Awareness Raising: Promo Activities

This article is part of the Festivals For Ukraine Toolkit.

• Creator: Music Saves UA & YOUROPE
• Published in: 2024

This section lists various promotional and other activities which you can implement to highlight Music Saves Ukraine or other initiatives at your festival. They were tested successfully at various European festivals. 

Banners and navigation: you can create special banners or signposts to inform people that the charity is present at the festival and where visitors can find it. If the charity is not present on the site, you can still use this to drive people to the charity’s website to learn about it and donate instead. 

Outdoor installation: creating an outdoor installation can be a great way of attracting attention; it can be an exhibition, a photo zone, a symbolic art installation or an interactive one where people can draw or leave a message. 

Festival booklet / map: you can dedicate a page to the supported charity in your festival booklet. In the case of Music Saves Ukraine, we usually write about who we are, our mission, the website / QR code for donation, where we can be found on the festival site and which Ukrainian acts are playing.

Stage screens: you can show a video on stage screens between the performances about the charity that you support, with a static part at the end with the name of the charity, QR code / website link and directions to their special zone at the festival.

Artist activities: you can ask artists from the line-up to visit the charity’s zone and take photos of them there to publish on your socials during the festival. To attract even more attention, you can organize a meet’n’greet or a signing session in the charity’s zone, where people would donate to the charity to be able to get an autograph or interact with their favourite artist. 

Documentary screening: in 2023, we took our documentary about the Music Ambassadors Tour on the road and showed it at multiple festivals that have a dedicated stage for movie screenings. This showed people how vital music, festivals, and culture are and how they can make a real difference in Ukraine. In 2024, we plan to do the same with the new documentary, especially with the festivals and organizers that took part in the second edition of the Tour. This is a great option, even if our team is not present at the festival.

Media interactions: if the charity is present on-site, you can help connect them to various media representatives who are present at your festival to set up interviews so that the media can report on your mission and how you support said charity. If you have a dedicated space for press, you can organize a press-conference with the charity’s representatives and have a member of your festival team join the line-up to tell about your dedication to the cause.

Social media: before the festival, you can ask your charity of choice to record a video message in which they will announce to your audience that they will be at the festival and which activities will be available. Any other social media post or blog post on the website can also inform the audience before they set foot onto the festival site.  

Festival app: you can create a unique banner or a dedicated section on your festival app telling about the charity of choice at your festival; you can also send notifications to the festival guests to check out the charity’s dedicated zone.  

Festival warm-up events: if you are planning any special events that precede the festivals, you can announce your partnership with the charity there and look for potential ways of fundraising. For example, the Latvian Summer Sound Festival had a special promo event in 2023, where they organized a charity football tournament. To enter the tournament, teams had to donate to Music Saves Ukraine.