A DIY GUIDE TO PRODUCING A FEMINIST FESTIVAL

Off Our Backs, Nov/Dec 2003 by Pena, Elizabeth

By now, we're pretty familiar with the Lilith Fair festival begun by Sarah McLachlan. While it was a great idea that generates ticket sales and the inclusion of some of music's well-known female artists, I'm in the corner thinking: "What is this doing for the feminist movement? What happened to cunt power?" There's more out there than Sarah, Jewel, and Sheryl.

If you think Ladyfest is cool but you'd rather start something else, or if you aren't sure where to start, here's how to get off your butt and do it.

Start Early

The concept of the first Palouse Women's Artfest was festering in my head for two years. In August of 2002, I began to approach folks for support. This gave organizers a full eight months and that's cutting it pretty close. One year is preferable and towards the middle of it, you'll understand why.

Plan Well

Think long and hard about what you want this festival to encompass. Do you want this shindig to go after all women or do you want it to exclusively feature feminists (remember, not all women out there believe themselves to be feminists)? What kinds of art do you want to feature? Just music? Just art? Just dance? A combination? All of it? Best thing to do at this point is sit down, grab a pen and start forming a mission statement. Don't just think about it. Write it. Make this as thought out and organized as possible, as this will define your festival's purpose and let others (volunteers, funding sources, etc.) know why they should be involved and why they should attend.

Grab Some Volunteers

In theory, you could do this on your own, but you would need a lot of time (literally 40 hours a week) and limitless patience. Plus, no matter how small your town, there will be people there who are interested in helping you. Besides, what better way to unite your community under one call?

Advertise economically on quarter sheets of paper (create the same ad 4 times on one page in your word processor. Same thing as if you're doing it the old cut and paste way). Advertise in as many places as you're allowed and at every "hot spot" in your community. Don't forget grocery stores as many of them will have places to post community advertisements. Coffee shops, restaurants, music stores, skate stores, and school campuses are great places. If there is a school or college near you, a good way to get those advertisements out there is to hand them out. Figure out a populated place on a campus and hand them out there, especially right before and after lunch hour. If the school has a campus newspaper, ask about putting in an insert to go with the paper. Also ask about a community calendar in the paper, as many of them are free.

Hold Regular Meetings

Ideally, people should meet every two weeks. Don't set up committees. Seriously. Sometimes it works but for this, it'll only disintegrate towards the middle of all the planning. You don't need committees because it separates and regulates people into particular roles. That creates too many people who won't know what's going on. With a production this big and important, that's the last thing you want to have happen. It's important that everyone feels connected to every part of the planning process. Simply take volunteers and refrain from being "a leader." Sometimes it results in asking one person for everything. Encourage everyone to be a teacher and a student.

Determine Venue, Task List and Festival Name

Some things you need to discuss in the first few meetings include: venue, assigning jobs, creating a name for the festival, and organizing fundraising. In terms of venue, you must decide if the concert will be outside or inside. Keep in mind that outdoor festivals require a lot more paperwork and are dependent on accurate weather reporting. Look towards community centers, a popular place on a college campus, etc. Colleges offer great advantages in these areas. If you create your taskforce as a student organization, they'll probably let you use most of their facilities for free.

Once you have figured this out, you must assign jobs to people. Make sure everyone is on the same page with everyone else about what needs to be done and who's willing to do it. It might be helpful to create a document that outlines everyone's jobs and specific duties doing this will help to keep you organized as well as provide an archive in case you want to repeat the festival again in the future.

Next, you must create a name for your festival. While "[enter city here] Women's Festival" suffices, try thinking of more creative names. Then again, using your city in the title makes it easy for folks to remember.

Fundraise

The final step is determining a fundraising strategy and finding sponsors. Benefit shows are one of the best ways to raise money and have fun, too. There are tons of places you can ask for money. College departments, especially if you are a student organization (and if this will help with how you receive money, start one up for your festival), independent stores, women's organizations, community organizations, bake sales, garage sales, auctions, a screening of a film and a dinner are all great ways to raise money. The first step to successful fundraising is to create a kit that you can send to potential vendors/donors. This kit should include: