Musicians: Get Booked in Colleges at NACA

The National Association for Campus Activities™ (NACA) advances campus activities in higher education through a business and learning partnership, creating educational and business opportunities for its school and professional members. Established in 1960 to help increase the buying power of campus programming dollars, NACA now has more than 950 college and university members and over 500 associate members who represent artists, lecturers and performers.

Today, NACA offers a wide variety of events, educational institutes, publications and networking opportunities for colleges and universities across the country. The Association's programs focus on program planning, risk management, multicultural education, concert management, student and professional leadership development, student government and more. Through its website, NACA also provides students and professional staff with a number of online programming and professional development tools.

The NACA Convention

Attracting more than 2,000 delegates from nearly 450 member schools, NACA’s National Convention is the nation's largest campus activities marketplace.

During the Convention, delegates can view more than 80 live performances ranging from music and comedy to lecture and interactive programs. Educational programs focus on topics such as professional and student leadership development, programming, multicultural education, campus organization dynamics and advising, and identification of current trends in the field of campus activities.

From MusicBizAcadamy.com

"The best way to get gigs on the college circuit is to showcase at the regional conferences. There are several different types of showcases that take place during a NACA conference weekend. Music acts perform at either Main Stage (for bands or name acts) Showcases or Club (for solo acts and small bands) Showcases. These showcases feature four to six acts with one act (usually a comedian) taking the role of emcee. Each performer gets 20 minutes on a stage with good sound, lighting, and crew, in front of an audience that can range from 100 to 1500 people...."

For a complete overview of how to perform on the college circuit, see The Truth about NACA. Gigging on the College Circuit. by Fran Snyder. It is a great piece and will answer most all of your questions.