Performance artists: booking open studio visits with places

Turn open studio days into timed visits that people book online: sessions of thirty to sixty minutes, each with a set number of places matched to your space, and a short description of what visitors will see, such as work in progress, a rehearsal excerpt or a conversation about the piece. Visitors arrive in small groups at known times, you can give each group your attention, and you know before the day how many people are coming.

An open studio without bookings can mean a crowd at the start and an empty room later, or too many people for a quiet piece of work. Timed sessions spread visitors over the day and let you plan what to show and say to each group. On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page, and each slot belongs to one service, sits within one day and has its own capacity.

Lengths, places and prices are examples: set your own. For free visits, leave the price empty: a price of zero shows as €0.00 on your page.

Count how many people can stand or sit comfortably while you work or talk, leaving space for movement if the piece needs it. Set each session's places to that number. When the last place is booked, the session leaves your page. Your page doesn't show places left, so if you want room for friends or press, set the capacity a little lower and add them yourself.

The booking form takes first name, last name, email and phone, plus an optional note that reaches you in the new booking email and appears in the visitor's calendar file. Invite visitors to tell you in the note about access needs, so you can prepare seating or a quieter session.

Festival programmers, curators and collectors may want a private visit outside the open days. Offer it as a separate service with one place, at times you choose, and say what you'll show. If they ask by email, book them yourself from your calendar; first and last name are required, email and phone optional, and they receive a confirmation with a calendar file if you enter their email.

A class or a community group may want a visit of their own. Offer a group service with one place, booked by the teacher or organiser, and say how many people it covers and the age range it suits. Ask in the note for the group size and any support needs.

If you want structured feedback on work in progress, offer a separate session for a small invited audience, with a short showing followed by a guided discussion. Keep the places low, say in the description that feedback is the purpose, and share the link only with the people you invite. A clear format helps you get comments you can use in the next rehearsals.

Leave a gap between sessions to reset the space, rest and talk with visitors who stay behind. Open studio days are one-off dates: create the slots for those days only, and share your booking link with your mailing list and on social media a few weeks before. Your bookings sync with Google, iPhone or Mac calendars, so you can see the day's sessions at a glance.

Visitors who booked with their email are people you can thank and invite to the premiere, if they agreed to hear from you. Visitors can't move bookings online: they contact you, and you move them to another session from your bookings list, then confirm it yourself, since Book doesn't email clients about changes. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.