Perform at Haunted Happenings
Bring your act to Salem this fall
October needs music, movement, characters, surprise, and a little beautiful weirdness. Bands, DJs, dancers, costumed characters, roaming performers, magic, circus, family acts, screenings, and interactive ideas all start here.
Choose the right path
How do you want to perform?
Haunted Happenings includes different kinds of opportunities, and the right form depends on how you want to participate. Choose the closest fit. If your act sits somewhere between categories, use the paid performer form and tell us what makes it unusual.
Apply for a paid performance
Bands, solo musicians, DJs, dance, theatre, costumed characters, roving acts, magic, circus, family programming, screenings, and interactive experiences.
We will ask about your act, availability, performance video, technical needs, footprint, set length, and rate.
Submit the 2026 performer form ↗Busk for tips
Bring your act directly to the street in the Pedestrian Mall’s designated busking spots. This separate route is for performers who can work in a compact public-space setting.
The Pedestrian Mall is not a regular paid performer location. Busking is not a paid stage booking; dates, placement, and any permit or insurance requirements must be confirmed.
Register to busk ↗Join the performer network
Not available this fall—or interested in more than one festival? Join Creative Collective’s year-round network for Haunted Happenings and other North Shore opportunities.
The best path for future seasons, general booking interest, and performers who want to stay on our radar beyond October.
Join the performer network ↗Propose a showcase or stage
Producing an entire showcase, curating multiple acts, bringing sponsored entertainment, or proposing a co-produced program? That is a partnership conversation.
Tell us about the audience experience, artists, production scope, footprint, technical plan, budget, and what your organization would bring.
Start a programming conversation ↗Special acts
Strange is welcome. Specifics help.
Some of the best Haunted Happenings performances do not fit neatly into a dropdown. If your act roams, transforms a public space, invites the audience in, uses an unusual apparatus, or combines several disciplines, use the paid performer form and choose the closest category—or “Other.”
Tell us what visitors experience, how much space you need, how long the act runs, what powers or supports it, and what safety or weather conditions matter. We do not need you to make the idea less strange. We do need to understand how it works.
Tell us about your act ↗Before you begin
A few things make the review easier
The form should take about five minutes if you have your basic booking information ready.
- 01 A short, current description of your act
- 02 A recent live performance video or reel
- 03 Your available 2026 dates and typical set length
- 04 Your number of performers, footprint, power, and equipment needs
- 05 A promotional photo and your asking fee, if available
- 06 Any safety, weather, insurance, or audience-participation considerations
From interest to booking
How it works
Choose the right path
Paid acts, buskers, future prospects, and programming partners each have a separate intake.
We review the fit
We consider the act, audience, date, location, technical needs, budget, safety, and the full programming plan.
We contact performers
A submission is not a booking. We reach out when there is a possible match or when we need more information.
We confirm it in writing
Date, time, location, fee or busking terms, technical support, weather plans, insurance, and arrival details come next.
The useful details
Performer questions
Does Creative Collective book every Haunted Happenings performer in Salem?
No. Haunted Happenings is a citywide celebration produced by many organizations and public partners. Creative Collective books performers and programming for the official marketplace and the downtown activations it manages.
Are performers paid?
Some stage, venue, roaming, and special-programming opportunities are paid, with the amount confirmed case by case. Buskers perform for tips. No payment is guaranteed until it is confirmed in writing.
Can roaming performers and costumed characters apply?
Yes. Use the paid performer form and choose “Roving / Walkabout” or “Theatrical / Costumed character.” Tell us how the act moves, interacts with visitors, handles breaks, and works in changing weather and crowd conditions.
What if my act uses fire, aerial equipment, large props, or amplified sound?
Apply through the path that matches the performance and describe every technical and safety requirement. These concepts require additional location, insurance, permit, power, crowd, and safety review.
Does submitting a form guarantee a date or location?
No. A submission begins the review process. A performance is booked only when the date, time, location, fee or busking terms, technical plan, and other requirements are confirmed in writing.
What if I am not available in 2026?
Join the year-round Performer Network. That keeps your information in Monday for future Haunted Happenings seasons and other Creative Collective events across the North Shore.
Bring something memorable
Salem is better when the streets feel alive
Choose the path that fits your act, give us enough detail to understand what you do, and let us see the work. There is room for music, theatre, movement, spectacle, and the performances people only find by turning the right corner.