[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":253},["ShallowReactive",2],{"guides-en-how-to-budget-a-festival":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"cta":231,"description":241,"extension":242,"eyebrow":243,"heading":244,"highlight":245,"meta":246,"navigation":247,"path":248,"seo":249,"stem":250,"updated":251,"__hash__":252},"guides_en\u002Fguides\u002Fhow-to-budget-a-festival.md","How to budget a music festival, step by step",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":217},"minimark",[9,13,22,27,30,77,80,83,87,90,98,102,105,119,122,126,129,132,136,139,142,146,149,152,156,159,163,166,174,178,210,214],[10,11,12],"p",{},"A festival budget is a promise you make months before most of the money moves. Artist deposits and site hire go out long before ticket income arrives, and nearly every number in it is an estimate when you write it. The goal isn't to predict the future to the euro. It is to build a plan you can measure the festival against, line by line, while there's still time to change course.",[10,14,15,16,21],{},"These are the steps, in the order that saves rework. Our free ",[17,18,20],"a",{"href":19},"\u002Ftemplates\u002Ffestival-budget","festival budget template"," follows the same structure if you'd rather start from a file.",[23,24,26],"h2",{"id":25},"_1-start-from-the-shape-not-the-total","1. Start from the shape, not the total",[10,28,29],{},"Before any numbers, decide the lines. A festival budget that works has costs grouped the way the work is organised, so that each line has someone who owns it:",[31,32,33,41,47,53,59,65,71],"ul",{},[34,35,36,40],"li",{},[37,38,39],"strong",{},"Artists and performers:"," fees, agents' commissions, riders, travel and accommodation.",[34,42,43,46],{},[37,44,45],{},"Production:"," stages, sound, lighting, video, backline, power.",[34,48,49,52],{},[37,50,51],{},"Site:"," venue or land hire, fencing, toilets, waste, water, site office.",[34,54,55,58],{},[37,56,57],{},"People:"," crew, security, stewards, medical, volunteers' food and kit.",[34,60,61,64],{},[37,62,63],{},"Marketing:"," paid media, design, print, PR.",[34,66,67,70],{},[37,68,69],{},"Permits and insurance:"," licences, event insurance, performing rights.",[34,72,73,76],{},[37,74,75],{},"Contingency:"," one line of its own (step 5).",[10,78,79],{},"Revenue gets the same treatment: tickets by type (weekend, day, VIP), sponsorship, bar and food, merchandise, and grants if you have them.",[10,81,82],{},"If you ran an edition last year, start from its actuals rather than last year's budget. Actuals are what the festival really cost.",[23,84,86],{"id":85},"_2-split-fixed-costs-from-per-head-costs","2. Split fixed costs from per-head costs",[10,88,89],{},"Some costs don't move with attendance: a headliner's fee, a stage, a fence line. Others grow with every ticket sold: security and stewards scheduled by expected crowd size, toilets, wristbands, cleaning, ticketing fees.",[10,91,92,93,97],{},"Mark which is which. Budgeting at one attendance figure hides this, and the per-head lines are the ones that surprise you when sales come in higher or lower than planned. The split is also what lets you work out how many tickets you need to sell to cover your costs, which our ",[17,94,96],{"href":95},"\u002Fguides\u002Ffestival-break-even","festival break-even guide"," walks through.",[23,99,101],{"id":100},"_3-budget-revenue-net-and-at-a-level-youd-defend","3. Budget revenue net, and at a level you'd defend",[10,103,104],{},"Ticket revenue is where most budgets are too optimistic, in two ways.",[31,106,107,113],{},[34,108,109,112],{},[37,110,111],{},"Gross instead of net."," The price on the ticket includes VAT, which isn't yours, and the ticketing company takes its fee before paying you. Budget what reaches your account: price, less VAT, less fees.",[34,114,115,118],{},[37,116,117],{},"Capacity instead of sales."," Plan on a sell-through you can justify from past editions or presales, not on a sold-out site. Selling out is the upside, not the plan.",[10,120,121],{},"Treat other income the same way. Count sponsorship that is signed, and keep \"expected\" deals visibly separate until they are. If someone else runs the bar for a share of takings, budget your share, not the bar's turnover.",[23,123,125],{"id":124},"_4-price-the-biggest-lines-first-in-writing","4. Price the biggest lines first, in writing",[10,127,128],{},"A handful of lines (headliners, stage and production, site, security) usually make up most of the cost. Get written quotes for those before refining anything small. A budget with forty precise minor lines and a guessed headline fee is precise about the wrong things.",[10,130,131],{},"When a fee is quoted in another currency, which is common for international artists, note the exchange