Lead, Govern, Scale, Repeat – Webinar 1

About the event

In March 2020, just before the lockdowns were announced, the British Council’s Festival Connections series in partnership with Arts and Culture Resources India (an Art X Company initiative) went digital. The event in the line-up of Festival Connections: Lead, Govern, Scale, Repeat – a series of presentation and panel discussion events in four cities – was reformatted to two webinars.

The first session was held on 20 March, featuring a panel talk of leadership and governance in the contemporary festivals sector. Leadership models, which ranged from corporate structure of an Intellectual Property (IP)-led festival like Ranthambore organised by Believe Entertainment to the community-led festival like the Koli Seafood Festival were analysed. Governance structures of Serendipity Arts Festival, a large-scale multidisciplinary arts festival were examined along with the Irregular Art Fair, which is small-scale and alternative in nature. Sarah Elizabeth Chawla from the Magnetic Fields also touched upon the various challenges they face while running festivals year after year including the necessary funding that they need to generate. Kate Ward from UK gave a theoretical perspective on Leadership and Governance in the UK festivals sector at the session.

This session was held as part of the British Council’s Festival Connections in partnership with Arts and Culture Resources India (an Art X Company initiative), an annual programme of expertise, knowledge and networking between India and the UK.