ASBF Committee Responsibilities
String Band Festival Committee Responsibilities
Following is a short description of the duties of each of the five committees responsible for the Austin String Band Festival. For details about the tasks and responsibilities of each committee click on the committee name.
Booking
Book the main stage, workshops, mini-sets, sound, master(s) of ceremony, photographer/videographer. Acquire art for posters and t-shirts (jointly with Activities and Money managers). Handle contracts (jointly with board president). Create an Excel list of all members of bands, mini-sets, workshops, and plus ones for admissions.
Activities/Volunteers/Other
Arrange for jams, stage manager, jugglers, kids, silent auction/raffle, on-line sales, website updates. Obtain volunteers. Find/appoint volunteer managers for admissions, merchandise, green room, mini-sets, workshops, grounds, gospel sing. Help Booking with art acquisition as necessary. Create an Excel list of all prepays, volunteers and activity leaders who get free admission.
Money
Budgeting (jointly with president), insurance, admissions, merchandise, square units with laptops. Write checks for bands, food truck vouchers, security officers, sound and as needed. Help with art acquisition as necessary. Train admissions and merch managers.
Grounds
Book Camp Ben, security, food trucks, vendors and port-a-potties. Meet and direct them to the proper locations. Haul, set up and take down dance floor, signage, pop-ups, tables, chairs, and green room. Provide for recycling, trash, and rest room maintenance. Rope off areas for workshops and food trucks in advance. Provide coffee, tea and water at kitchen.
Promotion
Write a media release and make media contacts to promote the festival. Selectively spend advertising budget.
Shared Responsibilities
President and Booking: contracts. President and Money: budgeting. Booking, Money and Activities: Art. All: create Excel lists of complimentary and other free admissions and create a consolidated list for admissions. Obtain sponsors. Provide food vouchers as appropriate.
Each committee chair will recruit his/her committee members. Committee members can be board members or non-board members. A person can be on more than one committee. Committees will report to the full board to obtain approval of their plans.
Each committee will write up/revise festival procedures to be posted on our website in a special section.
AFTM Band Booking Committee Procedures
This Committee books entertainment for the Main Stage, Mini Stage, sound and workshops at the Austin String Band Festival.
Booking the Festival
1. Connect with advisors for suggestions. Some useful people to check in with:
Beth Christman, Tim Keough, Tim & Angie Wooten, and Adam Brodkin.
Your busiest months are December and January. Aim to get the acts for the Main Stage in place by the January of the festival year.
2. Set out broad categories of music that could be represented:
Old-time; bluegrass; Cajun; Irish; Mexican; western swing; black string bands; blues; world music. It is important for the energy of the festival that there is a strong contrast between each act as the festival unfolds.
3. Aim for a balance of genders and for diversity within the line-up
4. These are the 45-minute spots that need to be filled. 2026 Budget: $17,500
Friday:
6 pm - Welcoming Square Dance
7 pm
8 pm
9 pm - Headline Act
10 pm - Square Dance
Saturday:
2 pm
3 pm
4 pm
5 pm
6 pm
7 pm
8 pm
9 pm - Headline Act
10 pm - Square Dance
Local bands are offered $750 or less. Headliners can get as much as $3,500.
5. Book the Mini-Stage. These are 15-minute sets that fit in between the main stage acts. They are not paid, but performers get free access to the festival on the day of their performance. As you weave in these performances, again try to choose something that will contrast with the act that audiences are coming from, and audiences are going to hear next. If you have an Irish band about to hit the Main Stage, avoid having an Irish band on the Mini-Stage.
6. Look through the Texas Commission for the Arts (TCA) website to see if any other acts that they have on their touring roster would work within the festival. They can end up paying up to 45% of a performer's fees. But… warning… there’s a lot of paperwork and letter-writing involved, and their Flux software is a little clunky.
Contact: Anina Moore: 512 9136 7573
7. Contracts to the performers will be sent out in March or April. Work with the President on this.
8. Stage plots: In September, work on getting these from the bands, and share them with the sound people ahead of the festival. There is a 15-minute turnaround between acts on the mainstage, and having stage plots in advance helps the sound people tremendously.
