How to leverage your community to deliver a large event

An ideal event management model

When rEVENTS Academy’s director Linda Tillman was Executive Officer of Riverina Regional Tourism, she created Taste Riverina, a month-long region-wide festival of local-produce-related events. Taste’s governance/festival model was having an event manager who coordinated and promoted numerous events which were run by community groups and businesses, and in this case, by several Councils as well. 

The event also brought to life the region’s destination brand which leveraged the region’s agricultural landscape.

Another example of this festival model is Our Living History Festival in Goulburn, NSW. Here a couple of members of a community group coordinate and market a number of heritage events put on by local museums, community groups, the historical society, Council, National Trust, and others.

The festival leverages the town’s wonderful heritage buildings.

On Phillip Island in Victoria, Island Whale Festival is coordinated and marketed by the regional tourism organisation, with organisations, community groups and businesses getting on board to run parts of the festival. 

The festival builds awareness of the destination’s amazing marine and land based wildlife and nature experiences.

We used this same model to help Goondiwindi in Queensland develop a new festival, Discover Farming, which was also based on the region’s agriculture: from cutting-edge high-tech broad-acre ag to boutique free-range farms.

Discover Farming had four weekends of events over a month, from the agricultural show to farm and tech tours to a local produce meal in a field, each hosted by a different community group or business. 

Do you know of a festival that uses this model - an umbrella event coordinator and marketer with most of the program delivered by others in the community?

We’d love to hear via the comments!