In this essay we will discuss the ways of how to attract revenue for public festivals. We will put main accent on analysing the process of grant applications as well as sponsorship applications. We will also look on how ticket prices can generate the income for the festival. And the importance of the appropriate ticket pricing within the event and festival organisation. We will also look on other financial opportunities related to the additional revenue and cash flow generation for the festival or a public event. These opportunities involve fundraising, merchandising and offering a place for various businesses to trade within festival grounds.

Events have always played an important role in human society. With the rise of the technology and communication, nations are connecting and exchanging with cultural experiences much more often. Countries are becoming more cosmopolitan, what opens more opportunities and ideas for many international and other cultural and creative, events and festivals.

Before starting the organisation of the festival, organisers have to set the main aims and objectives for the event. Also the main target group has to be identified. As for successful run of the festival the aims and objectives have to reflect the target group’s social beliefs and views. Also the importance of acknowledging financial objectives cannot be neglected. The decision of werther the event is aimed for financial gain or not has to be identified, as this decision will help the organisers to allocate right budgeting structures and research adequate financial opportunities. It is essential before embarking on an event to ensure that sufficient funding is guaranteed. (Watt. 1998: 51). As without identifying the financial opportunities or restrains for an event, can lead to failure.

Grants.

Grants can be a vital part of the financial support for successful festival and event organisation on a national as well as a local scale. Most common financial awards or grants are issued through Government supported initiatives. Most often these initiatives are related to the wellbeing and education of the community and society. There are numerous Grant awarding bodies in Ireland. Each awarding body specializes and supports different event and festival genres. When applying for grant the event management has to analyse and discuss the most suitable grant scheme applicable to the event. It can be done by setting clear aims and objectives of the festival and matching them to the needs and priorities of the awarding bodies. As each awarding body specialises in different areas, each application form will be based on different criteria. Grant application form has to include all the relevant documents required by the awarding body, strict guidelines has to be followed, as neglecting the requirements of the awarding body can lead to the refusal of the proposed grant. Previous research on the awarding body can benefit towards the successful grant application. Good research on potential awarding body can determine if the proposed festival corresponds with the awarding body views and mission statement. Same as private sponsors, Government supported initiatives require to identify benefits what are proposed to arise from the event. In contradiction with private sponsors, government initiatives are not always looking for financial gain. Dublin City Council Arts Grant Criteria and Guidelines for 2013 states that for each grant application the list of the public benefits arising from the proposed event has to be provided. These initiatives are based on generating benefits, which are aimed towards the wellbeing of the community and its surrounding area. The gathering of benefits can be done through statistics by using census, council reports and any other statistics, which can be useful in proving and demonstrate that the proposed festival is beneficial to certain area.

The grant application form has to represent detailed balance sheet of

outgoings and income related to the festival. As Dublin City Council Arts Grant Criteria and Guidelines for 2013 states that the financial projections has to reflect the proposed amount to the awarding body, to determine if the proposed amount is feasible to run the event successfully and efficiently.

Tickets.

According to Shone and Parry there are different ways of attaining ticket sales. As the events vary by their themes and attendance the differential pricing can be applied. For an example Forbidden Fruit festival in Dublin offered differential pricing strategy to attract various attendees. The ticket pricing strategy was implemented through offering certain amount of tickets in advance of the event. These tickets were substantially cheaper than the ticket prices sold closer to the event date. As the Forbidden Fruit festival is a 2 day festival, the differential ticketing was implemented for audience members who were willing to attend the festival only for a one day and different ticket price for individuals who were planning to attend the festival both days. We can identify that Forbidden Fruit festival applied ticketing strategy in 3 ways, early bird tickets, one ­ day ticket and two ­ day ticket. With this ticketing strategy festival organisers were able to accommodate various festival attendee needs and possibly attract more visitors. In advance ticket sales can be beneficial to audience as well as the organisers. As for audience it reassures that they have ticket what they want for an event. Where through the offer of early bird tickets event organisers are able to secure and improve festival cash flow and identify potential numbers of visitors for an event. The sale of tickets is often essential for income generation as it is a mechanism to allow organizers to charge in advance for an event and to offer visitors a form of receipt for their payment. (White. 1998:187). Allocation of the ticket price for the event can be complex task. As often in determination of the ticket price the budgeted assessment of the costs has to be

