Do your sums before deciding on a final ticket price. Add up what you're paying for venue hire, fee for the band, printing costs for publicity, telephone costs, catering costs if you're going to put food on, cost of an advert in the local paper/folk mag, and anything else that may crop up. Add on to that however much profit you want to make. Divide that total by the number of tickets you're going to sell (crystal ball at the ready...). You may want to take into account that you may not sell all the tickets, so add on another bit to the ticket price just in case. That exercise should give you an idea of a realistic ticket price for your outgoings. If it falls too far above the six or seven quid mark, you're unlikely to sell many tickets. If it falls below, you're probably onto a winner, but don't undercharge.

I've organised an unsubsidised barn dance type event in the past, and managed to break even. I did the catering myself rather than pay a caterer - people do expect some food at these events, even if it's only butties.

Good luck.

Joan