First Step
Lua Shayenne Dance Company gets everyone dancing in Flemingdon Park, by Sean Howard (2016)
Your first step in presenting arts outdoors is to craft a statement of your vision and objectives. This will guide you, ground your decision making, and let you know how you are doing every step of the project. You can devise this statement by better understanding the answers to some basic questions about capacity and resources. Here are some questions to ask at the beginning of the project:
- Who are you trying to reach?
- What do you hope is the outcome of the program?
- How does the outdoors add to the event?
- What types of parks are in your community?
- Do you want this to be an annual event? Is this a special event perhaps coinciding with an important anniversary?
- Where might funding or donations come from to cover cost of the event(s)?
- What resources (organizations and people) would get behind this idea?
- Who will be the lead organization(s)?
Keep your objectives front and centre from beginning to end as they will drive all the choices you make. When it’s all over, your objectives will be your guideline to determine if the event has been a success and to what extent.
Other options that can be decided based on your vision and objectives include:
- Admission: free, pay-what-you-can or a ticket price
- Artists: local or from outside the region/area, or both
- Audience/Content: family-friendly, child focused, youth focused or adult focused
- Art Format: presentation, audience participation, or opportunities for attendees to learn arts skills
- Audience Format: seated or standing
- Stages: one stage, multiple stages, or no stages