Busking Beauty

ARTS HUB AUSTRALIA — Karla Dondio interviews a range of buskers to find out what's in it for the people who (often thanklessly) adorn our streets and sidewalks with artforms ranging from graffiti and chalk drawings to acoustic pop/rock music and flamenco/Latin/jazz fusions.
[This is archived content and may not display in the originally intended format.]
Artshub Logo

ARTS HUB AUSTRALIA — “In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?” This was the premise for an experiment carried out by the Post in Washington, DC. A renowned Classical musician, Joshua Bell, performed at L’Enfant Plaza Metro station during morning peak hour. What they forecast is that Joshua would make a couple of hundred dollars and draw a crowd. The results: in 45 minutes he made $32 and only seven people stopped to listen for a short period.

For the sake of this article I decided to risk it all and travel to a banal setting – the Bourke St Mall and nearby precinct – to talk to some buskers about their experience.

Unlock Padlock Icon

Unlock this content?

Access this content and more

Karla Dondio
About the Author
Karla Dondio is a Melbourne-based freelance writer who has written articles, columns, comedy and reviews for publications and websites such as Arts Hub, Reader’s Digest Health Smart Magazine, AFL Record, Aussie Theatre and The Groggy Squirrel. She has also written and performed in three plays; The Apotheosis was published in Issue #2 of White-Ant Press. She is currently writing a comedy show.