Busking is not just for street corners and town bandstands, over recent years (the age of the music festival), busking festivals have popped up all around the world, from Barcelona to Gizbourne, London to Chattanooga, busking and street performance festivals are well and truly here, and there’s probably one in your area.

What can you expect at a busking festival? Well, they’re often arranged to represent a charity of some description, so you can expect to see a lot of people representing some good causes! Busking Festivals may be an ‘open mic’ affair, with bandstands and stages, or alternatively they may represent more of a street-carnival feel, with spaces between the buskers and the stereotypical merchandise and food vans you’ll be used to seeing at any good fest. The nature of street performance (and street performers) often makes for a really fun event with a positive atmosphere, suitable for adults and children alike.

Our information here at Busking HQ is mainly aimed at musical buskers, but dont forget that busking can apply to all sorts of performances, and you’ll see a wide array of crowd-pleasers at any of these festivals.

For a musician, playing a busking festival can be a great opportunity to gain new fans, showcase your skills to music industry pros who are scouting for talent, and have a great time playing your music! I’ve listed a load of busking festivals, and their websites, below, so you can check out any which are near you and apply to go and play at them.

World Buskers Festival - http://www.worldbuskersfestival.com/ – Christchurch, NZ

San Diego Busker Festival - http://www.seaportvillage.com/entertainment/busker-festival

Lugano Buskers Festival - http://www.luganobuskers.ch/

Hat Fair Street Performance - http://www.hatfair.co.uk/ - Winchester, UK

Harrogate International Festivals – http://harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/ – Harrogate, UK

Busking By the Bay - http://www.weekendnotes.com/busking-by-the-bay/ - Brisbane, AUS

City of London Festival - http://www.colf.org/ - London, UK

Riverbend Festival - http://www.riverbendfestival.com/ – Chattanooga, USA

Street Performance World Championship - http://www.spwc.ie/ – Ireland

Barcelona Buskers Festival - http://www.buskersfestivalbarcelona.org/ – Barcelona

Cairns Buskers Festival - http://www.cairnsbuskersfestival.com/ - Cairns, AUS

The Mayor’s Thames Festival - http://thamesfestival.org/ – London

These are just some examples of some of the biggest and most widely-known busking festivals, but I’m sure you can find a festival that contains some sort of street performance at a town or city near you, I know that my nearest city here in the UK has one, and if yours doesn’t, there’s no reason you shouldn’t start your own by teaming up with a charity and your local council.

If you have any more information about busking festivals around the world, please do leave us a comment below, the same applies for if you would like to share your experiences at street performance or busking festivals, we’d love to hear from you.

Happy Busking, everyone.