Potential first gig

I posted this as a comment on another thread, and got no responses, so just in case it was because no one saw it, here's my story and question again:

Post by earthorange on Tue Sep 28, 2010 9:37 pm
Thanks, guys.

So I have a (story and a) question...we were at a county fair in our area this weekend...and they had a face painting booth. What I found so interesting is that we went to this fair last year, and my daughter got her face painted, and at that time I was just another mom who delighted at her having fun and paid absolutely no attention to the setup or the materials or the talent. Now, I looked. I recognized them as the same people as last year, but now I saw the table covered in what looked like wrinkled mylar or aluminum foil and the paint was just in messy blobs all over with big plastic cups full of black water (don't know if they ever changed it). I saw the guy just kind of stab his brush into the paint and the paint was going on so thick on the kids' faces. It just seemed kind of gross. And nobody seemed to care. Anyway...

My mom was with me and encouraged me to ask someone who worked at the venue where this was held if they ever need more face painters for other events, etc. and when I asked, the woman almost seemed relieved...she said they might need a second booth at their many events throughout the year and hold a lot of birthday parties and parents are always asking for recommendations for face painters and they don't have anyone (the people at this weekend's fair don't do parties, just this one fair, once a year).

She gave me the contact info for the person in charge, and now I'm scrambling to put together some semblance of a professional appearance. When I call or email her, what exactly do I need in place? Insurance? A contract? Rates? Do I have a solid rate, or does it depend on the event, the time, etc. Do I need to tell her it would be my first gig? Does it matter? I don't want to lie, but I do want to sound as confident as possible.

Sorry about the long post.

Hmmm, it would seem you have jumped in with two feet... not to worry, all the info you need is here in the forum.... there really are some things you should have in place first - if only for your own peace of mind.
Insurance is a biggy.
Contracts is something to consider - especially when it comes to events.
Design boards. Set up.

Sounds like you couldn't do much worse then what they already had so it sounds like a good idea.
Would you need your own tent and festival set up? This is something to consider as it can have a large set up cost getting everything at once.

I did a few birthday parties for free before my first paid gig - to get my confidense up and to gage how many roughly I could paint an hour.
I got my first paying gig at a childs birthday at a daycare.
I did my first festival after a couple of months. I don't think you should say it's your first paid gig....... but I wouldn't lie about experience if they asked me either.

I would start looking for threads on insurance, and festival setups, and go from there.
Hope that helps