Ideas for Music Festivals

A music festival celebrates a specific region or type of music. A festival includes food and activities in addition to the music to provide an entertaining experience for all visitors. Schools, cities, counties and private organizations can host the event on a small or large scale. When hosting a festival, start small, then build on the event every year after the first festival.

Music is as varied as art or any other form of creative expression. There are hundreds of styles of music that express different periods or emotions. Choosing a theme helps refine the focus of the festival and make it enjoyable for visitors. Many festivals choose music that is part of the history of the area. Other festivals focus on one kind of music, such as country, jazz or polka. Choose a theme that will appeal to the people attending the festival.

Most festivals have commercial booths that sell products and food for the event. All festivals should have a variety of booths to help pay for the event and keep visitors entertained. Booths can sell musical instruments, food from the musical region, historical trinkets related to the music, crafts from the musical region or simply anything that will bring money to the festival. At a school event, children can man booths, while at a commercial event booths should be purchased for use by vendors.

Since the festival is all about music, the activities and events should feature music related to the theme. Have a dance class, build-your-own-instrument, street dance, air band contest, battle of the bands and any other event or activity that you can conceive. Auction a famous or local musician’s instrument for charity or to support a school. Brainstorm before the event to decide on a set number of activities and events.

Throughout the festival, offer plenty of live music for visitors to enjoy. Hire local bands and musicians to play the featured music. Allow visitors to vote on their favorite band from the event. If you cannot find enough live musicians to fill the entire event, supplement the live music with prerecorded music. If a school hosts the festival event, have the students prepare musical selections ahead of time to play at the festival.