Local Authority and Charity Organised Events.

A significant number of live events from large scale festivals to smaller locally themed events take place annually in many countries. These events are organised by a small number of dedicated events staff either volunteering their time for free or within auspices of a local government organisation committed to providing a service to the local community. 

These events are not run for profit but to generate awareness and raise funds for local charities and causes important to that community. Some are combined with government funded tourism organisations to promote visitors to the region or with local Rotary or music clubs.

For any city or town with a well-run local authority part and parcel of their service to the local community is the organising of events that benefit all concerned. Just checking most local government websites will show a dedicated ‘events’ section listing everything happening in the area over the next twelve months for example. These events are mostly organised by an events team working for the local government office. In addition to organising and running their own events they will often collaborate with commercially run events and festivals happening in the local area assisting with promotion and facilitating booking of venues and obtaining necessary permits and licences. Indeed, over the years many commercially run festivals that fell on financially challenging times have on occasions been taken over by the local authority events team where the event is seen as too important to fail.

In the UK there's a local authority run organisation just for these events teams, the Local Authority Event Organisers Group (LAEOG). Their membership represents some 60 local authorities in the UK and they provide training, forums as well as conferences particularly useful for events professionals with a specific responsibility for local authority run and sponsored events.

Working for a local authority events team isn't for everyone, there is unlikely to be the glamour associated with some large-scale privately-run music festivals where the management and coordination of famous artists and working in a dynamic environment is accepted as the norm for example. However, for those events professionals who prefer a stable job with career progression and the knowledge that in most case they are contributing to good causes is enough to have a very satisfying job. It is not unusual for many events professionals working in local authorities to stay with the same events teams for more than twenty years. 

The number of local authority run events and festivals continues to make up a considerable proportion of events taking place each year. Privately run events and music festivals continue to increase but can be significantly affected by economic downturns and of course the current pandemic. In the private sector there will likely be some consolidation as large corporate events companies take over any struggling events and music festivals.

For any events teams planning their local authority organised event or festival using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors guestlists and ticketing.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

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