South Asia Festivals Academy

Beginner Academy will run through 10 weeks

Full cost per learner = £550

British Council funding per learner = £400

Total fee to be paid per accepted learner = £150

The course welcome all festivals including women led, LGBTQI focus and disability arts (audience, artists and festival managers). Festivals can be single artform, cross artform, or multi-disciplinary.

For the Beginners Course: 

• Applicants run cultural events with ambitions to develop these in to a festival format
• Applications by entry-level festival professionals (up to 5 years)
• Applicants should be promising leaders/founders of festivals of any genre. 
• Applicants should be promising managers/employees/ consultants/project managers working with existing festivals. 
• Applicants’ backgrounds can range from artistic and curatorial to management, marketing, business development, fundraising etc

• Business Development: Key components of developing a successful business model and learning through the creation of a practical draft business plan. 
• Governance Structures: Introduction to models of governance and different leadership and organisational cultures. 
• Artistic Policy and Programming: Programming strategies and matrix, taking risks and ensuring excellence, commissioning and supporting new talent, building successful partnerships and networks. 
• Operations and Financial Management: Building and managing teams, choosing a financial model, management accounts, cashflows, and project budgets. 
• Audience Development and Engagement: Developing audience segmentation, communication strategy, and building engaged communities. 
• Arts Festivals contexts in South Asia and the UK: Understanding artistic, geographic and historic influence on festivals

• Evaluate the meaning of experience and design examining how it is applied to festivals and events
• Identify and discuss types, sources and implications of regulations applicable to the sustainable operation of festivals and events
• Identify and appraise key operations structures and management functions and apply these to a range of festivals and events in a problem-solving context
• Communicate and present findings of investigative activity into festivals and events operations in a structured format
• Participants will be challenged in their knowledge and proficiency in festival management in a collaborative learning environment, imparting new skills in and approaches to business development and understand the environment during a crisis (crisis management) 
• Participants will be receiving an accredited at Scottish Credit Qualifications Credit (SCQF) levels, in line with all credit-bearing courses and degree programmes provided and delivered by Scottish Universities post completion of the digital Festivals Academy
• Participant will be leaving confident that they can apply the learning to support their festival strategies in their local contexts. 
• Learning new ways to build EDI into digital products and services
• Develop a national and international network and peer group