taken in the account. The ticket price has to be determined by analysing the overall budget as well as the expected income and outgoings. It is important to reflect and research the additional costs related to the event attendees against the ticket prices. For an example if attendees will have to pay for parking when attending the event or spend additional finances towards other elements in order to attend the event. As these functions add on to the overall expenditure additional to the ticket price. Also event main aims and objectives have to be determined. Decision on objectives, if the proposed event is aimed towards the gain of financial return or if it is organised as a not for profit event.

The ticket prices can be determined by research and analysis of similar events. Through the research the average attendance and ticket pricing can be set. By determining and enforcing a maximum ticket allocation, organizers can control capacity and promote safety of the attendees and the rest of the involved in the organisation of the event. Tickets have to represent the event and reassure the audience member about the legitimacy of the ticket and ticketing system. Ticketing process has to be secure as tickets are a part of the representation of the reassurance for the audience. In order to avoid counterfeit ticketing, tickets should be designed in the manner of them to be hard to forge. Tickets have to identify the clear linkage to the organisation or event, date, time and where applicable an area or seat must be shown.

Sponsorship.

Shone and Parry notes that sponsorship is an effective promotional technique used by companies and should not be mistaken as a method of obtaining donations. Sponsorship is a mutual business opportunity between the event organisers and sponsoring company. Sponsorship is a popular and successful marketing tool, what binds event organisers and company marketers. Sponsorship by the right company can be a crucial financial indicator for the successful run of the event. Shone and Parry states that sponsorship can be indefinite and hard to secure as many sponsors can cancel their sponsorship in any time. The cancellation can be related to many aspects, likes of government ban for certain ethical reasons. Sponsorship benefits to an event often include: extra advertising and exposure especially if media serves as a sponsor, also additional financial revenue. Sponsorship involves investment in an event in order to provide the sponsor with the exposure to the benefits of the event. (Preston 2012 : 88). When choosing the sponsors, there are steps, what should be taken in order to gain successful partnership with the sponsoring body. First you have to determine what kind of event you are organising. Through the organisation of setting the aims and objectives of the event, it will be possible to determine the demographics of the festival. It is a vital part of the organisation as this will help to determine and attract right sponsors. As the sponsors views have to be related to the theme and ideology of your festival. As per example there is a small possibility that company like “Bentley Motors limited” would sponsor Reggae music festival. As the branding for this company is marketed towards different social group. According to Quinn companies sponsor events in order to develop corporate awareness and market position as well as drive sales and create or re ­ position the brand within consumer minds. In order to approach appropriate sponsors, research on proposed sponsors has to be conducted in order to determine their eligibility to sponsor the event. Sponsor previous

sponsorship deals can be a great indicator in determination of the eligibility for the proposed event. After successful research and approach to sponsoring body Shone and Parry suggests that Sponsorship agreement has to be developed with clear statements of the benefits and expectations arising from the proposed event. As sponsors are looking for return on their investment the clear statement of benefits has to be identified prior to the approach. Skinner and Rukavina states that visibility of the sponsoring organization is often the first reason that companies sponsor events. (Skinner, Rukavina 2003 : 23). Suggestion is that, when approaching the sponsors the sponsorship application should include detailed description of the potential benefits to the sponsoring company. Sponsorship packages are great initiative to approach numerous sponsors. By creating sponsorship packages there is a better chance on attaining various sponsors and receive extra revenue for a proposed event. As an example we can analyse “Dublin Mini Maker Fair” proposed sponsorship packages. There are 5 different packages created for sponsors who are willing to sponsor by investing money. By investing proposed amount they are able to see the benefits they will receive in return. An additional sponsorship package is created for sponsors who are not willing to invest money but are able to provide materials or other support needed for a successful run of the event. Skinner and Rukavina have noted that, the event can be sponsored by numerous sponsors, but it is important for an event manager to make sure that a sponsoring station is permitted to mention the names of other sponsors in its spots. (Skinner, Rukavina 2003 : 23). Skinner claims when choosing sponsors, it is vital to choose sponsors who can work together and achieve win ­ win situation. As the sponsorship within competing organisations can lead to losing the sponsors and much needed funds to successfully run the event.

