Covent Garden Street Performers: What you didn’t know
Covent Garden is a tourist attraction in the city of London, and like many tourist attractions it has its own street performers. The official name for these performers is ‘The Covent Garden Piazza Street Performers’. These are people who perform on the streets of Covent Garden and there are between 5 and 10 of them performing at any one time. In this blog we’re going to take a look at what you may not have known about these street performers.
Who are they?
According to an article in The Guardian newspaper, these Covent Garden street performers come from all over the world! There are performers from places as far apart as Australia and Japan, but some come from even further afield than that – places like Costa Rica and Kenya! The article also mentions that some of them have been performing for more than 20 years!
What do they do?
These performers are not just any old buskers. They’re highly trained professionals who are usually graduates of specialist circus schools! There are jugglers, acrobats and people who do other kinds of acts that don’t easily fit into any category. For example there’
If you’ve ever walked through Covent Garden, you’ll probably have noticed the street performers. They’re all over the place and entertaining crowds of tourists and Londoners alike. However, there is more to these performers than meets the eye. Here are some interesting facts about them:
1. There is a process you must go through to become a street performer in Covent Garden. You can’t just turn up and start performing as that would be chaos! If you want to become a Covent Garden street performer, you must go on a waiting list and perform for the entertainment company that runs Covent Garden. If they like what they see then you get a slot; if not, it’s back on the waiting list for you!
2. It’s not just singers that perform on the streets of Covent Garden; there are also jugglers, magicians, mime artists, dancers and many more. There are even animal acts such as dogs jumping through hoops or monkeys riding skateboards!
3. Some of these people are famous! One of the best known street performers was Michael Jackson (yes, THAT Michael Jackson) before he became famous when he used to breakdance in Covent Garden with
London is known for its iconic Tube stations, world-famous landmarks and parks, and of course its street performers. The majority of tourists who visit London each year will be familiar with the buskers in the Covent Garden area. However, there are a lot of things you might not know about these performers…
1) The Performers Are Licensed
Those who perform in the Covent Garden area need to gain a license from the local authority. This is because their performances in public areas can be seen as a form of advertising for their shows. Each performer also has to have public liability insurance, which covers them for any accidents that happen during their shows and protects the public from injury too.
2) Some Performers Are Famous
There are plenty of famous faces who have performed as part of the Covent Garden street act over the years. These include singer Adele, comedian Eddie Izzard and magician Derren Brown!
3) Performers Come From All Over The World
Many of Covent Garden’s performers come from all four corners of the globe, including America, Australia and even Africa! One such act includes The Oki Doki Band, a group of musicians that hail from Croatia. Their unique sound makes them a
Over the past few years I’ve become a bit of a regular at the street performers in Covent Garden. I love to be entertained, and like a lot of people, I can’t afford to pay the price of a West End ticket every month. So, in the absence of any other ideas, the streets of Covent Garden become my stage.
Here are some things you probably didn’t know about the street performers in Covent Garden:
The first thing is that they are all buskers. Buskers are street entertainers who perform for money (from passers-by). They don’t get paid by anyone else, so if you see them, please consider dropping something in their hat or bucket. It isn’t easy making a living out on the streets. Many of them have been doing it as long as they can remember and they have families to feed too; many others are young and trying to make a name for themselves.
The second thing is that they aren’t allowed to set up just anywhere. There are designated areas where they can perform (and therefore collect money) which can be found here: https://www.londonparksandgardens.org/things-to-do
I’m sure you’ve all been to Covent Garden at some point in your lives and have seen the street performers and their acts of juggling, acrobatics, singing and dancing. But do you ever wonder who they are, where they’re from and how they came to be performing in the streets? I did, so I decided to find out all I could about these amazing people, and here’s what I discovered.
The performers at Covent Garden are actually all members of Equity, a trade union that represents over 40,000 actors and other performers. They are also part of the Street Performers Action Group (SPAG), which was founded in 1997 by a few of the street performers who wanted to have more control over their performances. Nowadays SPAG has grown into an organisation that consists of around 120 members who perform at places all over London including Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and St James’s Park.
In order to perform as a street performer in Covent Garden you need to audition – yes audition – with SPAG! The auditions take place twice a year (usually in March and September) so that new acts can be added to the roster. All those that audition are asked to
In this blog post, we will be looking at the street performers in Covent Garden and some of their stories.
The Piazza attracts many talented artists from all over the world and they are able to perform on a daily basis to crowds of people. The performances are very entertaining and are a great way of spending your time if you live in London or if you’re visiting. Some of the artists have been performing in Covent Garden for over 10 years and we wanted to find out more about them!
The first artist we spoke to was Michael, he is a violinist from Croatia and has been performing in Covent Garden for over 5 years. His favourite part about his job is that he is able to perform for people every day and he loves the atmosphere of the area. He told us that when people walk past him they often think it’s a recording but then they realise it’s him playing and they often come back with their friends to see him again!
We also spoke to musician Brian who has been performing in Covent Garden for over 10 years. He plays the guitar as well as singing along to his songs. He said that he loves being able to perform at such a beautiful location everyday and making money whilst he does!
My name is Nicola and I am the Street Entertainment Administration Officer at Covent Garden Piazza. I’m going to tell you a little bit about what really goes on behind the scenes of the market.
As you may or may not know, Covent Garden is one of London’s busiest tourist attractions, therefore we have a variety of acts performing here every day. These acts are all very different but they have one thing in common; they are all extremely talented and unique.
We have a mix of different genres of performers here, ranging from street theatre to musicians to jugglers and acrobats. One thing that is important to note when talking about street entertainment is that it is not just a hobby for these performers; this is their job. They work very hard and travel all around the world performing at various locations. Some of them even make a living doing this – imagine that!
There are some acts that have been performing with us for years, such as The London Bell Ringers or The Covent Garden Comedy Club. Others come along to perform with us for a few days at a time before moving on to another country or another location in London.