In Conversation With Jonathan Kennedy, Director Arts India

1.What can be expected from this collaboration between the British Council and Edinburgh Napier University?

In collaboration with Edinburgh Napier University, the British Council is organising an 8-week pilot arts management training course - Festivals Academy Intermediate Course online for festival managers and creative leaders with expert trainers and festival directors in the UK and India. Later in 2021 we will extend the accredited Festivals Academy course to festivals across South Asia.

Festivals Academy is a project under the Festivals for the Future programme banner, covering festival business management, networks and creative exchange. 

Festivals for the Future is a multi-year programme designed to strengthen India's art and culture festivals' creative economy, in partnership with the UK. Through the programme, the British Council aims to provide creative expression, exchange, and enterprise opportunities through trusted partnerships between India and the UK. 

We’re bringing together India's creative leaders and its emerging cultural festivals. In the past year we’ve worked with Spoken Fest, Tata Lit Live, Chennai Photo Biennale, Hyderabad Literary festival, Kolkata International Children’s Film Festival, Bengaluru By Design NH& Weekender, Kalinga Lit Fest, Serendipity Arts Festival, JLF, Ziro among many others. 

In 2021 the Festivals Academy has transformed from  a face to face residency and moved online to embrace new ways of learning and sharing together for the digital age. As part of this, the British Council and the Edinburgh Napier University have partnered to develop an online platform for festival managers and creative leaders with expert trainers and festival directors running the arts management training course in the UK and India. 

2. What are the key highlights and focus areas of this course?  Brief us about the Festivals Academy Digital Intermediate Course?  

The training programme has been created by a team of festival experts Tom Wilcox and Kate Ward from UK partners Counterculture with Divya Bhatia, Festival Director and producer of Jodhpur RIFF, alongside Edinburgh Napier University's expert sectorial knowledge. 

The Festival Managers are studying the different curatorial policies and formats of festivals. The course leaders share their insights and experience in national and international producing, festivals vision, mission and values, governance and management, marketing and audience development, fundraising and finance and HR to strengthen festival cultural landscape in India. 

Participants will adapt and apply this training to planning their festivals in their geographical and cultural context. At the end of the 8 weeks the Festival Managers will leave with draft multi-year Business Plan including innovative live and digital platforms 

3. What can be said about the target group for the programme?

The course will be attended by festival directors, programmers, and marketing experts working in India's festivals' economy. Despite the pandemic, we received an overwhelming response for participation. The current Festivals Academy has 27 festivals joining each week to learn a range of business planning skills fir implementation later.

4.What can be said about the scope of Festival Business management as a career option in India and other nations?  

The creative economy in India is 88% MSMEs and this is characteristic of the emerging and established festivals network we’re working to strengthen.

Often learning how you run a festival is done ad hoc and on the job with only limited guidance and structure from peers and colleagues. The Festivals Academy looks at the range of skills needed to lead, plan and run a successful festival.

The Edinburgh Festival fringe attracts 4.5 million visitors to Scotland every summer and is a major contributor to GD, while the Durga Puja Festival is a major celebration in Kolkata attracting well over 2.5 million visitors in 5 days   Festivals drive the creative economy and strengthen livelihoods. 

We aim for to Festivals Academy to build an internationally networked workforce of future arts leaders whether as Artistic Directors, Festival Managers, Marketing and Communication Directors, Finance and Fundraisers, HR and Volunteer Managers the range of career options for careers development is huge. 

We’ve mapped well over 1,600 independent and government supported festivals across India, the scope for long-term growth is significant. However the recent Taking the Temperature Research (with FICCI, Art X Company and British Council) a reports 16% contraction in the creative economy in India since Covid-19, so this challenging time is critical and the Festivals Academy may be more necessary than ever to short-term survival and long-term build resilience.

5. How is this programme relevant in lieu of the festivals economy in India?

The Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) - 2017 report, 21st century India has seen a renaissance in culture with privately funded emerging arts festivals The  events sector alone is valued at INR 10,000 crore growing speedily at 16% CAGR annually. 

British Council research with the Ministry of Tourism West Bengal will help map the worth of the creative economy around the Durga Puja festival. 

There has been huge growth pre-pandemic in young audiences aged under 35 years travelling across state borders to experience the dynamism and joy of music, film, performing arts, tech arts and visual festivals   Arts festivals reflect dynamic, modern, young and creative India at is most exciting.

Growing demand of younger audiences with disposable income has led to a flourishing of new festivals in metros acorss the country which has led to an exponential growth of the festival sector in the past decade. The consequent demand for skills development in Festivals management is at all professional levels. To meet this need and demand, the British Council and Edinburgh Festivals have partnered to lead the Festivals Academy course. 

The Festivals Academy has been designed with Indian managers in mind and participants will develop a range of skills customised to today's global festivals marketplace. Festival directors, programmers and experts are drawn to this course to exchange ideas, develop businesses and explore ground-breaking ways of producing.

6. How will the programme, aid in building on the entrepreneurial capacity for the festivals' enterprise economy in India?  

Festival managers and leaders will explore different business models to learn about the various aspects of entrepreneurship related to the Festivals' economy. They will investigate creative visions and purpose, business strategy, infrastructure, organisational planning, operational processes, policies and planning models to take back to their companies to shape festival programmes for the next 3-5 years. Fundraisers for festivals are in high demand. Business development and finance skills is a core aspect of the Festivals Academy whether they are large and established or small and emerging.

7. How will the programme benefit the enrolled students?  

The course has been designed with for Indian festivals and will expand across South Asia in 2021

They will develop a range of skills tailored to today's international arts marketplace. Participants will learn from expert training from a selection of leading festivals online. They will benefit from a practical learning experience based on thematic lectures, seminars, exercises, case study discussion and business planning. 

They will form  an international alumni network for ongoing shared knowledge and creative collaboration. 

By completing this course, Festival Managers will have formed new ways of thinking to build resilience, international networks and innovative ways of producing to lead their festivals into the future.