Barney Moss (CC BY 2.0)
Saturday 18 July will be the UK’s first National Busking Day. Cities including London, Birmingham, Edinburgh and York will host a series of outdoor performances in high streets, parks, railways stations and “iconic locations”. London’s Trafalgar Square will be at the heart of the festival, with performances by companies from around the world.
National Busking Day will mark the start of the ‘Busk in London’ festival, which will run for three consecutive weekends in July and August. Music tourists contribute £660m to London’s economy each year and the festival is part of a drive to enhance the capital’s status as a city of music and entertainment.
London’s Mayor Boris Johnson said: “One of the things that make London such a vibrant city is the casual way you can encounter a wonderful piece of music or dance or even magic on the streets. It’s this spirit of creativity that makes our city so welcoming. I hope this initiative will encourage all cities around the UK to value our fantastic street performers even more.”
Driving the initiative is Busk in London, which was founded by a ‘Busking Taskforce’ with funding from the Mayor of London. It also provides a ‘one-stop-shop’ website for information on busking in the capital and a busker’s ‘Code of Conduct’, devised by performers, councils, businesses and the police.