Live hacks of an art manager: how to create an artistic event that will live for 40 years – Views

At the opening of the festival Huddersfield Contemporary music festival met an older man in Great Britain. We talked, he asked about Ukraine, it became clear in the conversation that he – Richard Steinitz – was the first director of the established festival since 1978.

For me, it became important to realize that I am at an event that is more than 40 years old, and its first director enjoys interacting with guests. It is regrettable that funding for culture has decreased in recent years. How many independent cultural initiatives over 40 years old do I know in Ukraine? Do they even exist? Will the strategy of work on the implementation of the idea change, if there is an intention that this direction will exist even after 40 years?

How to understand that the idea is good and should be implemented?

To carry out activities, which are also relevant, for 40 years – not an easy task. But it can be just as difficult to get started. When an idea appears, many doubts also appear with it: is it really needed now, will it be possible to find funding for it, will people respond? Everyone starts differently: someone prescribes the details, someone discusses everything with the team, someone does research. For me, the best way to test an idea at the beginning is to run a “pilot” – a part or reduced version of a full-fledged idea. This allows you to check assumptions, collect feedback, and expand the circle of partners. Also, it allows you to invest less resources at the initial stage in an idea in which you are not yet sure. In case something goes wrong, the cost of such a mistake will be much less. In other words, this – prototype testing.

If you have an idea, the scale of which has long prevented you from starting to implement it, find what can be a prototype idea that can be implemented with the available resource and form the basis for further development and movement.

Fundraising and financial sustainability of the project

For me, fundraising begins with a detailed calculation of the cost of implementing an idea – I have to have an answer to the question “How much does it take to do what you want?”. Also, fundraising starts with understanding the financial model. That is, where can the money come from in this particular idea and who can pay for it. The financial model depends on the specifics of the idea / project / product you are working with and the ambition you have:

• to make a very famous profitable project
• to make a project that collects a lot for the Armed Forces
• to do what can represent Ukraine abroad
• to do something that can go down in art history

Depending on the chosen focus, the activity financing model can be very different. And this, in fact, determines the sources of funding. After all, the concept of self-sufficiency, which everyone tries to strive for, is an impossible goal for certain cultural and artistic products. Therefore, it is necessary to immediately plan the attraction of sponsorship or grant funds.

Therefore, financial stability is most affected by:

• understanding of own financial model
• search for possible sources of income
• systematic long-term work to attract funds from these sources

For me, the conversation about sustainability begins after the idea is three years old, because this is the time during which you can work out sources of funding and understand whether you want to work for that long on what you started.

Indicators that the project is already sufficiently viable

• It is possible to plan activities at least until the end of the year.
• Work on securing financing is done systematically.
• The financial situation is controlled by the team (not the other way around).

Modern Ukrainian realities add unpredictability to long-term planning. Unfortunately, belief in the importance of what you are doing and stubbornness help you hold on the most. But I would highly recommend investing now in partnerships: both in Ukraine and abroad. Do it even more and even harder. This is what helped us and helps us to get through the most critical situations.

Read also: UP.Kultura launched Telegram and WhatsApp channels. Why should you subscribe?