Hospitality Planning and Management for Larger Music Festival Backstage Zones

A large-scale music festival with hundreds of performance artists booked to appear over a number of days will need to have a well organised backstage zone. There will be a high volume of people and equipment constantly passing through this zone which makes the management of hospitality services challenging.
The backstage zone at a music festival can have a variety of people gaining access and usually includes organising staff, artists, crew, technicians, entourages, promoters, media and hospitality staff. The appropriate issuing of access passes is critical in managing the number of people in this zone to ensure security and prevent overcrowding. The hospitality element of the backstage zone should provide a relaxing and stress-free area for artists where they can obtain refreshments and access other facilities. Building a reputation for having a professionally managed backstage zone can attract the best artists as well as meeting any rider requirements.
Backstage Size and Layout.
Even the largest music festivals can have restricted size backstage zones making it more important that the area is well planned and managed. The backstage zone will typically house the organisers office space which may include IT infrastructure along with a communications and security hub for the event. In addition, there could be secure storage rooms for valuable equipment and instruments with dedicated areas for load in/load out. The hospitality element of the backstage zone will include private green rooms and dressing rooms for artists with a separate area for crew and staff. Dedicated backstage catering facilities provide food and drink to artists, crew and staff without the need to use public access vendors. The whole backstage zone will usually be a secure area with robust access control and security staff.
Green Rooms and Dressing Rooms.
Larger festivals may have a number of green rooms which provide a private space for relaxing and obtaining generic refreshments for artists with pending set times. They may then move to their personalised dressing room closer to performance times and these need to reflect the pre agreed riders submitted to the organisers. This may include specified branded food and drink that the artist has requested along with items like towels and bathroom toiletries for example. The dressing room may also have private access to shower and toilet facilities. The hospitality crew will need to thoroughly clean the dressing room and green room after each artist has left and re-stock in line with riders for the next artist.
Catering Facilities.
Organisers will usually source backstage catering facilities from previous suppliers where each may have to go through a tender process. The winning caterer will be the one who can provide a varied menu using quality ingredients with fast turnaround and the ability to accommodate a wide range of dietary needs or prepare bespoke meals if necessary. Catering facilities will need to be available at all hours for the duration of the festival as performances may go into the early hours and there will always be staff and crew who need feeding even when no performances are taking place.
Access Passes and Meal Ticket Allocation.
A key part of a well-managed backstage zone is the forward planning which includes obtaining completed advances and riders from every artist. These are then matched to their allocated set times, so hospitality staff know exactly how to prepare green rooms and dressing rooms throughout the day. During the planning please organisers will allocate a number of backstage passes to each artist and using event management software like Festival Pro helps to manage the entire accreditation process. The access passes are sent out to named individuals (artists, crew and guests) prior to the event. At the same time as managing accreditation organisers will also allocate meal tickets (usually 3 per person per day) which allow individuals to specify menu preferences. The collection of this data is imperative as it enables caterers to pre-plan ingredients and meals based on exact requirements.
Hospitality Management.
A festival with a busy backstage zone will benefit from dedicated hospitality managers who can provide guest services to artists and VIPs. They will have details of artist’s performance schedules along with estimated arrival and departure times and are sometimes also involved in transport and accommodation logistics too. It is their job to ensure that artists experience a seamless process from backstage access to green room and dressing room with rider requests fulfilled.
For festival organisers planning their next event 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, ticketing, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.
Image by HNBS via Pixabay
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