British Council holds festival workshop

The British Council will hold a four-day workshop called ‘How to develop a marketing plan for a festival’ for Vietnamese festival organizers next week in HCMC.
The workshop from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3 follows the success of the council’s two previous training workshops in Hanoi in March called ‘Arts festival organization in a Vietnamese context’ and in Hue in June ‘Behind the scenes of a successful festival’.
“The British Council hopes that this project will create a stronger cultural infrastructure for the promotion of arts festivals, showcasing talent from both Vietnam and the UK” said Simon Beardow, Deputy Director of the British Council Vietnam, in a statement.
The workshop, led by UK festival director Nick Dodds and Abigail Carney, UK marketing consultant, will provide participants with the knowledge, understanding and a practical framework to be able to write and oversee the development of a festival marketing plan. Over the four day workshop, participants will participate in seven sessions including case studies and working groups.
The trainers will use extensive case study material from UK festivals including the Lammermuir Festival (www.lammermuirfestival.co.uk) and the Edinburgh International Science Festival (www.sciencefestival.co.uk) and the Imaginate Children’s Festival (www.imaginate.org.uk)
“The participants will be split into four teams and will use a real case study to develop a marketing plan for their event,” said Nick Dodds, course coordinator in a statement.
The workshop is part of the three year capacity-building program on ‘Arts Festival Management’ co-organized by the British Council Vietnam and the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism, which aims to strengthen festival management skills for Vietnamese arts promoters and festival organizers; and to create links between festivals in the UK and Vietnam.