festival.productions

Modules · Programme & stages

Line-up and block schedule, made to fit.

Booking acts is fun, making acts fit is work: riders, soundchecks, changeover times, fees. Here the programme is built and keeps adding up right through to the festival day.

See the whole system Part of the whole system

A glimpse of this module

with sample data, live
Block schedule · main stageSat
  • 18:00Openerchangeover 30 minbooked
  • 19:30Act twochangeover 30 minbooked
  • 21:00Headlinerrider in progressoption
In the systemconnected

Programme & stages shares data with Run sheet & the day itself, Festival site per edition and Budget & money. Change one thing and they move with it.

Part of

Nineteen modules, one system. Change it here and it stays right everywhere.

What it does

Line-up, block schedule and everything around it.

01

Acts with a file

Fee, rider, tech wishes, contact person, travel plan. Everything an act needs to take the stage without worries.

02

Block schedule per stage

Drag an act into a block and the schedule guards the changeover times. Overlap or too tight a changeover turns colour right away.

03

Soundchecks in the run sheet

Every soundcheck appears automatically in the tech day run sheet, in the right order.

04

Fees in the budget

A booked act is immediately committed budget on the programme line item. Here too: no double bookkeeping.

05

Publish with one click

Line-up complete? One click and your festival site shows the names, times and stages. Changes are just as fast.

How do you make a block schedule for a festival?

A festival's programme consists of the line-up and the block schedule: which acts play, on which stage and in which time block. Booking acts is the fun part, making them fit is the work. Every act brings a fee, a technical rider, soundcheck wishes and a switch time, and those all have to fit together.

A block schedule puts the stages in columns and the times in blocks. Drag an act into a block and the schedule guards the changeover: overlap or a switch that is too tight flags up straight away. The fee of a booked act becomes committed budget on the programme line item, the soundchecks land automatically in the technical day run sheet, and with one click your festival site shows the names, times and stages.

Programme is one part of festival.productions, the operating system for festivals, and it shares data with the run sheet, site and budget modules.

Frequently asked questions

What is a block schedule at a festival?

A block schedule is the grid that shows, per stage, which act plays in which time block, including the switch times in between. It is the organisational base from which the public timetable later comes. In festival.productions you drag acts into blocks and the schedule guards the changeovers automatically.

How do you make a line-up for a festival?

You put together a line-up by booking acts that fit your audience, your budget and your stages, and then dividing them over stages and time blocks. Take account of fees, riders and travel times. In the system each act gets a file with fee, rider and contact person, so the line-up is a working base straight away.

What is advancing when booking artists?

Advancing is coordinating all the practical details with a booked act before the festival starts: the technical rider, the soundcheck time, catering, travel and hospitality. Good advancing prevents surprises on the day itself. The act file keeps those agreements together and shares the technical wishes with the technical module.

How much time do you allow for a changeover between acts?

The changeover, the switch time between two acts on the same stage, depends on the setup: a DJ switch can be short, a full band needs more build-up and soundcheck. Always allow the switch time generously, because an overrun shifts the rest of the evening. The block schedule flags a changeover that is too tight straight away.

How do you publish the festival programme online?

Once the line-up is set, you publish the programme to your festival site, so visitors see the names, times and stages. What matters is that the online version moves along with changes, otherwise there are outdated times on it. In the system, publishing is one click: the site and the timetable come straight from the same block schedule.

Where do you record the artist fees?

The fee of an act belongs in the act file and in your budget at the same time, because a booked act is committed money. Tracking it separately in a stand-alone list leads to double administration and errors. In festival.productions a booked fee automatically becomes committed budget on the programme line item.

Everything in one place

Programme & stages does not stand alone.

In festival.productions, Programme & stages feeds straight into Run sheet & the day itself, Festival site per edition and Budget & money. You change it in one place and it stays right everywhere, from the budget to the event day.

Open the app Major pilot this summer