Voting Rounds
Voting Rounds give producers the opportunity to offer up their latest works for touring and presenters an opportunity to vote online for productions that they wish to include in their programs.
There are two rounds a year in the lead up to Long Paddock to develop national tours, usually with the assistance of Playing Australia.
Voting rounds can also be set up for state touring and other touring circuits. Showcase Victoria, the annual forum for promoting regional touring within Victoria, now makes its selections via a Cyberpaddock voting round. Shows on the Go, a touring circuit to small regional venues in WA, decides its choices of productions via a similar voting round.
Types of Voting Rounds
A voting round may be open to all producers and presenters registered on the site. This is the case for Long Paddock voting rounds.
Some rounds may only be open to presenters and/or producers from a certain state or there may be rounds for specific artforms such as dance or more challenging work.
Producers should note that while a production is in a voting round, the profile cannot be edited. This is to ensure that the details are consistent throughout the voting process.
Stages of Voting
Long Paddock voting rounds have 3 distinct stages:
Stage 1: presenters place ‘pitch’ votes for productions they want to see at Long Paddock. Pitching spots are decided by the number votes with some Wild Card productions also offered spots.
Stage 2: after Long Paddock, presenters can then place ‘purchase’ votes for productions they wish to present as part of a tour. At the end of this stage, the available productions are reduced to a shortlist.
Stage 3: Presenters confirm their purchase votes on productions in the shortlist. These votes confirm their commitment to being involved in a tour of each of these productions. Presenters place one purchase vote for each performance day they wish to present the production.
At the close of Stage 3, tour coordinators and producers begin the process of tour development. In most cases this will involve applications to Playing Australia and/or state funding bodies.