Options for attaining additional financial revenue.

There are many ways to attract revenue for events. Creativity and professional approach towards the revenue generation can lead to a successful event financial and practical organisation. Additional financial revenue can be generated by allowing various trade businesses to trade according to event specifications. By offering them place within the grounds of the festival both parties can achieve win ­ win situation where festival organisers has certain amenities available for the potential visitors. As well as generating extra cash flow, where particular business can pay certain amount of money for the place or a stall in the festival grounds to be able to do business. Likes of local cafe selling tea and coffee on site. It will be beneficial for cafe to do business outside their standard location as it can promote their cafe and possibly attract new clients. Fundraising before the event can generate income to financially support the startup process of the event. It can also serve as an additional promotion to attract and inform the target audience about the upcoming event. Fundraising can be done by organising different social activities which can include, raffles, lotteries, sponsored runs and many other activities related to the upcoming event. According to Watt merchandising, trading and souvenir sales are the direct financial sales, which can massively contribute to the event income. Merchandising and selling festival related souvenirs are great and effective way of generating extra income. Most common souvenirs available are with printed festival symbols and logo T­shirts, pens, pins and posters. Watt notes that merchandising has to be carefully considered and deliberated as the choice of wrong logo, image or souvenir can cause a severe financial loss. (Watt. 1998: 73). Sales generated from merchandising can contribute not only for festival’s financial viability but also transferring festival image for present as well as future events. With perfectly marketed merchandising, festival souvenirs for visitors are as a reminder of a great experience and will serve as an additional promotion throughout the year.

In conclusion we can acknowledge that generation of the revenue for an event can be time consuming and very detailed work. As there is a strict criteria for each financial body to determine feasibility in financial return within the proposed event. Before approaching any financial institutions event organisers have to recognize the aims and objectives of the proposed event to determine their main demographics and target audience. Financial accounts have to reflect the feasibility of the event. Research has to be conducted on the potential sponsors and awarding bodies to determine most opportune fit for the proposed event. As each sponsor will be analyzing the return on investment and potential benefits from the investment. Overall there are many efficient ways of generating extra revenue for public events. The creativity and professional approach to the ideas and requirements will potentially generate the proposed funds from grants, sponsors and any other streams.

Bibliography
Books:
● Preston C. A. (2012). Event marketing: how to successfully promote events, festivals, conventions, and expositions. (2nd ed). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

● Quinn B. Key concepts in event management. London: SAGE, 2013.

● Shone Anton. Parry Bryn. Successful event management: a practical handbook. (4th ed). Andover: Cengage Learning, 2013.

● Skinner B. Rukavina V. (2003). Event sponsorship. New York: Chichester: Willey.

● Yeoma. ed. (2003). Festival and events management: an international arts and culture perspective. Oxford: Butterworth­Heinemann.

● Watt D. C. (1998). Event management in leisure and tourism. Harlow, Essex, England: Addison Wesley Longman,

Websites:
● Dublin Mini Maker Faire. (2012). Dublin Mini Maker Faire Sponsorship package. Available: http://www.makerfairedublin.com/wp­content/uploads/2012/06/Dublin­Mini ­Maker­Faire­Sponsorship­Pack­Public.pdf. Last accessed November 2013.