9. Workshops: you are responsible for booking nine workshops that take place between 11 and 1:45 on the Saturday of the Festival. When you approach bands about playing on the Main Stage, bring up the subject that musicians often offer informal workshops. This agreement is based wholly on goodwill. You can also choose from people on the Mini-Stage. Most of the people there play fiddle, guitar, banjo and mandolin, so it’s a good idea to heavily represent them in the workshop line-up.
10. In January, book sound persons Bruce and Archie for the Main Stage in January. bruceechandler@gmail.com
(For 2026 sound at the Mini-Stage is still being worked out. )
ASBF Activities/Volunteers/Other Committee Procedures
Organization Timeline
- June: Start contacting Kids' Activities entertainers.
- July: Prepare volunteer sign-up page. Start finding volunteer area managers.
- August 1: Go live with the volunteer sign-up page and the festival web page.
- August: Find a manager for the Silent Auction.
- September 1: Go live with online ticket sales.
- September: Find hosts for Organized Jams.
- Week of the festival: Prepare gate lists (volunteers and managers, online ticket sales, activity leaders, organized jam hosts, etc.)
Activities
Kids' Activities
We have activities for children on the Saturday of the festival, generally from about noon through 4PM. Contact the entertainers by mid-June to ensure they save the date for our festival on their calendars.
A variety of activities is encouraged, so if you have an idea for something new, run it by the board!
The following are great options, and have all been at the festival many times:
- Texas Juggling Society - Contact via the form on https://juggling.place.org/
- Crafts with Natasha La Gitana - Contact by text. Ask James or Jeanne for her number.
- Face Painting by Doodle Bug (Betsy Kemper) - Contact by text. Ask James or Jeanne for her number.
Silent Auction
The Silent Auction is a great fundraising activity for AFTM. All items for the auction are donated, either by community members or sometimes by festival sponsors. The auction happens on the Saturday of the festival, usually from about noon to 6PM. Donations for the auction are brought to the festival on Saturday morning.
The auction will need one or two managers to run it. Start finding a potential manager(s) around August. Lee and Janita Thomas ran the auction for 2025 and would be great resources for advice on running it in the future.
Organized Jams
We like to have organized jams with dedicated jam hosts/leaders at the festival. Hosts can be community members or performers (work with the Booking Committee regarding hosts). Start contacting potential jam hosts by September or earlier, though usually these can be set up pretty close to the festival date. Generally, the organized jams are held Saturday late morning to early afternoon. In 2025, we tried a Friday evening welcome jam (Old Time) before stage performances started.
Jams to consider: Slow/Beginner Old Time, Old Time, Irish, Bluegrass, Cajun, and anything else the community might want.
Volunteers
Incentive
We have regular and "Prime" volunteer slots. The "Prime" slots are those that are in the evenings, and thus harder to fill, or for more difficult or more specialized jobs.
Prime slot volunteers get a full weekend pass to the festival.
Regular slot volunteers get a free day or 50% off a weekend pass (it works out to about the same, unless they have other discounts like the membership discount).
Camping is extra in either case.
Sign-Up Page
Create a volunteer sign-up page, with a targeted go-live date of August 1.
Start creating the sign-up page in July, and have it reviewed by the board and other committee chairs to ensure their volunteer needs are covered, with any adjustments from the previous year.
In 2025, we used TallyCal, and paid for its "pro" level from July through October. It worked well. Here is the 2025 sign-up page to use as a reference: https://tallycal.com/p/asbf2025.
Here is an archive of that page in case it is taken down.
Managers
Each area of volunteering should have a manager in charge. The manager is generally a board member, but doesn't have to be. Non-board member volunteer managers get a free festival pass. Start soliciting volunteer area managers around July. Work with the board, friends, relatives, etc. to get managers for these areas:
- Merchandise - Coordinate setup and tear down of the Merch booth, train volunteers on the register system and how to work the booth, etc
- Front Gate - Coordinate setup and tear down of the Front Gate, train volunteers on the register system, be available to help with any gate issues, etc.
- Green Room - Purchase the food and drink for the Green Room, coordinate its setup and tear down, train volunteers, etc. Sharon Isaac was the Green Room manager for 2025 and would be a great resource for advice for the next one.
- Grounds - This will be the chair of the Grounds Committee most likely.
