Pitch Right: A Workshop on Sponsorships and Funding

About the event

Raising funds and bringing in sponsors for a festival is a challenging exercise. This workshop targeted festival professionals with three to eight years of experience and aimed to break down these two essential aspects of festival management.

The workshop was divided into three different segments and started with presentations by the panelists, where they shared tips and strategies in creating successful pitches. The panel included Anshulika Dubey, Co-Founder and COO Wishberry.in; Illy Jaffar, Managing Director, Kinetic; and Jay Shah, Vice President, Head – Cultural Outreach, Mahindra Group. The three panelists brought in their varied expertise and experiences into the session. Illy spoke about consumer trends and market research as integral parts of successful pitches, while Jay shared what corporates like the Mahindra Group look for when funding cultural festivals. Anshulika elaborated on crafting a pitch, building a story, and adding an emotional and personal touch to the process. The second segment was an exercise for the participants where they had to work in a group and create a five-minute pitch to present to the jury. They were asked to work on a contemporary dance festival that required Rs 15 lakhs in funding. The final segment was the pitch presentation, where each group shared their pitches and received feedback from the jury.

This workshop 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