FIRST FESTIVAL PODCAST
Unlock the secrets to building a sustainable, thriving event with First Festival, the essential podcast for micro and small festival organisers.
Each episode pairs festival movers-and-shakers with experts to tackle everything from finding your niche to licensing, marketing, environmental impact, and so much more.
Hear unfiltered first-hand stories from experienced festival founders and gain practical advice to help build your festival’s future.
Listen from the beginning, browse the full series, or choose the episode most useful to you right now.
The podcast for micro and small festival organisers
EPISODE 1: FINDING YOUR FESTIVAL VISION
Begin with the spark: what is your festival for, and how can it grow without losing its identity?
Leon Cole of Field Maneuvers and Dulcie Horn of Chuffed Digital explore vision, sustainable growth, community and the power of telling your festival’s story.
Press play to begin, or search for First Festival by AIF in your usual podcast app.
START HERE:
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What is your festival for, and how can it grow without losing what makes it distinctive? Leon Cole of Field Maneuvers and Dulcie Horn of Chuffed Digital explore purpose, identity, community and sustainable growth.
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How do you build a festival team around a shared purpose and keep people feeling valued? Sue Brand, Founder of TestFest, and Rob Wilkinson of Ethical Staffing and My Cause UK discuss mission-led festivals, volunteer management, legal staffing frameworks.
LISTEN TO EPISODE 2 -
What does it take to turn a festival idea into a safe, well-managed event?
Millie Devereux of We Are The Fair and Sam Morgan of GemFest and PullUp Recordings discuss production planning, premises licensing, site operations, Event Management Plans, Safety Advisory Groups and tabletop exercises.
LISTEN TO EPISODE 3 -
This first Q&A explores nurturing your festival community, negotiating supplier deals, using service level agreements, ticket papering and PRS tariffs.
LISTEN TO EPISODE 4 -
Shane Daunt of Are You Listening and Down at the Abbey joins Eventwise Founder Chris Carter to explore budgeting, ticketing partnerships, bar and ancillary income, tracking costs in real time and managing financial risk.
LISTEN TO EPISODE 5 -
Chris Johnson, Co-Founder of Shambala Festival and Vision for Sustainable Events, and Yiska Ansel, Founder of Noteworthy Access, share practical guidance on environmental action, accessible communication, extreme-weather planning and building a loyal, inclusive community.
LISTEN TO EPISODE 6 -
Harri Rose of Found Festival and freelance marketer and audience researcher Ellie White explore festival positioning, communicating your unique selling points, marketing a micro festival on a limited budget, audience data and user-generated content.
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The final episode tackles key questions and big talking points for micro and very small festivals.
John Rostron and Sophie Evans bring together guidance on business structures, legal considerations, funding opportunities, managing finances as a sole trader and building an essential festival marketing toolkit.
LISTEN TO EPISODE 8
CHOOSE YOUR EPISODE:
ABOUT THE PROGRAMME
First Festival Podcast was produced by the Association of Independent Festivals as part of the 2026 Micro & Very Small Festival Development Programme, funded by the LIVE Trust.
The free programme supports micro and small festivals to build knowledge, strengthen connections and develop more sustainable futures.