- Stage Manager - Coordinates the stage during the festival, ensuring that bands start and end in a timely manner. Works with the MCs. Jeanne DeFriese was the stage manager for 2025 and would be a great resource for the next one.
Volunteer Sign-Up Promotion
Getting the word out about the sign-up page is very important to ensure that we get volunteers to sign-up. This can be done via the AFTM email list (hosted on MailChimp), the AFTM website, the AFTM Facebook page, the AFTM Instagram, etc. Requests for volunteers should be made early and often up as they are critical to making the festival run. Start the same day the sign-up page goes live (August 1) with a Facebook post, Instagram post, and email blast. Continue with regular posts and requests every two weeks, with increasing frequency as the festival date approaches.
Volunteer Gate List
Create a sign-in sheet (Excel works well) for the festival Front Gate so that volunteers can check-in and get their free or discounted festival pass. Work with the Front Gate manager to ensure that the list is in a good, usable format for the gate.
The finalized list should be in the Front Gate manager's possession by the time that admissions formally open, usually around noon on the Friday of the festival, if not sooner.
Online Ticket Sales
Prepare the online ticket site so that it is ready to go live on September 1. We use https://www.tickettailor.com/ for our online sales, of both festival passes and camping. The previous year's festival event in TicketTailor can be duplicated and adjusted for the current year.
For the month of September, we have a $5 discount on all festival passes purchased online. The discount should be configured to end on September 30. All online sales end one week before the festival so that we have enough time to pull together gate check-in lists (tickets are still available to be purchased at the gate during the festival).
AFTM members get an additional $5 discount on festival passes. Work with the Membership Coordinator to get a list of active members email addresses so that they can be emailed a discount code to use on TicketTailor. Email members this code when the ticket site goes live on September 1.
Gate List
Prepare a check-in sheet of all prepaid tickets for the admissions gate. TicketTailor has a nice export option that makes this pretty easy. Make sure it is available for the admissions gate by Thursday or Friday morning of the festival weekend.
Festival Web Page
Work with the AFTM webmaster (Adam Brodkin) to get the festival web page created on aftm.us. It is a good idea to get it created at the latest by August 1 to coincide with the start of volunteer sign-ups, but earlier is even better. It does not need all information when it goes live, as more details can be added as the festival plans solidify.
ASBF Grounds Committee - Detailed Procedures (Chronological Order)
Book Camp Ben
Soon after a festival, book the next festival with Crystal Bacon, (512) 657 1248, crystalbacon25@yahoo.com. She is the caretaker and point of contact for Camp Ben McCulloch and lives on site. The booking is generally done by text. The festival has always been on the third full weekend in October.
Food Trucks
- Book food trucks several months in advance of the festival. Ask the person who booked them last year for recommendations.
- Rope off the food truck areas on the Wednesday preceding the festival (one near the newer women’s bathroom and one near the playground). Meet the food trucks when they arrive and show them their areas.
Security
- Book security in August by email with Sharon Fiore, Administrative Assistant, Hays County Sheriff’s Office, Community Services Division, fiore@hayscountytx.gov, (512) 393-7717. We have been booking 2 officers on Friday and Saturday for four hours from 6:00 – 10:00 p.m. each day. Two officers and four hours are minimums.
- Meet the officers when they arrive and instruct them to keep one officer at admissions at all times and the other officer to make rounds near the stage and campgrounds.
Port-a-potties
Book the port-a-potties in August by telephone or email with Leinneweber Services, sales@leinneweberservices.com, (512) 847-9511. Rent one handicapped and four regular toilets for two days (Friday and Saturday). Meet the delivery truck and show them where to place the toilets.
Recycling
- Contact DJ Stamp in August to ask him to provide recycling bins. Remind him a week or two before the festival. Ask Tim for his contact information.
- Contact Matt Welch in August and ask if he will bring a dump trailer that we can fill with recycling that he can deliver to a recycling center after the festival. This should be done at the same time that we ask his assistance with loading and unloading the dance floor. See below.
Items to buy before the festival
- Coffee, a variety of tea, large round filters, and creamer (dairy and non-dairy). Two large tubs of Folgers black silk from HEB is plenty. It is good and reasonably priced.
