How to do an event

All inquiries must be sent to booking@yeswecannibal.org

Important Documents (PDFs)

Read these Basics first

  1. As of March 2023, we get approximately five inquiries a week about doing something at YWC. Our ethos is that we try to say yes unless there’s a good reason not to, including schedule conflicts, or the unavailability of someone from YWC to run sound.
  2. We are a DIY space. We are generally not the right place for people trying to start businesses, artist management companies, or host events built around selling things. We like to work with artists and performers directly.
  3. YWC does not ever charge door. We do, encourage you to solicit donations using both a QR code for Venmo, CashApp, etc, as well as cash donations. If you’re a musical performer, you can also sell merchandise. Please don’t use the phrase “suggested donation” – all our fliers for touring musicians say “Tour Support Gifts Strongly Encouraged #ArtIsLabor.”
  4. For musical events, we very strongly encourage you to have someone posted at the door with the fishbowl we use for cash donations and the foam-core placard with a Venmo QR code and approach each person coming in about making a donation. Most people will happily do so if they can.
  5. For musical events, we ask that you use our Venmo QR code and make sure to give us a report of any extra cash donations. We send the entirety of all Venmo donations to you, but it’s important for us to be able to track what’s coming in, since we’re always trying to improve artist donations.
  6. We welcome business sponsorship for touring performers. We are grateful to locals like The Radio Bar and Capital City Records who have done this before. We ask that you approach other businesses about this kind of sponsorship and be sure to include their logo on all promo materials if they agree to do so. 
  7. We are primarily a gallery and we personally curate most of our longer exhibitions, mostly with mid-career artists. But we are periodically open to shorter art events based on a strong proposal. We don’t typically respond (due to time constraints) to notes from individual artists who just ask – “how can I show there”
  8. The fastest way to get a response is to come to an event and talk to us directly. Second best is to email us. The third best (and admittedly most likely to get lost in the mix) is to message us on Instagram.
  9. If you want to do a music event, the most effective way to make it happen is put together a bill and send that list to us, including Bandcamp, Soundcloud, or other streaming links.
  10. Most importantly – we depend on people who make use of YWC as a free space to act as ambassadors for our Patreon. We depend on Patreon subscribers to do this project and we strongly request that you spread the word to anyone you know who may be able to become a subscriber.

The most effective proposals include a good description of who you are, what you want to do, and specific dates you have in mind. Proposals that get our name wrong, don’t seem familiar with what Yes We Cannibal does, or seem to be sent by people who’ve never been here are rarely effective.

General Planning

  1. Press: If you do an event at YWC, advance notice and planning helps very much. We send a press release to about 35 publications on the 10th of the month before events take place. For instance, for events happening in April, a press release goes out on March 10th.We will happily promote you on our social media and include you on our paper calendars but the best-attended events are heavily promoted by the people showing work or performing. If you have organized your own bill, please make a flier and get it to us at your earliest convenience.
  2. Parking: it is imperative that no-one park on the East side of 16th Street. If you are in charge of an event, you must make sure this rule is followed carefully to respect our neighbors

Art Exhibitions

  1. Gallery Shows: We depend on all exhibiting artists to be responsible for spackling and painting after deinstalling.
  2. Gallery Sitting: We also ask that artists take responsibility for gallery hours whenever possible, either themselves or through friends and volunteers.
  3. Retrieving Work After Show:. Please do not plan to leave work behind for later pickup except under exceptional circumstances and never without prior arrangement
  4. Documentation: Artists are responsible for arranging their own documentation and submitting it to us for our website archive. Please send documentation to gallery@yeswecannibal.org.

Music Events

  1. Timing: We do not schedule music events on Wednesdays unless they begin after 10pm. We have recurring events and are  usually unavailable on 2nd Friday evenings, 1st Sundays, and 3rd Mondays.
  2. Technical Specs: We use a 12 track analogue mixer (Samson TM500 12 Channel 250 watt) that is output into a very simple USB interface which then runs to two powered speakers (Yamaha DBR12 1,000W 12 inch). We have a single subwoofer as well as many cables and mics, on hand including a wireless mic set. Please be sure to let us know in advance what your outputs into the board are and if you are intending to record from the board – we have a direct digital line from our USB interface to an desktop mac to record into Adobe Audition and we’re happy to help when possible.
  3. Soundcheck: Our gallery is basically a box with concrete floors, two big windows and lightly insulated walls. However, a lot of work has been put into sound-treating it successfully. Professional composer Austin Franklin helped us to map the sound-waves in the gallery and create two properly placed sound panels. We also have two moving blankets sewn into marine fabric as window curtains, and an area rug for drums. Well-practiced musicians are always very good at understanding how to adjust their output to the room. Newer musicians do well when they budget some extra time to adjust their practice levels to the room. If they do, they can get a great sound so we strongly encourage musical performers to prioritize sound-checking and  adjusting their levels to get the sound they want. 

This page will be updated over time. Please  reach out with any questions to booking@yeswecannibal.org

Last update: March 28, 2023