OVERVIEW
Team is everything.
Great festivals are built by great teams, and our festival staffing plan equips you with the organizational structure you need to execute with excellence.
From pre-festival planning to on-site execution, front-of-house to back-of-house, internal roles to external partners — every department mapped, every role accounted for.
Start with structure. Build with intention.
DELIVERABLES
A battle-tested blueprint customized to your unique festival vision, so you can hire, manage, and empower your festival dream team.
From pre-festival planning to on-site execution, front-of-house to back-of-house — every department mapped, every role accounted for.
STRUCTURE
- Departmental directory
- Roles and responsibilities
COMMUNICATION
- Internal communication plan
- Team communications strategy
PARTNERSHIPS
- External service provider referrals
- Strategic partnership recommendations
TOOLS
- Project management tools & software
A Selection of Clients We’ve Helped Grow
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Build Your Dream Team.
Start with structure. Build with intention.
Clarity
Who you need, when you need them, and what to pay them.
Efficiency
Structure and streamlined communications to keep your team synced.
Execution
Professional, reliable, aligned teams that deliver a smooth, professional festival.
Scalability
A staffing plan that grows with your festival — from hundreds to a hundred thousand.
JK MCKNIGHT
Your point of contact — and the experience leader behind AOI.
JK McKnight has spent 25 years in festival development. He founded Forecastle Festival, growing it from 50 people into a 75,000-person destination event and one of America's most critically acclaimed festivals. He later worked with AC Entertainment (Bonnaroo, Big Ears, High Water, Railbird and more). Today, he helps founders design, produce, and grow world-class festivals through proven strategy, specialized expertise, and decades of firsthand experience.
Read JK's full bioFrequently Asked Questions
No. We build the staffing structure and blueprint your team can use to recruit, hire and manage the right people for the right roles.
Absolutely. We start with the people and partners already in place, identify gaps and constraints, then help build the best structure around them.
Yes. The plan looks at the full organizational picture — internal staff, external contractors, service providers and strategic partners — so every department and responsibility is accounted for.
100%. The staffing model evolves with your festival, providing the positions and structure you’ll need as you grow. You’ll have a master plan from the beginning, allowing you to add the right people as attendance and operational complexity increase.
Take your festival to the next stage
Schedule a free discovery call with our team. We’ll assess where you are, where you want to go, and exactly how we can help you get there.