ABSTRACT
Getz (2005) defines festivals as ‘themed, public celebrations’ (p. 21). This straightforward and three-word definition underlines three components of festivals: a festival should be themed, people should gather in specific festival locations and venues, and the participating public should either observe or become a part of festival celebrations. All these components require a series of managerial tasks to be initiated and implemented by festival-organising bodies. Such tasks range from preparing a strategic festival plan to the hiring and training of employees and volunteers. Other components include assessing environmental impacts of a festival and marketing it to potential participants. As a result, the organisers responsible for staging and managing festivals rely on both monetary and non-monetary resources in order to fulfil their tasks and aims. While a number of resources, such as the public authorities’ support and income generated from participants, can help organising bodies to disburse some of the costs, sponsorship often becomes a crucial constituent of festival budgets and plans. Therefore, identifying potential sponsors, preparing sponsorship proposals and managing ongoing relationships with sponsors for repeating festivals are among the essential responsibilities for anyone associated with the organisation and marketing of festivals.
