Creating Your Festival Budget

After reading this part you should: The director of a company specialising in festival support services had just come back from a contract at London’s Hyde Park, a big outdoor event, headlined by The Eurythmics, a fashionable band at the time. “What were they like?” an excited music enthusiast asked him. “I’ve no idea,” came the droll reply, “I spent the whole evening unblocking the toilets” (Toby Short of Rock City Stage Crew, 1999). To some, festival budgeting is a bit like that, it’s a task that seems dull boring and repetitive, but it’s also incredibly important. Doing endless budget projections – and they will keep changing – keeping a track of estimates and invoices, managing your cashflow and then counting the pennies at the end of the event is hardly glamorous. But if the finances get all blocked up or don’t flow in the right way, the smell will be pretty unpleasant and, in extreme cases you might even have to sell all your worldly possessions to sort out the mess.. Good budgeting is crucial to the long-term success of your festival and also your peace of mind. It’s not difficult, so long as you are careful and methodical. As your event grows, the financial numbers will obviously get bigger and some of the control issues get more complicated. But the principles remain the same. A growing festival will need to get the advice of an accountant, especially where tax matters are concerned.