Live and Local events can be successful without big budgets. Here are some ways to manage your costs:

• Get another organisation to cover any additional insurance that’s required – potentially the festival body for your team
• Rather than pay for advertising, create a steady stream of stories and photos that can lead to media coverage
• Hire affordable artists and make sure the pay structure is professional
• Use venues that already have good live music production infrastructure (i.e. sound, lighting, backline etc) to avoid having to hire it

In order to break even, you may need to seek funding from local councils, apply for grants or approach private enterprise such as hospitality associations or individual venues.