1. Publicly funded festivals

Most of the major international arts festivals run based on this business model where the fund from public sector is the main support to arts and cultural festival. The fund could be from the district, city, state, or the federal government.

• Taipei Arts Festival 臺北藝術節 (Taipei, Taiwan)

Taipei Arts Festival is presented by Taipei City Government and co-organized by Taipei City Government Department of Cultural Affairs and Taipei Culture Foundation. The main idea is Taipei as a hub for international participation and not only introduces works of originality and creativity but also produces cross-genre performances, cultural exchange with other cities, supports promising artists, and establishes its status in the Chinese speaking world. 

Website: https://www.artsfestival.taipei/index.aspx

• George Town Festival (Penang, Malaysia) 

George Town Festival is a project by George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI), endorsed by the Penang State Government and fully supported by the City Council of Penang Island (MBPP) and Penang Global Tourism (PGT) in celebration of local and international works of art. 

Website: https://georgetownfestival.com/2019/ 

Even though most of the funding is from public sector, the festivals will still need to look for sponsorship/partnership from private sector to cover the rest of the cost/expenses. The private sponsorship/partnership could be in the form of cash or in-kind.

2. Private sector sponsorship festivals

• The Park's New Festival (India)

The Park’s New Festival is the only contemporary private arts festival that has a national touring component showcasing new and emerging work in the field of dance, music, and theatre in India. 

The Festival showcase 3-4 different performances in six metropolises of India- Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Delhi. The Festival host three evenings of dance, music, and theatre and performances have to premiere at the festival. The Festival has supported artists to produce new work or curate new works. International works will be presented in the Festival as long as the work is either has Indian element or it was inspired by India. 

Website: http://www.theparksnewfestival.com/

• Dance Umbrella (Johannesburgh, South Africa)

Dance Umbrella was supported for the first 26 years by the corporate sector. The last six years were difficult as the access to funding was limited with no interest from the city or government in assisting the platform. The festival closed down after 30 years due to lack of funding. 

The Dance Umbrella started as an open and free platform for artists to show work on a series of mixed bills. The 10th edition we commissioned new work and opened the platform to international artists. The last 20 years we curated mostly full-length programmes but continued to assist young artists in presenting work. 

Website: https://esat.sun.ac.za/index.php/Dance_Umbrella 

3. Public-private festivals

4. Festivals run only on box-office income

5. Free festivals: examples

• Pesta Boneka #7: International Biennale puppet festival (Yogyakarta, Indonesia)

Pesta Boneka (means a puppet festival in Indonesian) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia is an independent, international puppet biennale, initiated in and produced since 2008 by Papermoon Puppet Theatre. 

This festival has a range of programmes for the local communities and foreign visitors to participate. However, the dilemma of having free festivals is, does the festival help to build the audience? Or set an invisible barrier for the audience to support the artists and festivals by buying tickets (which is a source of income)?

Website: https://www.papermoonpuppet.com/pesta-boneka/

6. Online-festivals

• Tempo Dance Festival (New Zeland)

Website: https://tempodancefestival.co.nz/

Factors impacting on the choice of business model. The business models of a festival will determine the funding source, or it goes another way round. The business models will then determine the scale of the festival and how the festival will sustain itself through the period of the time.

• Who initiate or kickstart the festival? 

If the Festival is initiated by government bodies, the funding source will be more secured. Certain amount of the fund should have parked under the annual budget of the bodies. If the Festival is initiated by a collective or artists, the biggest challenge will be source for the very first fund in order to kick start the festival. The source of the fund will then decide business models. 

• Vision and mission of the festival: 

Is there any specific agenda that need to achieve through the Festival? 

• The targeted audience: 

Who are the targeted audience you would like to reach in your Festival? 

Are they interested in your Festival? Are they able to afford to purchase tickets?