I am presuming you want a proper club rather than a casual gathering of folky performers. 1. Pick your venue. A private room you can charge an entrance fee with a nearby or en suite bar. Easy parking for cars. 2. What you can do depends on your maximum seating. Below 50 and you will struggle along with cheap guest artists. 100 is a reasonable compromise but for famous names you need 150-200 seats. Lots of performers will play for a percentage (80-90%) of the door take providing you have the seats. 3. Take the details of everyone who ever attends and put them on a mailshot database. Mailshot at least 3 times per year. Use it for market research. One mailshot is worth a hundred posters. On any one night you should get about 10-15% of your database to attend. 4. Run an open stage with an experienced MC now and again or on alternate weeks/months and treat the floor performers like royalty even if you are a Republic. Charge everyone a modest entrance, both performers and audience. Run a raffle. This gives you background finance to subsidise those nights when you make a loss. 5. If you find you are about to pay a fee out of your own pocket, close the club before you lose your shirt. 6. Start with a BANG! Book some seriously popular and famous people right from the word go. They are easier to advertise, bring in the punters and boost your database. 7. Keep a control of quality and variety. Give a newcomer one song but if they really are crap be firm and get them off the floor as soon as possible. Don't do "Singarounds" they are guaranteed to attract crap. Good Luck. from the Famous Willows Folk Club, Arundel. (30 years old)