Festival 101: So where do I begin?

***FYI/DISCLAIMER: These blogs are for a business plan workshop by which are a reflection of discovery, research findings and conversations with industry and non-industry people about my idea to introduce a music festival that promotes the African American experience, culture, lifestyle and tradition on a global platform in the City of Boston (The Commonwealth of Massachusetts.*** Any and all opinions are a reflection of the blogger and her journey.***

The most challenging part of producing a festival as a first time producer, whether small or large, is where to begin. There are so many components (permits, licensures, venue location, site and safety plans, ticketing, marketing/branding/PR, registration/ticketing systems, security and signage, etc), questions to ask, personnel to hire, politics (City Council members, the Mayor and his staff, etc) and funding (city and foundation grants, corporate sponsors, crowd funding, angel investors) involved in transforming an idea (such as a festival) into a reality.

So where do I begin?

Well, it made sense to check out one of my competitors’ festivals to see how they operate. On Saturday, September 27, I attended the Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival. Despite the gorgeous day, the humidity and the beaming sun that caused everyone to sweat and scram for ice cold bottles of water, attendance was abundant. Three stages, each about a ½ mile away from another to form a respective triangle layout, covered a portion of street and sidewalk with vendors squeezed in between. All attendees could access the festival from any side street parallel to the festival, inside of specific entrances. I found this to be great

 

 

because there were no long lines to wait in. However, a lack of crowd control made me wonder how BBJF kept track on the numbers of attendees, since it’s a free event. I attempted to ask a volunteer at the “Festival Info Booth”, but she would not share the information. This is something to keep in mind, as I plan for revenue and crowd control.

One observation about the food vendors was that each catered to a different race of people, including Caribbean, Mediterranean and American cuisine. People lined up elbow to elbow in anticipation for such delectable trays of herbs and fresh spices, deeply baked in the rice, meats, fish and breads. The line-up of artists was somewhat entertaining, particularly the world-renown, Sheila E, a Grammy nominated singer, drummer, and percussionist who has worked and collaborated with the likes of Prince, Lionel Richie, George Duke,  Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Lopez, and Beyoncé. Her performance was interactive and monumental. As I maneuvered back and forth in between each stage, I found myself attracted to the local live bands. Instantly, I found myself truly proud to be a Bostonian, to be a part of a community of music fans that appreciated the all-encompassing experience of musicianship, live performance and storytelling.

 

More than this, I re-united with friends who I had not seen in years including neighbors, teachers and new people who had heard about me through other community members. This “reunion” was heartfelt and reminded me of the importance of staying in touch and connected with diverse groups of people.

Overall, I enjoyed myself and would attend again.

 

One of the people I reconnected with from BBJF was Justin S., who has his hands in the community, arts, music and nightlife of Boston. He has a great skill in relationship/partnership development. Often I consider him to be a connector type of person, because he believes in the power of building a network of people who are selfless in their efforts to promote social good. He just launched his own business called Outside the Box Agency, by which he intends to change and enhance the environment of opportunities and community building for Black Boston.  In 2013, I pitched my concept idea to him to get his opinion and “buy in” of potentially helping me make this festival, a tangible experience.  This month, Justin has confirmed his time and resource investment in my music festival and has provided a list of names of potential investors and committee members who would be vital to the success of this festival.

 

These individuals (both men and women) represent all aspects of the festival from both a creative and funding perspective, including organizations such as the Boston Cultural Council, Future Boston, The Boston Arts Commission, and handful of minority owned event management companies. Through LinkedIn, I was able to research each individual, explore their interests related to community building, art, and music, and reviewed several articles with their name mentioned. So far, I am impressed by their experience (both professional and volunteer), their accomplishments and their future goals in life and for the company they work for or own. At this time, I am in the process of creating an invitation for a special meeting to be held at the end of this month or early November, where these individuals will be asked to come see a presentation on the festival. Following this meeting, I will develop a schedule of meetings to discuss funding needs, potential community partnerships and corporate sponsorships and identify each person’s role. More importantly, these meetings will help me to determine members’ commitment levels, passions, resources, relationship and synergy. If the relationship and vibe between committee members is not authentic, holistic and progressive, the outcome of the festival will be dismal.

Aside from connecting with Justin S., I met with legendary filmmaker and broadcaster extraordinaire, Topper Carew, who is a current Visiting Researcher/Scholar at the MIT Media Lab. We met at Haley House (who I am considering as a community food vendor sponsor), where we discussed his experience with live performances and organizing music, art and film festivals. What I learned was this…

·         Find people who share the same passion and have connections within the community who also share your vision.

·         Always show your appreciation to your staff and volunteers with something of value or substance. This action can enhance loyalty.

·         When it comes to promoting your festival and generating business, connect the dots with local businesses (such as hotels, transportation, swag bags and food) whose services and products can benefit your sponsors, attendees, staff and volunteers.

·         Choose a venue or location that is unlikely to invite people of color, in order to show and prove their existence, value, spending/buying power and sustainability.

Carew also suggested that I select one genre of music to feature for each year of the festivals’ existence, rather than have all genres performed at one festival. I’ll have to think about this because most music festivals feature a few categories to attract the masses.

Lastly, Carew suggested that my target event year is too ambitious, meaning that I need to create smaller fringe events to build capacity, attract and the audience and collect data on who my audience is. I concur with this suggestion, thus I will seek to identify who is currently doing such a music series and determine if a partnership could developed.

As for my next steps, it is time to build a budget for this festival. I plan to schedule a few location site visits to determine cost. This shall be interesting.