SEPT 23 1989 wrote: » Would insurance not eat up most of that budget?
folkfest83 wrote: » Actually it would not, the regular insurance from the farm can be extended for an event as it already has public liability, I thought the same myself until I found out about it.
ceegee wrote: » Stage Speakers/PA Lights Generator Tent (unless its an outdoor stage) Toilets/Water Perimeter fence Security First aid Your 20k would be well gone before you got close to hiring the first band
ceegee wrote: » Farm insurance wont cover you having to pay customers back if you need to cancel due to technical problems, weather, headliner no showing etc.
ceegee wrote: » Another thing to keep in mind would be the cost of getting the area back in to usable condition afterwards. A wet festival will absolutely destroy a field even with only 500 people. Would you have camping or just day tickets? Camping would obviously have an increased cost with 24hr security, more toilets etc needed.
Birneybau wrote: » Coincidentally, this festival containing your exact name recently cancelled at very short notice:http://folkfestkillarney.com
bodhrandude wrote: » Would 20,000 Euro though cover the likes of Lisa Hannigan, Femi Kuti, Wallis Bird, Hothouse Flowers and Kila, fairly sizeable names there and everything else.
folkfest83 wrote: » Didn't know kilarney got cancelled this year, any reason given? The real thing I want to emphasise is a small scale here. Would not be as big as Kilarney, at least not starting off. Nobody has made a comment about the idea of crowd funding it either? It did work in the UK before, and of course there would be grants available through application to failte Ireland, the arts council etc.
Mickolution wrote: » I would be very surprised if crowdfunding would work, to be honest. It may have worked in the UK before, but there are over 60m people there, making the market much bigger than Ireland. Do you have any examples of successful ventures like this in the UK? Also, what are these people getting for their investment? Would you still expect them to pay for tickets? That would make for an expensive day out, especially considering that they would require transport at the end of the day as there wouldn't be camping and from your posts, it seems like you are in a rural area. Your number of 500 people seems like a lot for the caliber of acts you're talking about, too. Are there many acts who you could afford on the €20k budget who would attract that size of crowd in a major city? I doubt it and the chances of people travelling for that are pretty slim. As far as I know, most festivals make their money from sponsorship and renting space to food stalls and the like. Do you really think this is a realistic option for an event that's got the capacity of a gig in Whelans?
I've worked in festivals. What's different about your festival?
What county will it be in?
Have you a team of professionals willing to volunteer?
What is the competition?
Will you upset MCD or Aiken?
If you think about how much people will pay to see big bands, will they pay to see smaller unknown acts? Probably not
How much would a you expect each crowd funder to put in?
Food stalls and bars contribute a significant amount to festival funding.
500 is not an easy figure to fill... I've run gigs in a town of approx 35,000 and a hinterland adding another 30,000 and have struggled to get people to pay a tenner in. A local festival with big enough names charging €50 for a day festival broke even and that was because the weather was good.
If you have no experience in running a festival, pay a professional to be involved and to give you proper advice and can point out the pitfalls and things you mightn't even think about...
Ferris_Bueller wrote: » I've no idea how much it would cost to run a festival but I think the crowdfunding thing is being very optimistic. Why would people pay money towards a festival when they have no idea what acts will be playing or what will be on offer for them? Do you know a lot of people around the area who would be interested in the type of music or acts that would be playing? Would it not be a safer bet trying to run something for just the one day first? I would think trying to build something small such as a one day thing to attract mainly local people might be a better way to test the waters before (maybe eventually) expanding it to what you have your eyes on. I think if you aimed to attract 500 folk music fans down to the country for a weekend and charged high prices it would be destined to fail. I've often wondered myself how hard it would be to pull something like this off. I don't think it would be impossible to run an event of some kind like you have described but I'd say you would need to be flexible in your ideas and have a team of people who were interested in it rather than it being a one man show. edit: sorry if this post sounded negative, I think it is an interesting thread and enjoying reading your ideas!
Fi H wrote: » Hmm...I think this can work but it depends on how you run it. Do you know 100 people who would definitely already go - friends family etc? You would be surprised how difficult it is to get these people to pay as they think they should get in for free cause they know you If you have a decent base of people you know will be willing to pay then thats your starting point. Festivals are about atmosphere....there are two types, the type where you have big acts and people rush to them cause they want to see the act and the type where you don't give a s&&t who's playing cause theres so much going on that it doesn't matter and you are going to be lost in a forest/poetry reading etc. It sounds to me like you won't have the budget for big acts so should target atmosphere. If thats the case - what are you offering that other festivals don't offer or that people love when they go to the other festivals? could you combine music with poetry or some sort of art features? Have you been to body & soul? good starting point in terms of research on this side. Are you targeting families? This is an area thats often forgotten at festivals - although brings its own annoyance and hazards. In terms of crowdfunding - Im assuming you would be asking people to invest the price of the ticket up front to allow you to progress the festival. How much are you thinking of charging? Buying tickets is a catch 22 - do you buy early when you don't know a line up or will it be sold out ...for this festival IM thinking the temptation will be to wait as its a total unknown. Also key is choosing the right weekend - don't clash with other festivals!! this amazes me ....its no wonder some festivals are not doing well as they are too close to others! Personally if I was running a festival I would try and go early or late in the season and bill myself as first or last festival in the festival season. I go to 4-5 festivals a year of all sizes so would definitely consider a new small one Don't listen to the haters.....sometimes its your own belief in something that will make it a success just don't bite off more than you can chew....100 really really happy people raving about your festival is better than 500 saying it was mediocre or poor
