The Flow Festival will take place on the second weekend of August this year. The event area will be built at a rapid pace and will also incur some hard and fast expenses.
The 18 days of rental required to construct the festival facilities, host the event itself and the subsequent clean-up, will cost festival organizers 63,000 euros. The chunk of that to be bitten off by Helsinki City Council is some 16,000 euros.
“We are already on the price pain threshold. Hopefully the prices don’t rise further,” says Flow Festival’s Lead Producer, Emilia Mikkola. The festival organizers must pay rental to six different landlords, including Helsinki City’s real estate department, Helsingin Energia and the Cable Factory.
Helsinki giveth... and taketh away
Helsinki City granted the Flow Festival 30,000 euros in financial support this year. However, it collects half of that back in rent, plus a large portion of the budget also goes back to the city in the form of costs incurred for electricity, water and transport.
The City of Helsinki has outlined that the festival organizers are responsible for all tasks related to carrying out the event. In practice, the organizer is also responsible for all the permits and post-event clean-up. Holding the position of event producer is not as glamorous as one might think, Mikkola says.
"It would be good if the support could be indirect, through assistance with the event organization – for example, building up the sewage system and helping with the supply of water and electricity," says Mikkola.
Impact on ticket prices?
In 2007 the total rental price was 360 euros when the festival moved from its former venue, the old VR railway warehouses on the site of the present Helsinki Music Centre.
Over the years the festival has grown exponentially, as has the leasable area it requires. However, the rise in rental has no direct relationship to the ticket price, says Mikkola.
"Of course the festival expenses have increased alongside its expansion. Capacity is growing and we are expanding the area as much as possible. Ticket prices have not risen proportionally,” she adds.
This year, a three-day ticket to the Flow Festival costs 150 euros.