Budgeting

Once you have decided to put on an exhibition or an event, budget is one of the first things to consider.

You may already have a budget, or you may need to seek additional funding from an external source.

With many arts projects, if you have a flexible approach, you can usually bring your project to fruition, but your budget will determine if it is the basic model, the deluxe model, or somewhere in between. So don’t be put off if you only have a small budget – it’s all about adjusting your plans to fit.

Write down all the aspects of the event or exhibition that you will need to consider, to bring it to fruition. See our guide to Planning an Exhibition and Planning an Event or Workshop to help you list these.

Ask around and get quotes for items you have listed eg venue hire, catering, printing, accommodation for speakers, technicians, etc until you can find something that can fit your budget. You may need to consider a smaller venue, less printing or a smaller panel of speakers, but hopefully you can still make it happen. However, it’s best to know these things at an early stage.

Keeping an eye on your budget

Use a spreadsheet to note what you have budgeted for each element in your planned event or exhibition. Note down every item spent against each element and make sure you don’t exceed it. If you have to, you may have to readjust another element downwards.

Contingency

It is always a good idea to build around a 10% contingency in your budget, for the unforeseen.

Template budget sheets

If you are University staff, you can access and download templates for the following via our Sharepoint. Please note you will need your University login to do so.