In May, cooped-up Mumbaikars, who were ready to unleash their inner partygoer, attended the Gin Explorers Club, Mumbai’s first edition of a festival centered solely around gin. It was only in July that Bengaluru saw the first edition of LiveBox, a day-long indoor music festival organised by SkillBox, an art community and ticketing platform. QueerMade Weekend, which focused on Queer businesses, also saw its first edition in Delhi at DLF Promenade last month. What made all these festivals unique was that, though, they had music, they had an additional thrust, which could be the reason they stood out. At a time when  a music festival is as common as organic coffee shops, how does one make sure their property gets noticed?

The logistical parts of the festival such as production, booking the right kind of artists, venue, vendors and ensuring the audience gets the right kind of experience, requires a lot of planning, execution and strategy, believes Anmol Kukreja, founder of SkillBox. “The biggest problem of people organising festivals is that they don’t have proper know-how about event management,” says Shuchir Suri, founder of Gin Explorers Club. “Just because you like a certain kind of music, doesn’t mean you can start a festival. Running a festival is all about operations, event management, production, great finance management and raising sponsorship.” It’s also about getting  a headstart. Suri, who organises the Earthen Festival in Rajasthan, says that he begins prep at least a year in advance. Kukreja, who has launched two festivals this year, says he starts curating at least six months in advance. He admits that as a “ticketing partner we look at a data driven approach of programming artistes where their most loyal fans are.”