FRANKSTON Council has voted unanimously to endorse their new busking code of conduct and street performance permit conditions.
Under the revised rules, buskers will face new restrictions on how long they can play for. Buskers are now only permitted to perform for 30 minutes at a time, followed by a 10 minute break. They are forbidden from performing in one position in the municipality for longer than 90 minutes.
The council officer’s report noted that the biggest changes to the code of conduct were that “street performance permits will be free, applicants [will be] vetted through a quality lens (keeping in mind that we are not auditioning for professional performers), assessment criteria [has been] developed to ensure street performers are considered suitable and acceptable to safety, amenity and their public appeal, length of performance time has been reduced with mandatory maximum set times and mandatory breaks,” and that “selected sites allow for low volume amplification.”
Council were briefed on the proposed code of conduct changes in June.