You?re going on an overseas tour. Someone out there wants you, and feeling flattered that at last your company has achieved international notice, you know that you must get the finances right. So what do you need to consider? Suzanne Pattinson finds out.
Let?s presume you know the overseas presenter or promoter, but if you need to verify their reliability, check first with the local British Council arts officer in the country of destination.
Fees and expenses
Very importantly, be clear about what comes within your company fee and what is to be classed as expenses. Your fee should include one-off costs such as a proportion of the mounting costs, or the re-rehearsal costs if any, set adaptations, costume, wig, props and furniture, lighting and sound preparation and maintenance, purchase of replacement stock, marketing costs such as photos and posters, and a management fee.
The fee should also cover weekly running costs. These include the wages and National Insurance contributions for all members of the company, overtime payments, holiday pay if applicable, hire of costume, props and equipment, wardrobe laundry, and administrative costs such as photocopying and telephone. Remember to factor in travel and rest days to your costing. To this total fee should be added a contingency of 5%.You should ask for 50% of the company fee up front, and the balance to be paid on an agreed date after the tour.
Next are the expenses associated with the visit. For a dance, music or theatre company these are usually as follows:
? UK, international and local travel
? freight costs for the set, props, etc
? all insurance ? travel, medical, personal and public liability
? local production costs, such as local lighting hire and cost of local crew
? any additional publicity over the figure included in the fee
? visas and inoculations
? accommodation in single rooms (check that the host is not allocating your staff shared rooms to cut costs)
? per diems for each member of the company for each day (the current rate for these expenses is available from the British Council?s arts division)
? taxes ? VAT and withholding tax which may need to be paid in addition to wages or paid at source by the organiser. (Withholding tax is a levy on a visiting performer which is inconsistently applied from country to country. Normally, it affects higher earning performers or companies, but the threshold varies from country to country.)
For a visual arts exhibition on tour the costs covered by the overseas organiser should include the building of packing cases, freight costs and insurance, as well as publicity costs and the catalogue, the artist?s fee and the gallery costs.
If you decide to do a recce trip in advance of your tour or exhibition, which is usually advisable - essential, if the destination is a developing country - all the costs should be covered by the organiser. Costs for such a trip should cover the cost of the air ticket, the hotel accommodation and your per diem allowance. Also, it?s a good idea to stay at the same hotel as the company will be using to check that it?s convenient and up to standard.
Confirmation in a contract
All the details relating to fees and finances (expenses) must be written into your contract, which should be governed by the laws of the UK. If this for some reason is not possible, you will need to have it checked by a competent legal authority. The contract should be in English or bilingual ? obviously don?t sign a contract in another language unless you can understand.
List the costs relating to all elements: the company fee, travel expenses and departure taxes, accommodation, per diems, insurance, royalties and licences, freight, withholding tax, VAT, visas and inoculations.
Try to ensure that the contract specifies that fees are be paid directly in £ sterling into the company?s bank account. Increasingly, you will find that promoters in other EU countries will insist on paying in Euros. That?s fine but you should open a Euro account at your bank to facilitate this. Also give the exact dates for instalments. Leave nothing to chance!
The information in this article is adapted from a checklist published by the Arts Council of England, in On The Road: the start-up guide to touring the arts in Europe. Thanks to Rod Fisher, Director of International Intelligence on Culture. t: 020 7403 7001; e: enquiry@intelculture.org; w: http://www.intelculture.org