Festival Production Planning Guide
How to plan multi-stage festival production — site layout, infrastructure, permitting, and weather contingency. Festival production planning is more complex than single-show planning. Multiple stages, shared infrastructure, site logistics, and multi-day operations require systematic planning months in advance.
Site Selection & Assessment
Festival sites need flat ground for stages, adequate acreage for audience and infrastructure, vehicle access for trucks and emergency services, and proximity to utilities or generator placement areas. A site survey evaluates terrain, drainage, existing infrastructure, noise exposure to neighbors, and permitting feasibility. Site selection determines the production plan — not the other way around.
Multi-Stage Layout & Audience Flow
Stage placement affects sound bleed, audience flow, and infrastructure routing. Main stages should face away from each other or be separated by sufficient distance to minimize acoustic interference. Audience flow paths between stages must accommodate peak traffic without bottlenecks. Backstage areas, vendor villages, and production compounds need vehicle access without crossing public paths.
Infrastructure Planning
Festivals require temporary infrastructure: power distribution from generators to every stage and vendor, water and sanitation facilities, communications networks, fencing, and lighting for pathways and parking. Infrastructure planning maps every utility run, determines generator placement, and sizes distribution systems for the total connected load. This planning happens 2–3 months before the event.
Permitting & Regulatory Compliance
Festivals require permits from multiple agencies: fire marshal, health department, building department (for temporary structures), noise ordinance compliance, and sometimes alcohol licensing. Each jurisdiction has different requirements and timelines. Starting the permitting process early — 4–6 months out for large festivals — prevents last-minute complications that can delay or cancel events.
Vendor Management & Coordination
Multi-stage festivals involve dozens of vendors: production companies, food vendors, merchandise, security, medical, sanitation, fencing, and more. Each vendor needs specific site access, power, and infrastructure. A vendor management process tracks requirements, assigns locations, communicates load-in schedules, and resolves conflicts before they become on-site problems.
Weather Contingency & Risk Management
Outdoor festivals face weather risk that indoor events don’t. Weather contingency planning includes monitoring protocols, wind speed action thresholds, rain delay procedures, lightning evacuation plans, and insurance coverage. Every outdoor festival should have documented weather protocols before the first vendor arrives on site.
Planning a Festival?
From site planning through strike — festival production that scales to any size.
Discuss Your ProductionFestival Planning FAQ
Common questions about festival production planning.
Production planning follows a phased timeline. At 6–12 months out: secure permits, define stage count and technical requirements, and issue RFPs to production vendors. At 3–6 months: finalize vendor contracts, lock in power and infrastructure plans, and confirm load-in schedules. At 1–3 months: coordinate between departments, finalize advance documents, and run site walkthroughs. The final 2–4 weeks focus on build-out logistics, vendor check-ins, and contingency reviews. Each phase has dependencies — missing a permitting deadline at month 6 cascades through every subsequent milestone.
