Managing the Complexities of Artist Scheduling for Music Festivals.

The larger and more successful a music festival becomes the more complex and difficult it can be to schedule performance artists for future events. What can festival organisers do to simplify this increasingly challenging aspect of their event management logistics to give a seamless line-up presentation to festival-goers.

With potentially hundreds of artists in the curation process it is vital that organisers have documented processes and procedures in place to manage every aspect of artist scheduling. Organisers will have to take into account artist availability, budgetary limitations, physical and technical requirements and logical running orders that give a cohesive audience experience. What management tools and processes will organisers need to consider when planning their artist scheduling.

Curation, Availability and Budgets.
The curation process will usually start early in the planning process occasionally up to a year in advance. The curation team should have a comprehensive understanding of the festival's themes, events dates, target genres and budgets available. This data will help to produce a target list of artists usually tiered into headliners and support acts or by estimated fee rates. Target artists are approached to check on availability which may include a number of alternative dates and times to provide a degree of flexibility when it comes to scheduling. Other considerations for the curation and scheduling process will be the anticipated artist’s technical requirements which may impact on changeover transition times for example.

Control and Automation.
Once the curation process has produced an initial line-up for a festival all the data relating to each artist booking needs to be centralised into a single, easily accessible database. The data for each artist will typically include contracts, profiles, riders, technical specifications and the names of artists along with their crew and support personnel. Sophisticated event management software platforms (like Festival Pro) enable the collection of the artist related data into a single database that can then be linked to critical processes like scheduling, accreditation and accommodation for example. Automated notifications and time sensitive communications can keep all relevant people informed of any outstanding data or changes. Using software can greatly simplify the artist scheduling process allowing organisers to move or adjust artist’s set times in real time with notifications despatched automatically.

Operational Logistics.
The running order and schedule of performances will be subject to constant changes once contracts have been agreed between artists and organisers. Producers and stages managers work together to produce a logical running order with similar genres scheduled for the same stage with consecutive performances. Other considerations will be the technical requirements for each artist and stage managers will schedule artists with similar technical set-ups to run close together which minimises changeover times. Logistical challenges can also include working around local curfew or licensing restrictions and building in contingencies for adverse weather.

Creative Themes and Flow.
Festival organisers set a creative theme for their event early in the planning process and this can influence which artists are booked along with how they are scheduled to perform. The scheduling of set times and dates will often be dictated by the genre type so that festival-goers experience a logical flow of performances. Artist scheduling can be used to dictate the crowd’s energy levels at different times of the day with considerations for festival-goer exhaustion in hot weather. Organisers may choose to alternate between high-energy performance acts and slower tempo ones to let people recover. Schedule times can also be used as a crowd control technique by ensuring that performances on different stages end at different times to avoid too many festival-goers moving towards food and beverage vendors or toilet facilities at the same time.

For festival organisers planning their next event using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. 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, ticketing, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Image by StockSnap via Pixabay

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