Organizing a Festival

Subject: Organizing a Festival
From: wilco
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 09:39 AM

I've done some small festivals, with crowds less than 200 people, and several folk bands. I've been asked to organize a large, city-wide old-time music festival, with competitions. This will be late Spring 2003". Has anyone done a permatread on this before? There will be around a hundred crafters, acoustic insturment and dance competion, and maybe a checker tournament. There will be lots of food vendors too. Anyone got a checklist already developed?

Thanks!!!!!

Subject: RE: Organizing a Festival
From: Nemesis
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 09:54 AM

I think there is a permathread on this but in the mean time

refresh

Subject: RE: Organizing a Festival
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 09:54 AM

1. Get rid of the hype. Create a gathering rather than a production...

2. Competitions destroy the free expression of the folk. Focusing on quality limits participation. Even a song presented poorly is worth all of your efforts.

3. Dont pay for anything you can get for free. So many organizers simply pay the bills till money is gone and then cant do any more.
Start by sincere dedicated begging and you will find there is much that can be obtained.

4. Ask that support services be as dedicated to the concept, the music the art as the many volunteers and musicians. That is dont pay them. Do with out. I get tired that support services always can get their money while everyone else must volunteer. One finds therfore that events arent to support the music but rather the providers of support services. Keep it simple and you wont need support services anyway.

5. Get rid of amplification and huge audiences. Keep audiences small
20-30 max. In this setting the intimacy of folk music is preserved. Simply have more stages. When one is filled open the next. The only reason for large gatherings is that musicians are lazy and won't perform more than once and organizers are greedy.

6.Insist that all musicians stay for the entire day and mingle with the audience and where possible play casually around the festival area when not on stage. So many musicians fail to arrange sufficient time for festivals. Too often its play for a short set then depart in haste. Screw them! If you cant give the time then dont come. And be sure that musicians do not hide out behind barriers. Their role is mingling with the crowd and bringing music to the people.

7.Do not ask for volunteers when you are paying other people. This common practice is unfair. Volunteers should not be used to make profit for others. Either all get paid or all volunteer. If you pay volunteers you can always give them a way to donate their money back.

8.Insist that all vendors provide special cheaper prices for festival goers not special more expensive prices. Festivals should be places for bargains and not for shooting fish in the barrel.

9.Sell all food and drink at cost. Too often folk can not attend a festival because they cant feed the family and pay admission too. When you take excessive prices for food and drink less disposable income is available for cd purchases etc... Put profit asside in favor of the music. Flipping burgers and selling them at cost is not rocket science.

10. Free admission. A festival that claims to be supportive of the arts does not support the arts or extend the arts if people can not attend. A person with no money in the pocket should be able to come in. Always. That is supporting the arts. I think it is a tragedy that so many festivals which claim to support the arts are only supporting money making.Do something else to make the money. Then have an open festival.

I could think up a few more and might....
all for now.

All you need for music is musicians and a field-

Conrad

Subject: RE: Organizing a Festival
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 10:02 AM

Kinda short lead time, innit?

~S~

Subject: RE: Organizing a Festival
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 10:18 AM

Find yourself a good psychiatrist - he'll manage to talk you out of it !

Subject: RE: Organizing a Festival
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 10:36 AM

Hi, Wilco..

I ran a folk festival for seven years, but not on the scale you're talking about... maybe had five or six vendors, no competitions. You're talking about a different animal.

My one bit of advice that will make the festival a guaranteed success.
Be sure to have a hospitality room for the performers and their families, and feed them well. A well fed folkie is a gift from the gods. Or God.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Organizing a Festival
From:
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 11:05 AM

I agree with WYSIWYG that it's not near enough time for the scale of operation. HOWEVER, since you have organized this type of event, I am assuming in the same community, you probably have an infrastructure. That should help shorten the time required. You already have PART of the volunteer team you need. You should know the MEDIA (they will be very important in EARLY spring). Mainly you need VENDORS and VENUE and DONATIONS from SPONSORS.

Essentially I agree with MOST of what Conrad put together. I DISAGREE with #9. DON'T sell! Except for your own festival memorabilia, if you have some (T-shirts, ball-caps, or Artist CDs, etc). Let the VENDORs do the selling of product such as food. Otherwise you have to supply refrigeration/iceboxes, get cooks, cooking equipment, etc. IF you DO want to sell something(in addition to what I said earlier), sell water! People will want it.

I agree with Jerry. Hospitality for the performers and entourage is important. Someplace that IS inaccessible to average festival-goer. Even the friendliest of performers needs some time away from the "masses".

Subject: RE: Organizing a Festival
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 01:08 PM

VENDORS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH MUSIC
Leave them out entirely! Bring your own food....post the phone number of the best delivery pizza place on a phone pole or tree. Give people the directions to the nearest cut rate liquour store. Tell them the name of the hotel with the best toilets in the lobby....

Hospitality for performers is ok if you can get them away from it!
Generally performers cluster in roped off private hospitality zones networking with each other while of course neglecting the most important purpose of the day- REACHING the Public. If performers want to network fine....schedule a time to do this before or after the event.
A good way to do this is to have coffee, bagels etc in a meet and greet session before the event. While orienting performers give them an hour or few to talk and network.
Same at the end of the festival while collecting feedback give the performers time to network and unwind.

I believe that hospitality is extremely important. Most grocery stores will give you at least one grant per year. Hit the bagel and pizza places....beg beg beg and you will be sure to have great results just keep at it. Never offer money before begging.
Dont leave out the beer places. Micro breweries can easily kick in a keg of beer. I have had great success with them. But if you offer money before begging they will have to take it and you loose it.

I have never really seen a successful way to feed performers but accomidate public too. I really hate the difference that the barrier makes. Perhaps my most memorable experience was sitting down with a Czech performer of folk songs at a smithsonian festival in DC. They had given him tickets for beer etc....which he did not have to use himself. This way providing hospitality to a performer makes it also accessable to an ordinary peasant member of the public who wants to sit around with him and learn music or a technique or two...

I would probably go for that method.
Provide tickets for free food-perhaps even at the performers tent.
Then allow the performer to give half to a non performer or several.

When festivals only last for a few days out of the year it is essential to use the most possible time to spread the music. This is not done to a large crowd via stage. It is done feet in the dust sitting around sharing and playing.

Conrad

Subject: RE: Organizing a Festival
From: wilco
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 05:37 PM

I appreciate all input.
I also ahve misgivings about competitions, since it is a guaranteed way to make someone unhappy.
Not, much lead time, but they have had a Spring "Jubilee" for years, but with no real music componenet. I'll be adding the music component, and most of it will probably ber bluegrass, old time country, and old gospel.

Thanks!!