Perform with Wild Steps

Paid and Volunteer Performance Opportunities Throughout Arizona

Wild Steps books musicians and musical groups for festivals, concerts, dances, workshops, and community programs across Arizona. We welcome established professionals, emerging artists, cultural ensembles, community musicians, and informal groups.

We especially seek excellent live music rooted in cultural traditions, with rhythmic energy, audience connection, and distinctive musical voices underrepresented on Arizona’s stages. Professional promotional materials and performance experience are NOT required.

What We Look For

1. Representation: Across multi-artist programs, we aim for at least equal representation of women and people of color while welcoming excellent musicians from all backgrounds.
2. Cultural Roots: Music grounded in identifiable cultural, regional, historical, or community traditions, including creative reinterpretations and cross-cultural combinations. We do NOT book cover bands.
3. Rhythm & Danceability: Instrumentally centered music with a strong rhythmic pulse that invites movement, dancing, clapping, or other physical participation.
4. Audience Connection: Musicians who enjoy engaging audiences through stories, demonstrations, questions, improvisation, dancing, or participatory activities.
5. Live Musicianship: Musicians performing together live, without backing tracks. Acoustic instruments are preferred where appropriate; electric and electronic instruments are welcome when integral to the tradition.

How to Apply

Please answer these briefly (1-3 sentences each) and email to director@gowildsteps.org:

1. Who you are: Artist/group name, musicians’ 1-sentence bios, contact information, home base, travel range, pay range.
2. Your music: Briefly describe your musical traditions and how your group relates to 3-5 of the criteria above.
3. Your interests: Motivations, preferred performance opportunities, and openness to collaborating with other traditions.
4. What makes you distinctive: Anything about your music, cultural knowledge, community, or performance practice you’d like us to know.

Let us hear you! Share 3–5 audio or video clips (links or attachments) representing your music, ideally including instrumental sound, rhythmic repertoire, and audience interaction (but please note you can also just informally record yourselves to send it). Phone recordings from rehearsals, dances, family celebrations, or community gatherings are welcome. For long recordings, indicate the sections to hear.

You may apply by audio or video instead of writing. Applications in languages other than English are welcome.

We’d Love to Discover Your Music!

Whether you’re a touring professional, a community ensemble, or musicians who have played together for years at cultural gatherings, we want to hear from you. We value musical excellence, cultural knowledge, rhythmic vitality, creativity, generosity, and connection.

Applications help us discover artists for future paid and volunteer opportunities and do not commit either party to a performance.

Please email responses to director@gowildsteps.org