What is this about

A publicly editable wiki page to brainstorm and build a common sense on what makes a festival organization fair for its participants.

In Europe in the past 20 and more years an incredible amount of festival have been funded with public money, but many times they have failed in establish a fair relationship with their public. This is a constructive attempt at pointing out good practices.

You are welcome to contribute to this document.

Reference

This page is an attempt to document the constructive outcomes of a public debate about the Piksel festival and its unilateral management.

The whole thread is found on the piksel mailinglist

Points made

Direction

• let the "next generation" take part in steering the festival, or move out of their way

Prizes

• notify rejected submissions as well as accepted ones
• have a clear jury and review process

Editorial

• don't have some cool theme and then ignore it (especially something political like free software)
• don't programme yourself

Finances

• don't charge entry if you're not paying artists expenses
• don't have sponsors if you're not paying artists expenses
• if you're not paying expenses make it clear on the request for proposals
• if you accept public funds make clear how much and what it's spent on
• don't pay one or two 'famous' people and not others
• don't set things up in a way that excludes those without institutional backing

Communication

• don't spam

Good Practices

• Folly UK tried to share knowledge on how to grow a medialab as a social space, also publishing its funding application texts

• Fo.am