Michael Anthony Bonnici, began busking in Canada in 1996 in his hometown Peterborough Ontario. Since then he’s performed more than 5000 shows in 27 countries.
To Mike, the hallmark of masterful busking is the ability to instigate at will the spontaneous gathering of a hundred or few hundred people to laugh cheer and smile together in public. In a world full of trouble and confusion, busking is a more-or-less modest / more or less divine expression of human good will and peace whenever it occurs and whatever it includes.
Busking requires artists to master two skill sets, the obvious first is the music or juggling or circus or clown one a show revolves around, and the other is a unique set of skills which operate upon the gathering, controlling and directing the crowd. The first busking skill set is a matter of ‘Practice makes perfect.’ The second relates to the mastering the dynamics of social contagion itself. It’s the second skill, that interests Mike most at present: How to activate human potential in the public arena, to bring real social value to bear on planet Earth.
In 2011, Mike was thinking about social contagion as the medium of busking generally. And he realized that by subordinating the priority of being at the center of the action, so to speak, to bigger values; the same skills could be scaled from the street upward ad infinitum. Following from that he founded the aMillion BaZillion Arts Society (AMBZ) in advance of the 2012 production of the Vancouver International Busker Festival (VIBF).
AMBZ is currently creating materials to apply to a broader global efforts of growing busking and busker festivals around the world. Mike is very pleased and works very hard to help busking grow grow grow.
…
Some of Mike’s writing about Busking:
Wanna know more about Mike and what he’s all about? Check out these links –
