Workshop 2 2 fei_behind_the_scenes_workshop-_programming

British Council VietnamFestival Workshop10-13 June2010

Behind the Scenes at Festival Hue


Festival Programming


Vision• What type of festival is it? • Traditional or contemporary or mixture?• What resources do you have - physical, financial,

cultural?• Who is your audience going to be – local or visiting?• Is it a free festival or charged?• If charged is it high price, or low price?


More Vision...• Audiences need clear signposts for what

sort of festival it’s going to be, but... • Make sure name of festival does not

restrict your vision. • Think carefully about the shape of your

festival – you may have to live with it for a long time


Location• Is the festival in a city, town or

village? • Urban or rural?• On a Greenfield site? • Multi-centred?


Duration•Annual or bi-annual, one off?•A day, a weekend, a week, ten days, two weeks, three weeks, a month?•Try and choose a shape and build it up rather than changing all the time but...•Don’t stick to a formula just because it has always been done that way.


Venues• Indoors or outdoors?• Permanent purpose built venues?• Temporarily created venues in special

locations?• In the street? Site specific? • Ticketing – how dealt with across

multiple venues


Content• Performing arts, visual arts, both• Single artform, multi-artform? Specialist

or General?• Music, dance, drama, literature, painting,

sculpture.....• Contemporary or traditional or a mixture?


More Content• Is it Curated or open access? This workshop

we are talking mainly about curated festivals• Is it a presenting or a producing festival or a

mixture?• Will it commissioning of new work• Is the content national or international?

What is the role of local artists?


Themes• An overriding theme eg classical music or literature?• Specific themes – focusing on the works of one artist?• Multi-themed within an overall vision• No themes?• Strands and sub programmes – venues or times eg

lunchtime concerts

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More Themes• Avoid the over themed festival• Quality of performance matters

above all. • Only a small number of your

audience will follow you through a whole thematic journey


Programme Creation• The role of the festival director – a single vision• Knowledge of the artform, audience, artists and

repertoire, venues and production• By invitation or approached• Artist led festivals• Duration of tenure – how often to change them 1-15

years• Programming teams – specialists under one single

vision


Programme• Multi events at same time• Try not to duplicate within artforms so a play against

a concert• Multi-events on the same day• Try to see that programme has enough meat in it for

someone making a short visit over say a weekend• One event following another• Performance running times - Crucial for audiences

and sponsors!


More Programming• Plan the festival you want to do, not the one you

can afford. • Uniqueness of artist/location combination is as

important as uniqueness of artist• Configure programme to balance between

surefire successes and high risk premieres or ventures.

• Make sure programme has 3 or four ‘unmissable milestones’


Artists/Companies• Build relationships with artists by investing time in

personal relationships• Turn up at their important performances: has an

amazing effect• Any artist can be seduced• This will save money and give you the best chance of

getting the artist to bring you their best ideas and also undertake yours

• The best relationship with artists are not financially based


More on Artists relationships• The key to good artist relationships is trust and

excellent working circumstances. • Have multi-year relationships. That way you can

take your audience on a journey across the programme.

• Your key artists are also your advocates elsewhere in the artistic community ‘ come to Hue Festival - I have a great time there every year’

Workshop 2 2 fei_behind_the_scenes_workshop-_programming

Education

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