Mimes, musicians, painters or fire swallowers – you can meet all of them on Wroclaw Market Square in spring and summer. Their performances are open to everybody – no tickets or invitations are required, and artists evaluate their work on a pay-as-you-please basis (you can throw a coin or banknote into their hat).
You’re doing something interesting? Show it!
City clerks declare that the Wroclaw Old Town is open to all kinds of artistic activity. However, each artist has to obtain a permission before he turns up with a hat on the market square and starts to play or paint. The said permission is issued free of charge.
The first thing that an artist aspiring for a place on the Market Square should do is to visit the Department of Culture of the City Council of Wroclaw at ul. Gabrieli Zapolskiej 4 (room 304). There he will obtain an application form that he should fill in and submit to the secretariat. The application should contain the artist’s personal data, mailing address, contact details and a short description of the kind of presentation. It is also necessary to state the time of performance (the permission for artists debuting on the Wroclaw Market Square is valid for 2 weeks, and others are allowed to perform for one month) and choose a location from among 13 places on the Market Square and neighbouring areas specified in the application.
If the applicant is under 18 years’ old, a statement and contact details of parents or guardians are also required.
Artistic message and its reception by city inhabitants
Not all kinds of artistic expression can be presented in the Wroclaw Old Town. Making use of amplifiers or an additional sound system is certainly prohibited. A brass quintet or a drummer letting off steam on his instruments also has little chance of obtaining a permission, because such presentations arouse not only interest, but also resistance and reluctance. There are no prior auditions of applying artists, but if they do not comply with the rules or inhabitants submit complaints about them, they may lose their permission.
Market Square residents
Wroclaw inhabitants have already become accustomed to some street artists, such as mimes with a beautiful make-up, painters exhibiting their works or musicians that provide some entertainment to passers-by. Wroclaw clerks admit that most applications are submitted by guitarists and accordionists, but folk bands or jazz musicians are also willing to perform on the Market Square. One of the street artists is a pianist who plays his own piano on the Plac Gołębi.
UJ
