Sponsorship Proposal Contact Orlando Jopling, Artistic Director Orlando@romanrivermusic.org.uk 07808474515 Julie Cuthbert, Trustee Julie@red-bird.co.uk 07946476336 Roman River Music Registered Charity No. 1126395 follow us: @romanrivermusic 1
Introduction The Roman River Festival is the most prestigious classical music festival in the region, bringing world-class musicians to Essex. Founded in 2000, the 2013 Festival was the biggest yet, consisting of 20 events over 2 weeks (21st September 6th October), including solo recitals, chamber music, jazz, choral and orchestral concerts and lectures, in 16 venues including a lightship, a nightclub, two art galleries and several rural churches in North Essex. More than 3,000 tickets were sold with an average 85% capacity reached. As an important part of the Festival, Roman River Music also has an extensive education and outreach programme that takes the same top musicians into schools across the area. The success of this has been widely recognised and Roman River Music won the Essex County Council s Chairman s Fund Award in 2011 and 2013: In recognition of Roman River Music s commitment and dedication to enrich the lives of young people in their local community. In 2013 the programme involved over 600 pupils from 20 schools. The goodwill for the Festival is enormous evidenced by the many volunteers prepared to give so much of their time to be part of this. Over the next few years our ambition is to consolidate our reputation as the leading classical music festival in Essex, eventually expanding into a wider range of musical styles, poetry, dance, visual art and theatre. The aims of the 2013 Festival were: To showcase to audiences artists with world class talent and a diverse range of classical and jazz music To develop new audiences for classical and jazz music through attracting a broader mix of concert attendees, as well as music aficionados To continue to develop our new model for programming a number of concerts in diverse venues, with more challenging and experimental music To expand the well-established schools programme to include 15-19 year olds with their own separate youth section To conduct audience/market research to gain a better understanding of audience needs and market potential in terms of live music promotion. Contact us: 01206 729 356 info@romanrivermusic.org.uk
Market Research The Roman River Festival 2013, building on the success of previous years, almost doubled the audience numbers compared with 2012. Notwithstanding this expansion, many concerts quickly sold out. The Festival was marketed through, 10,000 programmes, posters, road signs, invitations and a press and media profiling through venue, local newspaper and local and national radio. The event has established a strong identity and secured popular local support. The 2013 Festival has demonstrated that opportunities now exist to expand the programme, widen the audience base and significantly realize the event s publicity potential. Roman River Music is seeking to develop an ongoing relationship with its sponsors securing sponsorship for 2-3 years in order to plan ahead and realise these opportunities. Research at the Roman River Festival 2013 has confirmed that the aspects of the festival which people like the most are: Listening to music in an intimate atmosphere The exuberance of the young and exciting players Relaxed attractive venues Creative original music Extremely high quality musicians without having to travel to London The performers themselves have also been very enthusiastic about the Festival and were enthusiastic in their support of the outreach programme and of marketing events such as the highly successful pop-up concert held on Colchester station for home-coming commuters. Additionally, people have identified that they would like to see the following improved or added to the festival: More music/entertainment with broader interest More for younger children on weekends Transport to venues A central hub/box office/information point in Colchester follow us: @romanrivermusic 3
Developing the event Expand current successful format to include further events at the weekends for families and young people, with events happening throughout the day, encouraging people to come to Colchester for the whole weekend Locate a suitable venue that could be used as a hub for the Festival in the centre of Colchester Develop programme to include blues, world music, contemporary music, experimental music in conjunction with performance artists and open mic; explore poetry slam and silent cinema (accompanied by live music) opportunities with firstsite. Launch the Festival at an exclusive event Develop programming partnerships with established and respected organisations such as firstsite, The Minories, Colchester Castle, Liquid Nightclub and the Mercury Theatre and build further support from the local business community Develop a mini bus service to ferry audiences from the hub to more remote venues (as is currently done by Tendring Open Studios) to increase audience accessibility Contact us: 01206 729 356 info@romanrivermusic.org.uk
Sponsorship Opportunities In addition to general sponsorship we are offering sponsorship opportunities to include: A specific concert A Colchester hub The printed programme The brochure Low price tickets for young people (Like the NT s Travelex 10 tickets) Minibus service for the festival A venue Recital in a school The schools Set Works Concert, side-by-side orchestera and other opportunities in connection with the Outreach Programme Sponsorship of the Roman River Festival would offer a host of outstanding benefits: Association with an already popular and rapidly emerging event with real creative potential in and around the affluent area of East Anglia Profile raising opportunity through pre-event publicity & PR, on site branding and media coverage Branding to appear on all printed material and digital media, including web pages, posters, promotional flyers and other branding in connection with the specific aspect of the festival sponsored Roman River Music will seek to maximise pre-and post-event publicity, issuing material to all local media outlets, including BBC Priority booking, corporate and staff entertainment options, invitations to meet musicians at special events/receptions We look forward to discussing with you how the programme and its publicity can be tailored to maximise the benefits to be derived from the sponsorship. Sponsorship fee In common with all other festivals of this kind, without raising ticket prices to an unacceptable level, we have to raise significant sponsorship. To give you an idea, just the cost of hiring a basic orchestra is 6,000. Where possible we try to keep costs down, and due to our fantastic team of volunteers our overheads, compared with similar festivals, are minimal. However, to continue to bring the enormous benefits of the Festival to North Essex, in addition to public funding and the continuing support of Friends and Benefactors, we need your sponsorship. The more sponsorship we raise, the better the Festival can be. If we raise enough sponsorship we can start to implement some of the developments referred to above. Tell us the amount you are able to sponsor and we will work with you to offer the best sponsorship package for your money. follow us: @romanrivermusic 5
Summary Already an important event in the local calendar, we believe the potential now exists for the Roman River Music Festival to attain a regional and national profile adding to the image of Colchester as a cultural place to visit, live and work. We are offering the right sponsors the opportunity to help us achieve that potential. The Trustees January 2014 Roman River Music Registered Charity No. 1126395 Contact us: 01206 729 356 info@romanrivermusic.org.uk