Victoria EdwardsIf you've ever wanted to put on your own event, be it an open mic night, theatre performance, dance showcase or something else, then you'll need to start with a plan. Victoria Edwards has been there, done that! Not only has she completed her Bronze and Silver Arts Award, she then went on to create a symposium around inclusion in the arts, called Meeting in the Middle, for her Gold Arts Award. Here are Victoria's:

Top Tips for Event Planning 

Budget!
It's so important to have a budget for your whole event - and stick to it. In my case, I was given some money kindly by The Urban Vocal Group to run my event and I only had that money in my budget, so when it was gone it was gone. With this in mind, it meant that negotiating prices became very important to keep within my budget and to still make the best event I could. Sometimes using your own creativity can help, such as creating a logo yourself for your event or thinking outside the box for the things you may need.

Create a project plan

Project plans are the one thing that can really help when planning an event. It helps you see what you need to do, when you hope to get it done by and tasks that you have already completed. It was great for me as I was able to see when I needed to start things like finding guest speakers or when I needed to send out invitations to my event. It helps you see everything in one place so you don’t feel overwhelmed by what’s needing to be done. It gives you a timeline so you don’t need to do everything at once.  

What's the purpose of the event?

At the very beginning of planning your event it’s so important to have a goal: what you want the outcome of your event to be. For example, I created a symposium about inclusion in the arts and I wanted different charities and organisations in the arts to talk about the barriers they have come across when trying to help someone access the arts and how they would overcome these issues. So, it’s important to have a purpose to your event as it will help guide the direction of where, when and how you want your event to be.

Promote your event 

When you are planning your event it's vital that you promote your event to gain an audience. If you don’t promote your event people won’t know that it’s going ahead! One great way to promote your event is through social media, as it often doesn't cost and you can reach a wide audience.  You can also ask people such as Arts Award to post about your event or the organisation that you are doing your arts award through.  This was one of the ways I was able to get creative, as I was not only promoting my event in many ways, such as on websites like Eventbrite, and emailing people who fitted my target audience, but also I was able to be creative with the content of my marketing, as each platform needs different content. For example, Twitter needs content that is short and sharp and newsletters or blogs could have more content. 

Get Involved

Arts Award (What is Arts Award?)  helps you to grow your talents, explore the arts, be a creative leader and get a qualification. If you’re already participating, go you! Head over to our Bronze and Gold hubs for more inspiration and support. 

Join our Arts Award alumni network 

We’re on the lookout for Arts Award alumni everywhere! We’re here to help support you in your next career steps and offer some useful and interesting benefits! Find out more and sign up. 

Write for us 

Help others like you get through their Arts Award qualification by writing about your tips and experiences. Become a Voice Contributor today. Or come along to our FREE workshop on Saturday 3rd March 2018 and find out how to cut it as an arts writer! Book your place here.