rate you budgeted at and when the fee will be paid. The rate on the day you pay is what counts.",[23,133,135],{"id":134},"_5-put-a-number-on-what-you-dont-know-yet","5. Put a number on what you don't know yet",[10,137,138],{},"Keep contingency as one visible line rather than padding every estimate. Size it by how much of the budget is still unquoted: little when most lines are contracted, more when the line-up or the site isn't fixed yet.",[10,140,141],{},"Decide in advance who can spend from it and on what. A contingency that quietly absorbs overspends during the build is gone before the show, when you're most likely to need it.",[23,143,145],{"id":144},"_6-map-when-the-money-moves","6. Map when the money moves",[10,147,148],{},"The budget says how much. Payments are a separate question: when. Deposits to artists and site hire often fall due months before the bulk of ticket income arrives, and some ticketing companies pay out only after the event.",[10,150,151],{},"Lay the big payments and the expected income on a calendar. A festival can be profitable on paper and still run short of cash in the spring.",[23,153,155],{"id":154},"_7-agree-who-can-commit-spend","7. Agree who can commit spend",[10,157,158],{},"A budget is only as good as the controls around it. Name an owner for each cost area, and set a threshold above which spending needs someone else's approval. Routine spend keeps moving, and large or unusual spend gets a second look before it's committed rather than after the invoice arrives.",[23,160,162],{"id":161},"_8-lock-it-then-track-actuals-against-it","8. Lock it, then track actuals against it",[10,164,165],{},"Once the plan is agreed, freeze it as the baseline. From then on, record actual costs and income against the same lines as they happen, not at the end. A line that is already over budget during the build is worth a conversation while there's still time to act.",[10,167,168,169,173],{},"Review the variance weekly through the build and daily on site. When the festival is over, the same lines become your close-out, covered in our guide to ",[17,170,172],{"href":171},"\u002Fguides\u002Ffestival-close-out","closing the books after a festival",".",[23,175,177],{"id":176},"mistakes-worth-avoiding","Mistakes worth avoiding",[31,179,180,186,192,198,204],{},[34,181,182,185],{},[37,183,184],{},"Budgeting ticket revenue gross."," VAT and ticketing fees are real money you won't see.",[34,187,188,191],{},[37,189,190],{},"Treating per-head costs as fixed."," Higher sales mean more security, toilets and cleaning.",[34,193,194,197],{},[37,195,196],{},"Hiding the contingency inside other lines."," Then nobody knows how much is left.",[34,199,200,203],{},[37,201,202],{},"One file for several editions or shows."," Each event's P&L only means something on its own.",[34,205,206,209],{},[37,207,208],{},"Updating actuals once, at the end."," By then the budget can only tell you what went wrong, not help you fix it.",[23,211,213],{"id":212},"where-cashbox-fits","Where Cashbox fits",[10,215,216],{},"The steps above work in a spreadsheet, and for a small event one file may be enough. Cashbox is built for the point where several people spend against the same budget. You import the budget, set approval thresholds, and lock the plan as the baseline. Then every expense lands against its line with the receipt attached. A fee paid in another currency keeps the exchange rate it was entered at, so last month's figures don't move when rates do.",{"title":218,"searchDepth":219,"depth":219,"links":220},"",2,[221,222,223,224,225,226,227,228,229,230],{"id":25,"depth":219,"text":26},{"id":85,"depth":219,"text":86},{"id":100,"depth":219,"text":101},{"id":124,"depth":219,"text":125},{"id":134,"depth":219,"text":135},{"id":144,"depth":219,"text":145},{"id":154,"depth":219,"text":155},{"id":161,"depth":219,"text":162},{"id":176,"depth":219,"text":177},{"id":212,"depth":219,"text":213},{"eyebrow":232,"title":233,"subtitle":234,"points":235,"related":239},"Start from the template","Build the budget in the sheet. Run the festival against it in Cashbox.","The free template's CSV version imports into Cashbox as an event budget. From there, spend is approved against it and every actual lands next to its line.",[236,237,238],"15-day free trial","No card required","Imports the free template as-is",{"label":240,"to":19},"Get the budget template","Build a festival budget that holds: costs by category, fixed versus per-head costs, revenue net of VAT and fees, a contingency, and when the money moves.","md","Guide","How to budget a music festival","budget a music festival",{},true,"\u002Fguides\u002Fhow-to-budget-a-festival",{"title":5,"description":241},"guides\u002Fhow-to-budget-a-festival","2026-10-24","sw5mMDScdg5AZj3Mz6r-R_fJRdbKeRyZtaCma6gbD5E",1793142964063]