Local Support for Music Festivals.

There are hundreds of music festivals around the world that rely on support from their local community and other local establishments to keep going. Without this support many of the smaller and more specialist events would not continue to succeed year on year. What format of support does this usually entail? 

There are many music festivals that take place each year catering for minority genres of music. They are likely to never attract more than several thousand attendees each year and perhaps were created by an enthusiastic land owner in some cases decades ago. These small scale music festivals can gain a small loyal following and are unlikely to generate any substantial revenue for the organisers. 

Survival of theses music festivals is vital to maintain a variety and diversity of events that appeal to a select audience no matter how small. Increasingly these events rely on the support of the local community and other bodies either financially or logistically to continue. Even these small scale events can attract visitors to a region that perhaps relies on this influx of people to boost local business revenue or tourist related attraction visitor numbers.

Local authorities and councils are keen to see such events continue every year and can offer support in terms of logistics and personnel. Many local council organisations will have a dedicated events team that can help with organising logistics and event marketing. Through their contacts they can often secure financial support and sponsorship form the local business community who are usually the most enthusiastic about attracting business and footfall during a multi-day festival. This is particularly true for businesses involved in hospitality offering accommodation and food and beverage services (hotels, pubs and restaurants for example).

Where music festivals are held in areas or regions that naturally attract tourist visitors the addition of an annual music festival is considered a bonus. Visitor numbers increases to local tourist attractions and of course any organisation responsible for promoting tourism will be enthusiastic about promoting such a music festival. The form of this support is mostly free publicity and marketing but, in some cases, can include help from events staff in that tourism organisation.

It is clear that many small music festivals would not survive without the support from these organisations and for any struggling festival organiser there is no reason why they should not reach out to their local council, tourism office and local business communities. It may be surprising just how much support can be offered, albeit this may not be financial but free marketing and logistics support that will always be welcome. Working together to support all in the local community should be a win for all concerned.

For any music festival organisers planning their 2021 events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event no matter how big or small their event is. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors guestlists and ticketing. 

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