Watch Each Showcase
Watch each showcase to find out which artists you have interest in hiring.
Albany 2026 conference guide
Cooperative
Buying
Work together • Lower talent prices • Reduce travel costs • Bigger tours. Better savings. Stronger campuses.
Cooperative Buying lets campuses combine dates with nearby schools to block-book artists and cut talent and travel costs.
What is cooperative Buying, and why is it an absolute GAME-CHANGER for Your Campus Activities Board?
Simply put, cooperative buying (or block booking) happens when your campus teams up with neighboring colleges and universities to book the same touring entertainer in a tight timeframe. Instead of that artist charging your school expensive travel and production costs to visit your campus alone, those expenses are shared across multiple schools… AND you get a better performance price!
- The Power of the Block: APCA organizes in-person blocks into streamlined windows:
- 2 events in 3 days – Lower price and shared travel with your nearby schools
- 3 events in 5 days – EVEN LOWER price and LOWER shared travel
- 5 events in 7 days – LOWEST PRICES and LOWEST travel cost with 5 schools sharing the cost of travel and lodging!
- Dramatic Price Reductions: Because you are offering the artist a seamless regional tour route, you secure drastically lower block prices compared to isolated single dates.
- Stetch that Budget! With over 90% of APCA showcasing acts listed at $4,000 isolated or less for one block discounts, your modest budget suddenly has the buying power of a major festival!
Meeting day, step by step
How to Place Interest in a Cooperative Buying Meeting
Fill Out the Forms
Fill out the cooperative buying forms for each artist you have interest in during the exhibit hall. (Use the long form to indicate AI, CB or RC interest, any on site or FTE discounts, or to detail intentions in the Travel and lodging rider. Use the AI short form to express AI interest only.)
Sit In Your Area
Attend each caucus and cooperative buying meeting and sit in your designated area as shown by the signs on the tables that correlate to your schools area on the cooperative buying map.
Discuss the Acts
Discuss the acts you have interest in with the other schools in your area to form potential blocks of dates by cooperating to make a tour of the area schools.
Raise Your Sign
Raise the cooperative buying signs provided to signal the type of interest you have in the act.
Follow Through
Cooperate with your fellow schools to make sure the dates follow through to contract.
Find your conference table
Cooperative Buying Map — Participating Schools by Area
Each school is assigned to an area. At cooperative buying meetings, schools sit in their designated area, as described in Step 3, “Sit In Your Area,” in the six-step walkthrough.
Area 1
Participating Schools: ME, VT, NH, MA
Maine
- University of Maine at Farmington
Vermont
- Vermont State University Castleford
- Vermont State University Johnson
- Vermont State University Lyndon
- Vermont State University Randolph
- Vermont State University Williston
New Hampshire
- Southern New Hampshire University
Massachusetts
- Clark University
- Mount Wachusett Community College (Gardner campus)
- Mount Wachusett Community College (Leominster campus)
- University of Massachusetts Amherst
Area 2
Participating Schools: Upper New York
- SUNY Plattsburgh
- SUNY Canton
- North Country Community College (Malone)
- North Country Community College (Saranac Lake)
- North Country Community College (Ticonderoga)
- Mohawk Valley Community College (Utica)
- Mohawk Valley Community College (Rome)
- SUNY Cortland
- Monroe Community College
Area 3
Participating Schools: Western & Southern New York
- Villa Maria College (Buffalo)
- Hilbert College (Hamburg)
- Cayuga Community College (Auburn)
- Cayuga Community College (Fulton)
- SUNY Oneonta
- SUNY Delhi
- SUNY Morrisville
- SUNY Upstate Medical University (Syracuse)
Area 4
Participating Schools: Pennsylvania & All Other States
Pennsylvania
- Penn West California
- Penn West Clarion
- Penn West Edinboro
Washington
- Columbia Basin College (Pasco)
Kansas
- Emporia State University (Emporia)
Virginia
- George Mason University (Fairfax)
West Virginia
- West Virginia Wesleyan College (Buckhannon)
South Carolina
- Francis Marion University (Florence)
Start with the shape of the tour
Types of Blocks Available
APCA Isolated
A single date.
2 of 3
Two events in three days.
3 of 5
Three events in five days.
5 of 7
Five events in seven days.
Three signals, one shared process
Levels of Interest
AI
Attraction Interest
Attraction Interest (AI) — An AI commits neither party to a binding contract, it only retains the option for the school to purchase at the published APCA conference program price for up to 21 days after the conference. When an AI is indicated on a submitted and signed Cooperative Buying form, the school has indicated that it is strongly interested in booking the attraction. If the interested school wishes to book an attraction at the isolated convention price or join a block, the Agent must be notified within calendar days.
CB
Commitment to Block
Commitment to Block (CB) — A CB indicates that the school or exhibitor is expressing their commitment to enter into a contract at the block price published in the program. If a block of 2 or more schools is formed around the date indicated on the form within the 21 days following the conference. If the block forms within the 21 calendar days, the schools agreeing to the block must contract at the block price listed for that number of schools, plus any travel and lodging, lights, sound, etc. listed for the attraction in the APCA conference program or agreed to on the Cooperative Buying form rider.
RC
Request Contract
Request Contract (RC) — Buyer has agreed to purchase this attraction onsite at the conference and is bound to the of any performance contract signed by both parties. Both parties agree to honor all APCA Cooperative Buying guidelines and procedures as set forth in the APCA conference program. Associates (Artists and Agencies) are responsible for contacting the buyer for an official contract provided by Agent or buyer to finalize the date.
All blocks formed at an APCA Conference are subject to reasonable travel & time constraints and pricing as determined by the conference Cooperative Buying Coordinator, with final approval resting with APCA. All parties agree that any additions or changes to pre-formed blocks within the 21 calendar days following the conference are subject to approval of both parties, with final approval resting with APCA. Any deviations on either side will be subject to Grievance Procedures and arbitration by the APCA Office.
Stretch the programming budget
Buyer Purchasing Discounts
On-Site Discounts
Participating Associates offer a 10% discount on any price published in conference program (isolated or block) to schools who book on site by submitting either an RC or CB form. This discount is in addition to any other block discounts available.
FTE Cards & Discounts
To encourage smaller school programming, APCA offers the voluntary FTE (full-time enrollment) discount program to schools who book on site by submitting either an RC or CB form. Based on the full-time enrollment status of the campus, a school may receive between 3% and 7% off the price listed for a particular attraction. This is in addition to any other block or on-site discounts. Schools eligible to receive full-time enrollment discounts will be given FTE cards to present to participating Associates when filling out Cooperative Buying forms.
| Full-time enrollment | Discount |
|---|---|
| BELOW 3,000 | 7% discount |
| 3,000-4,999 | 5% discount |
| 5,000-9,999 | 3% discount |
Note: The On-site and FTE discounts are completely voluntary. All Associates participating in either or both programs will be given signs to place in their Exhibit Hall booths indicating their participation. Discounts may apply to select artists on the Agent's roster. See Agent for details.
The fine print that travels with the form
Travel and Lodging Rider
Travel and Lodging rider: any details written into the travel and lodging rider and initialed by BOTH parties on a signed cooperative buying form supersedes any and all other pricing, travel and lodging, or other arrangements detailed in the program. Such changes are subject to verification by the APCA cooperative buying coordinator and the APCA National Office. All parties agree to be subject to APCA grievance procedures and APCA National Office decisions in case of a dispute regarding cooperative buying issues are final.