Festivals and the Law

Abstract

In order to run your festival, you will need to comply with a range of legislation, obtain a number of licenses, and get permissions of some sort from various authorities. The nature of those permissions will depend entirely on the type of festival you are running, the country you are in and the types of locations you are using. If your festival is selling drink you will need an alcohol license and if it is taking place on public or private land it may well need a licence from the local authority. In a venue, like a theatre, which already has a creative programme it is likely that it will come with many of the permissions you need. If your festival is on a greenfield site, it is quite possible it will have none and that you will have to obtain all these permissions for yourself.