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Step 1
1) Start early: The first time you plan the festival, you will need plenty of time before you can finally cross everything off your to-do list. You may not realize how many phone calls you have to make or how many advertisements you must write! Then, you also need enough time to give artists advanced notice. It's especially important to plan far in advance if you have small or no funds. Understand that few people will be willing to provide their space for free, unless you present a very convincing argument about how your event will benefit the community. You need time to consider your mission and structure your argument in the most persuasive way possible. You'll also encounter all sorts of logistical problems you likely never realized would affect you and will need enough time to solve them all. This is an extremely detail-oriented venture.
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Step 2
2) Assemble a team: This was my biggest mistake when I started out--not asking for enough help. You may think that all your immediate friends and family are too busy to realize the festival with you, but that isn't necessarily true. Ask before you start assuming you know their schedules. If your friends and family are too busy, however, you should post several notices on websites like Craigslist and Facebook requesting volunteers. Also try visiting schools, churches, and community centers; ask the appropriate leader if you may talk to their groups about your event. Provide as many incentives for your volunteers as you can, such as bringing food to meetings and giving them community service credit.
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Step 3
3) Advertise: When you have virtually no funds, you must be creative about advertising. Start with free online forums. You should consider starting groups and event invitations on Facebook, MySpace, LiveJournal, and similar websites. Going around and talking to local artist groups about the event is wise, too. If you don't think you can afford to print out flyers, ask each of your friends to print out ten or twenty copies to reduce your costs; you could also approach a school, church, or other non-profit and politely ask if they would be willing to print the flyers for free. When you post your flyers, choose highly visible and popular locations. Most supermarkets, for example, have community bulletin boards that people in your neighborhood read everyday. Another idea is to make a blog for your event, such as the one I made with Blogger (http://neoindieartsfestival.blogspot.com)
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Step 4
4) Recruit effectively: I quickly discovered how difficult it is to get many teens and young adults to commit to such a public display of their work. Many of them were too shy or modest about their talents, or afraid that they had too small a body of work. Others simply were lazy or disorganized. Many of the artists I recruited dropped out the day of the event, for instance. The reasons varied, but the point is you need to pull in a large number of artists, recognizing that perhaps as many as half will back out last minute. If you're shooting for sixty artists, for instance, try to get 100 or so to sign up. One way to really encourage artists to sign up is to stress how much exposure they'll receive for their work and give them the opportunity to sell their pieces if they wish. Another way is to simply make the registration process simple! Nobody wants to fill out fifteen pages of paper for something that will last five hours. Set up a registration form on a website like SurveyMonkey.com or ask they that they email you basic information (example: name, phone number, email address, type of art, what amenities they will need.)
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Step 5
5) Make the day of the event easy: The day of the festival will be hectic enough, even with prior planning. Email all artists the week before and the day of the event to remind them of the procedures for signing and setting up. This will minimize confusion and make it less likely that people will arrive late. Ask that the facilities manager unlock the building for you as early as s/he can. Then set up as much as you can in advance, like tables and chairs. Be sure that all audio-visual equipment and other electronics are working properly. Your space should be clean and look pleasant overall.
