EDITOR’S NOTE: Part II of a report on book festivals prepared by WAC intern Lindsey Grubbs. This segment looks at the organization and budgets of select festivals (see list in Aug. 30 post). If you would like a copy of the full report, e-mail me and I’ll send you one.

Who sponsors and organizes book festivals? The vast majority of the festivals are sponsored by state or government arts/humanities organizations, such as arts councils, humanities councils, and Centers for the Book. Additionally, many of the festivals are sponsored by a grouping of these organizations, all working together.

The budgets of festivals come from a variety of sources. The larger festivals tend to have a lot of corporate sponsors. They also get support from the media, whether radio stations, TV stations, or newspapers. In almost every case, media sponsorships for festivals consist not of a monetary exchange, but simply of free advertising for the festival. This could range from a small newspaper ad or radio promo, to a large newspaper section, such as the one that The Missoulian sponsors for the Montana Book Festival in Missoula, which normally costs about twenty thousand dollars to produce. These partnerships have a significant effect on turnout, with no additional outlay of the festival budget.

Smaller festivals also used this “in-kind” support from media organizations, but typically had less corporate funding. As a general rule, the amount of funds raised from local businesses depends heavily on the amount of effort that is put into contacting them. This is very labor-intensive, and used effectively only by the larger festivals. It does not seem to be a constructive use of time for others, especially those that receive most of their money from state arts councils, humanities councils, and Centers for the Book.

Next week’s wyolitmail will feature the final segment of the condensed report. It discusses festival staff and payment of the writers.

- posted by Michael Shay @ 11:38 AM