come up with a creative trade for training time with studios you’re visiting, so venue rental will be $0, but this time we are paying our 8 performers and 2 crew members.

• Venue rental for rehearsal time: $0 (scrappy trade)
• Pay performers for rehearsal time: $50 /hr, X 2 hours week X 4 weeks = $400 per performer; $3,200
• Costumes/wigs: provided by performer-outline this in the contract

Total cost: $9,600

Marketing and Advertising

For a traveling show, something less location specific like ads on Meta and posted by the venues you’re visiting are going to be best. Ads on Meta can be $1-$1000 a day for as many days as you’d like. The venue will likely advertise your shows as well because they want revenue too.

Total cost: $1-$1000 a day

Tickets

This is going to vary greatly by location. Start a conversation with the venues you are renting to see what their ticket prices generally run and what the revenue split will be.

Venues will also likely require you to have insurance.

Night of the Show

Since this is a traveling show, the estimate for the show is 90 minutes including a 15 minute intermission and presume there was a work trade for studio rental for the night of the show.

The venue has all the rigging, you’ve brought all your equipment, and the venue workers are all volunteers. This means your show night is 100% income for you. Don’t forget still need to pay performers

If you’re renting a studio, we are going to assume a smaller audience and lower ticket prices slightly. We will estimate a 65 person audience and charge $35 per ticket. We will assume this for each city on your 20 city tour.

Pay performers for performance time: $75/hr, X 2 hours show X 20 shows X 8 performers = $24,000

Max income: $2,275  less any processing fees per show; $45,500 less processing fees for the whole tour.

Adding it All Up

If the tour lasts 30 days, the troupe is only performing 20 times to account for travel days. Everyone sleeps in the van or crashes with friends/hosts in each city for free, adding an extra $3,000 for incidentals (since you’re on the road), and spending $500 on advertising. For this tour, you are renting two vans from Rent-A-Wreck (yes, this is a real rental company) for $3,500 and spending $4,200 on mileage.

Performer payment costs $3,200 for rehearsals, and $24,000 for performances. That means for the scrappiest traveling show, labor costs are at least $38,400 (this also presumes that there is no separate tour manager or driver or other administrative person helping).

If you sell out every show on your tour, you’ll make $45,000, leaving potentially $7,100 to re-invest in your next show.

Remember, these numbers are very idealistic, we are assuming nothing goes wrong (van breaks down, someone gets injured, etc.) and you’re spending the minimum, and every single show sells out.

Often, putting on shows is very much a labor of love.

There are funding opportunities such as grants that can assist with costs. Check out our post here on grants.