Programming Guide

Programming Guide

Bringing a Performer or Lecturer to Campus

If you are interested in bringing a performer to campus, please see the staff in the Student Activities Office.

Please bring to that meeting the following information:

  • Performer’s name
  • Agent’s name
  • Agent’s phone number
  • Agent’s fax number
  • Agent’s mailing address
  • Performer’s W-9 tax form
  • Performer’s tax ID number
  • Performer’s social security number

Below please find an overview of the processes which will ensue at or follow this meeting. Review them for your knowledge.

Formal Bidding

A formal bid is required when the offer of compensation from the College is a substantial sum, the performer is widely-desired and/or the performer or agency requests it.

The bid takes the form of a letter written on Bowdoin letterhead addressed to the performer and/or his or her agency that specifies what the College expects from the artist and what the artist can expect in return. This letter must be signed by a Program Advisor or the Director of Student Life.

Once a bid is submitted, the artist or agency has a designated window of time during which the artist can accept or reject the offer before it expires. If the bid is accepted, although it is non-binding, the agency agrees to hold the date for Bowdoin while the more complex contracting begins.

Contracting

All guests to Bowdoin must enter into a contract with the College before they receive payment.

Bowdoin has two different contract templates which you can be edit, with the help of a Program Advisor, according to the nuances of your event:

  1. Performance Contract- This is a full-length contract used for most performers.
  2. Guest Performance Agreement- This is a more concise contract used for low-risk performers (lecturers, DJs, monologue actors, some instructors).

Your final contract must be signed by a Program Advisor or the Director of Student Life. A particularly “high-risk” contract will undergo several rounds of review taking approximately two weeks.

Your contract may be supplemented by similar documents drafted on behalf of the artist’s legal representation. When this occurs, make certain to check for conflicts between the two contracts and attempt to remove them. Regardless, make sure that the supplemental contract is stamped with a Subordination Clause which will make the Bowdoin contract superior in the legal realm.

Your contract may also be supplemented by a contract rider in which all the minutia of the show are negotiated including technical requirements and hospitality items. Once signed, the contract rider is a binding agreement.

Paying the Performer

In order to begin the payment process, you must fill out an Accounts Payable Voucher. You can do this with the help of a Program Advisor in the Student Activities Office. You will need the following information:

  • Signed Performance Contract or Guest Performance Agreement
  • Performer’s mailing address
  • Performer’s W-9 tax form
  • Performer’s tax ID number
  • Performer’s social security number
  • 6-digit project number for the sponsoring club or organization
  • SAFC funding approval

An Accounts Payable Voucher must be submitted to the Student Activities Office by 5 p.m. on Monday in order to be processed for check pick-up the following Thursday after 3 p.m.

If current Bowdoin students have been contracted for their services as DJs, graphic designers or instructors, an Invoice for Student DJ Services or Entertainment, an Invoice for Design Services or the Invoice for Instructors must be included with the Accounts Payable Voucher respectively.