- About 200 kitchen trash bags (13 gallon) to be delivered to admissions for distribution to campers.
Load Dance Floor, Signs, etc.
The dance floor, trailer, signs and other items are stored on Tim and Angie’s land, 409 Wilson Ranch Rd., Cypress Mill, TX 78663, (512) 6443-0212. Items to load on Wednesday before the festival:
- Dance floor
- Signs with rebar and wire for positioning as needed.
- Reed stage backdrop
- Coffee maker and hot pot (for kitchen area)
- Ladder
- Igloo water jug (5 gallon) filled with rainwater
- 5 gallons of extra rainwater for coffee
- Cordless drill drivers, with extra screws. Hammer, small nails, staple gun, other standard tools
- Mirror and large ice chest for the green room
- Extension cords
- Strings of lights for the stage area, mini-set area, etc.
- Pop ups for admissions,
- Tarps
- Stage stairs
This load should be delivered to the festival by Thursday noon for unloading and set-up by volunteers, reloaded Sunday morning and returned to storage. Matt Welch and his employees will load the dance floor from the storage unit on Wednesday and return it to the storage unit after the festival. Tip his employees $20 each. Ask Matt for his help with the dance floor and recycling in August, with a reminder two weeks before the festival. Contact Tim Wooten or an experienced volunteer for further details.
Set-up
- Rope off the workshop and food truck areas by Wednesday preceding the festival at the latest. This is to prevent campers from occupying these areas.
- Obtain the facility keys and lock combinations on Thursday noon or earlier from Crystal Bacon, the Camp Ben caretaker. Unlock the chained areas, Green Room, kitchen, and storage buildings.
- Unload, the dance floor and pickup. The positioning of the dance floor, backdrop, stage stairs, lights, and signs should be directed by an experienced volunteer or board member.
- Load all the tables from the metal storage unit at the back turn-around onto a pickup and deliver them to the Green Room, Merch, Kitchen (if there is a silent auction), and Admissions. Ask the manager of each of these areas how many they need. Additional tables and chairs are in the little stone building next to the new men’s bathroom.
- Help the Green Room manager with clean up and set up. Items in the Green Room may need to be rearranged, the floor swept. Deliver the large ice chest and the mirror here. Set up tables. Hang the mirror.
- Distribute the chairs from the stone building next to the men’s room to the workshop areas. Each workshop has a sign that must be hung (Area A, Area B, etc.). Ask the workshop manager where each area is in advance.
- Set up pop-ups at Admissions.
- If rainy or cold, hang tarps around the merchandise area, admissions pop ups and other locations as needed.
- String lights above the mini-set area. This is a specific string of lights that will be connected by extension cord to the outlet in the corner of the merch building. Ask Jeanne or an experienced volunteer about them.
- Position the recycling bins near the food trucks, stage, and other high traffic areas.
- Ensure that Matt Welch drops off the recycling dump-trailer on Thursday or early Friday positioned just off the road near the stage and kitchen area. Instruct volunteers to empty the recycling bins into the dump trailer as needed.
- Instruct volunteers to check the restrooms and ensure that they are stocked with toilet paper, hand soap and paper towels from the stone building next to the men’s room. They should also remove any full trash bags from the barrels and set them by the road for later pick up. Replace them with new bags from the stone building by the men’s room.
- Place the coffee maker, water and hot pot in the kitchen area supplied with coffee, cream, filters, tea, etc. These items will be offered free with a tip jar.
- Meet the food trucks, and port a potty truck and direct them to locations determined in advance.
Tear Down
- Disassemble and load the dance floor on the trailer. Make sure the volunteers are under the supervision of experienced board members or volunteers.
- Load all items which were unloaded from the trailer and truck (see list above).
- Return all tables and chairs to the proper storage buildings.
- Check all trash barrels, including the small trash bins in the restrooms and the barrels in remote areas. If they have more than a handful of trash, load the full bags on a pickup and throw them in the dumpster neat the entrance. Be sure and replace the trash bags and include an extra. Trash bags are located in the small stone building next to the men’s room.
- When all items are loaded, trash barrels emptied, and Camp Ben is restored to pre-festival condition notify Crystal for a required inspection by a Camp Ben representative. We must pass this inspection to get our clean-up deposit back.