Booking FAQs

 

Fast Facts

  • We’re located at the corner of Prince and Argyle Streets, right in the middle of downtown Halifax
  • We have won Music Nova Scotia’s award for Venue of the Year for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018
  • We have won the East Coast Music Association’s award for Venue of the Year for 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019
  • We won the Canada Live Music award for Best Teamwork Small Venue in Canada for 2017 and 2022
  • Capacity is between 85 and 105 for seated, ticketed shows
  • Capacity is about 115 for non-seated shows
  • We have a full PA, mics and stands, DIs, monitors, cables and most other things it takes to do a show; we don’t have house backline
  • We are capable of selling advanced tickets through our website
  • We book all kinds of entertainment: music, comedy, spoken word, solo acts, duos, trios, full bands – whatever we think will sell tickets
  • Out-of-country artists require no special paperwork to play The Carleton
  • Our ticket prices include HST of 15% (the government always needs to get paid)
  • Our ticketed shows on Sundays through Wednesdays usually have a 7:00 PM or 7:30 PM start time  –  and we do start on time!

Dwight Twilley

So You Want To Book A Gig…

  • Before you start sending off your website/YouTube/FaceBook/SoundCloud/BandCamp links, know that we are a destination venue. As much as we’d like people to show up “just because” the show is at The Carleton (since we only book excellent acts), they don’t.  If you don’t have a solid fan base here already, we might not be the best place in the city for your first show
  • We don’t make any money on ticket sales so we rely on ticket holders buying food and drink to keep our doors open. If you can’t deliver a crowd to do that, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to help you
  • With very rare exceptions, we operate strictly on door deals (a percentage split of door revenue with our artists). We don’t do guarantees or pay advances
  • Ticket prices are set after discussions with the artists we book
  • Traditional advertising (print, radio, television) is out of the reach of a club our size so we rely on a dedicated mailing list of about 3,500 to get the word out, as well as all the usual social media tools available to us (and you). Carleton shows are basically joint ventures between our artists and us
  • We usually have local acts (for $5-10 at the door) on Fridays and Saturdays so those nights generally aren’t available to touring acts
  • Please email booking inquiries to Mike Campbell mike@thecarleton.ca
  • General inquiries can made by emailing info@thecarleton.ca