As a theatrical production manager, this kind of programming is exactly how ameteur mess up quite often. One issue is the word festival - although this was mentioned as not being a festival, oddly, it is a festival. A very common arts style festival, and the programming is quite typical of the genre. However, these are not designed to make a profit. Judging from the programme, I'd hazard a guess that the venue have simply cvarried out a dry hire, rather than a split - so the promoter guarantees them their fee, even if sales go badly. Arts festivals usually negotiate extremely cheap or even free hires, for 'arts sake'. Local Authority venues like the arts approach and are often willing to subsidise. This venue is an arts trust, so I suspect the hire rate is reasonable.
A few things leap out at me. The total income for the Mica Paris gig is £8K. Now in a non-arts venue, she'd prbably be on an 80/20 or possibly even a daft 85/15 split, leaving not a lot of spare income to pay for the staff, advertising, and sundries.
£8K is not enough for an artiste with a band. A four piece band, crew and transport/subsistence and hotels doesn't balance. This I suspect is what led to the tracks show. There's nothing wrong with this, but people need to read the paperwork.
If you engage an artiste, then there will be a contract, signed by both parties that details what is being agreed. Total running time is always there, along with the usual contractual get-outs for TV work, or other odds and ends. It also stipulates things like lighting and sound - who pays for the equipment if it has to be supplied, and detailing exactly what it must be, or it will detail if the artiste brings their own (probably hired by them). If the show was going to be tracked, this would NOT be a surprise, because one of the usual contract terms is "... will perform the act as known" - and singing to a track would not meet the requirement. The artiste may also have a clause that allows them to cut short a show if the technical rider is not met, or the main contract conditions not upheld.
The real problems here are that the programme is damn boring, and so fragmented that means people won't come twice. Some, like the Rat pack Extravaganza, are very expensive - so only older people will be interested. George Formby is something of a limited appeal night, isn't it!
All in all, it's a mess. Marketing cannot be general, I'd bet they did 20,000 flyers and didn't target them at all - with programming like this you really need to work hard on marketing.
Making money from events of this type is quite difficult. Far too many people book acts that they like, not that will sell!
Arts acts, meaning low interest/low budget acts do have a place, but the audience will always be limited. I've just done a couple of nights with a well known comedian, selling 1200 tickets a night at over £20 a pop, yet the venue got just 15% - however, this is still well over £7000. On a show like the one we're talking about here, I'd want at least a guarantee of £2000 a night to cover costs. If you do a deal for a good cause, then it's quite possible for the evening to actually cost a venue to put on. If a promoter is trying to make money from this business, it's VERY hard.
Shame - they might have learned something had they come back to check out the responses.
