[IVFDF] Re: Content

[Andrew Swaine]

On Wed, 31 May 2000, Mason, Richard wrote:

> Whilst I agree with Pete that there are two opposing points of view, I
would
> just like to make it clear that it is very definitely not a clear
> 'organisers' and 'attendees' divide.  I have organised the festival 3
times
> now, and I guess am one of those responsible for making the festival
bigger.
> Last year for instance we put on the big concert with the Oyster Band on
the
> Friday night, which was a success and significantly increased the
attendance
> at the festival.  If I get to organise it again , then I would certainly
> look to do something similar again.

Looking forward to it already... :)

I agree, you can't prescribe the size of a festival.  Committees have to
propose to run a festival of a size they're comfortable with, and the reps
meeting will naturally vote for the best festival that there is on offer
(although I'll grant that the choice is not usually too great). While a
committee is prepared to run a large festival and the people are there to
come to it, it would be daft to tell them that they've got to run a
smaller festival.

To be honest I expect that you wouldn't significantly reduce the workload
unless the festival was a *lot* smaller.  The venue(s) still need to be
negotiated and hired, bands booked, publicity created and distributed,
workshops organised, sleeping arranged etc.  Once you've organised a
ceilidh on the Saturday evening, having another on the Friday evening in
the same hall and advertised at the same time certainly isn't double the
work.  Sleeping doesn't become less of a problem by only needing it for
one night.  etc.

Ironically, it may well have been easier for us in Cambridge if the
festival was bigger -- we'd then have the money to hire the main sports
centre.

Rather than reducing the size of the festival, more stretched committees
can probably be helped more by being joined by people from past committees
with experience in some of the things that can be done remotely, eg.
publicity, sponsorship, band hire, workshop organising.  In other words,
there's plenty of expertise in past committees, and future ones shouldn't
be afraid to ask for it if they feel they haven't got the resources
locally.  That's not to say that they should be pressured into doing so,
of course -- for instance workshops get variety by being organised by
different people each year.  But if resource is tight, this should be the
first way of reducing the load, rather than gambling the festival's
success by reducing its size.

Andrew.




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