Have you always wanted to organize an international organ festival but were afraid or didn't know the steps which are necessary for such a serious endeavor? In this article, I will give you 12 tips before organizing a successful international organ festival.1) Negotiate the fees with the organists.Sometimes the organizers will say what honorarium they can give to the performer.Sometimes the organists will have his or her price and will ask for a certain amount.Whatever the case might be - you can always negotiate the best option for both the performer and the organizer.2) Do some research about visas needed for international organists.Some countries require certain types of visas for music performers so it is important that you investigate what the situation is in your country.Your guests should be informed about all the specific details of this issue.You could also ask them to do some inquires at the respective embassy in their home countries.Usually all the information can be also found online.3) Ask your organists to send you their recital programs, biographies, and photos of press quality.Do this as early as possible, at least 6 months in advance.The later you get this information the less time you will have to prepare for the effective publicity campaign.4) Prepare the contracts.Write out the necessary information in the contracts including the dates, names, fees, taxes, concert program, payment method etc.5) Sign the contracts.Send your signed copies to your performers and ask them to return their signed contracts to you.6) Consider the transportation expenses.Flight arrangements should be made at least several months in advance.Sometimes the artists will order the tickets themselves, sometimes the organizers will take care of this.Whatever is your decision, get all the flight information from the organists, including dates, times, and flight numbers.7) Plan an effective publicity campaign.This step is crucial if you want your festival to be successful.Plan early - at least 6 months in advance.Your campaign could include press releases, newspaper article series, local media announcements, online resources, social media, posters, mailing list etc.8) Make hotel reservations early.Contact the hotel of your choice and make room reservations for your guests.You will have to know the exact dates.If you have many performers, some hotels might offer you discounted rates.Ask them.9) Make arrangements for meals.Think about where your organists will eat upon arrival and during their stay in your city.You could make an arrangement for different restaurant or group reservations with possible discounts.10) Make arrangements for rehearsals.You should allow at least 2 hours of two rehearsals at the concert instrument for each performer.Some organists will require more than that.Ask them.This step is important for them because they will need much time to adjust to the organ and make registrations.11) Make arrangement for tuning of the organ.Plans for organ maintenance and tuning should be made with the local organ technician or organ building company.Reed stops should be checked at the day of each concert.12) Prepare and print the programs.Use the program information and biographies you received from the organists to create a nice-looking program for each concert of your festival.Make sure you include all the works in the correct order, short artist biographies and photos, sponsor logos, the list of upcoming concerts etc.Note that to do and arrange all these steps by yourself may be too difficult for one person so you may need to find several people who can volunteer doing some of the work for you.If you choose to work with your team, during the course of the year you will need to organize regular meetings with them to ensure everything is done as smoothly as possible and in a timely manner.
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