Course content

This course provides an introduction to the planning, implementation and follow-up related to running a music festival. This includes geographical location, thematic anchoring, selection of artists, existing practices regarding booking, logistics, financial operations and accounting, promotion and media handling, cultural policy, and ecological considerations as well as reporting after execution.

In order to create and maintain a festival, its content and basis of life must be legitimized to several external actors. Communication with the potential audience must be on a solid, professionally grounded basis. Knowledge of performers within the genre, era and chosen theme must be possessed by the festival managers. Which target group the festival wishes to reach plays a role as well, on such things as applicable funds, so social anchoring is also important. The form of organization (responsibility, risk, tax, rights, and duties) chosen for the festival can also open and close opportunities. The importance of the support volunteers give, and awareness of the necessity of delegation is also exemplified.

The course is therefore a training in applied musicology/music communication, and the goal is to reach a basic understanding of the work necessary for establishing and running a music/cultural festival while achieving new musicological learning outcomes.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

Students who complete MUSV3140 will have a deepened knowledge of

• key features of running music festivals.
• the role and function of music as a cultural actor in society.
• selected music genres, artists and traditions linked to existing festivals.
• how one can make logistical trade-offs early on.
• basic budgeting, VAT calculation and taxes related to festival operations.
• ecological balances, locally and when acquiring performers for a festival.

Skills:

Students who complete MUSV3140 can

• apply music historical knowledge and musicological methods towards festival operations.
• link key concepts within the field of music to festival operations, and vice versa.
• set up a basic budget.
• write a simple application for financial support.
• formulate (both orally and in writing) their own expertise in the area in current debates.
• write a simple report after a festival’s execution.

Learning methods and activities

The teaching will consist of lectures and seminars with an emphasis on discussion and dialogue. Weekly preparation, in the form of reading and listening tasks, is therefore central. Teaching will be provided by several instructors within festival management, throughout the semester. It is therefore important to be present in all classes, participation is therefore compulsory and requires a minimum of 80% attendance.

Compulsory assignments

• Satisfactory participation in compulsory instruction
• Writing a document for a fictitious festival’s goals and visions

Further on evaluation

The student must submit an individual term paper at the end of the term. The term paper assignment consists of creating an outline for a fictitious festival concept with the decisions made with background in the course syllabus, a simplified budget and an application addressed to the Cultural Council for support that meets the Arts Council Norway’s formalistic requirements, a press release (a maximum of one A4 page), as well as a report for the fictitious festival's first implementation. Sources are cited as in a traditional academic paper. The total length of the areas included in the semester assignment should normally amount to approx. 4,000-6,000 words. The course supervisor will present the assignment in the first half of the semester. The assignment must be delivered digitally on Inspera as a pdf file.

A document for the fictitious festival’s goals and visions is written as a compulsory activity and submitted for approval before the student delivers the term paper.

It is not required to take approved compulsory activities again when re-attempting the exam.

Specific conditions