The Festival Organiser's Bible: How to plan, organise and run a successful festival

by Judith Spelman

Overview

Indispensable for anyone interested in starting or running a festival of any kind - Blackmore Vale Magazine

This book applies to all festivals - literary, music, folk, jazz, food, arts - big and small. It explains how to get a festival started, using local features, team-building, grants, sponsorship, networking and putting together a balanced programme.

There are 340 literary festivals and almost 400 music festivals in the UK each year, with many smaller local festivals organised by towns and villages. From the Bridport Hat Festival to Glastonbury Festival, the organisers faced the same initial decisions when they began and this book explains how they dealt with them.

· Recognising the resources
· Initial funding
· Choosing the right venues
· Creating a budget
· Booking speakers, musicians and stallholders
· Contracts and artistes information sheets
· Running a marketing and publicity campaign
· Ticket distribution
· The value of social media

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472139078
Publisher:	Little, Brown Book Group
Publication date:	02/01/2018
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Judith Spelman is a journalist and author who was involved in setting up the Stamford Book Festival and Oundle Festival of Literature. She started the Sherborne Literary Festival and ran it for four years before stepping down to spend time on her writing.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Why start a festival? xiii

1 Planning a Festival 1

Reasons to run a festival 1

How quirky ideas can be developed into a successful festival 2

Out of passion 3

Growing local interests 7

Local assets and connections 8

Food for thought 9

Check out the competition 10

Grow your festival organically 11

Maintaining the atmosphere 12

Why festivals fail 13

Questions to ask yourself before committing to a festival 16

How to improve 17

2 Putting together a working team 19

Choosing your team 19

Recruiting appropriate skills for the core team 20

Should you commit to a committee 23

Working independently 25

Take some good advice 26

Let the festival grow naturally 27

3 Researching and developing your idea 29

Choosing performers, speakers and acts 30

Consider your commitment 31

Don't duplicate 32

Times and dates 33

Do not rush into production 34

An extra dimension 37

Suitable venues 38

Know your target audience 40

Ticket to ride 42

Top of the list 46

Contingency planning 48

Clear aims 48

4 Funding your first festival 51

List your expenses 51

Finding sponsors 52

Money-making ideas 56

Get networking - and then network some more 57

Master financial detail 58

Start spreading the news 60

5 The importance of budgets 63

Creating your budget 63

Structure and format 65

How to draw up your budget 67

Categories 68

Easy reading 70

Contingency 70

The rider 71

Estimating box office income 71

Box office variables and actuals 73

Cash flow 74

6 Assembling a balanced programme 76

Programme for a wide audience 76

Expanding your ideas 78

Finding speakers and performers 78

Use your local knowledge 80

Be inclusive 81

Steady as you go 82

A glossy look 83

7 Choosing contributors and stallholders 87

Listen and look before you book 87

Talent-scouting 88

How to contact an author 89

To pay or not to pay 91

Search for a star 94

Making a contract 95

Take care of the talent 95

Guidelines for chaperoning speakers 99

The green room 100

8 Marketing, public relations and publicity 103

Making an announcement 103

Press releases 105

Preparing a press pack 108

Start spreading the word 109

Top tips from the pros 111

9 Solving problems 117

Taking it day by day 117

Don't be overwhelmed by the unexpected 118

Learning by experience 119

What to do if an act lets you down 122

Poor ticket sales 123

Technical problems 123

10 Let the festival begin 125

The first day 125

The event host 128

Needs an introduction 130

Keeping time 132

Feedback 132

11 Improving, enhancing, refining 136

Making improvements for next year 137

Pick and mix ideas 138

Call in the experts 140

Afterword 147

Appendix I 149

Contract letter 149

Information sheet 152

Appendix II 155

Advice from the Society of Authors 155

Engaging an author 155

The event 156

Rights and formalities 157

Before and after 158

Payment and expenses 159

Checklist for festival organisers to confirm with the author 161

Final notes 165

Acknowledgements 167

Index 169

Editorial Reviews

Indispensable for anyone interested in starting or running a festival of any kind—Blackmore Vale Magazine

From the Publisher