1. Cranford International Festival Evaluation
On Saturday 2nd July 2011, Cranford International Festival took place and I
was given the job role of P.R Manager (Problem Solver). I arrived at Cranford
Community College (where the event was held) at 8.30am and as soon as I
had arrived at school I went to my teacher Mr Bray to make sure that they
knew I was in. I had some decorations with me and I stared to blow up the
balloons for the decoration of the stage. Once the balloons had all been
blown up I decided to wear my Creative and Media shirt which was given to
me so that we all stood out, others at the carnival could get help from us
because of the fact that we were all wearing the same colour shirts which
was purple and most of all we were identified by our job roles as it was
printed onto the shirts.
On Friday 1st July 2011, we all met up at the concourse after school at 3.15 so
we could all help with setting-up the main stage for the carnival day which
was going to happen on Saturday 2nd July 2011. Before helping to put the
stage up I had finished off the signs such as ‘Performers Only’, ‘Main Stage’
and ‘Running Order’. I had laminated the A3 papers just in case it had rain on
the Festival day so the laminations would have prevented the A3 papers from
getting wet.
I then went to help set the stage up,
however I and the creative and media
team were not able to fully set it up
ourselves because we were not
coalfield to do so also for health and
safety issues. The stage was ready but it

2. we needed to put up the tarpaulin just in case it had rained on the day of
the festival so therefore the tarpaulin would have prevented the technical
equipment getting damaged. The tarpaulin was very hard to put up as it was
very massive from length to width, our teachers and other members of the
creative and media helped to do so. Once the stage had already been set-
up I decorated the stage with black satin fabrics and used duct tape to hold
it together and to stop people from going underneath the stage – If they had
so, then this would have been a real problem. The satin fabric looked to
unattractive and I felt that the stage needed more colour so it stood out.
Sara and I had used some sort of a silky fabric which came in different verity
of colours to choose from. We used the red silk Fabric to create a certain look
which looked very appealing to our audience who were watch the
performance full time on stage. Furthermore we thought that the stage
needed to look even better than it did, so Sara and I made bows out which
each took 15 minutes as it was hard to keep them in position. The stage was
all half ready and we thought that it would be best if we had finished some of
the decorations in the morning on the carnival day.
I also finished off with the ‘Main Stage’ signs; I wasn’t able to put it up myself
because I needed an adult supervision so Mrs Saroya and Sixth Former Dean
helped me by putting the sign up. The stage was finally ready but we needed
to scaffold the polls of the stage with a black silk material also I had created
two big bows on each sides of the stage for the decoration of the stage. We
used bubble wraps for the polls of the stage to prevent someone getting
heart; we then covered the bubble wrap with coloured fabric to make it
looked nice.
I checked all the equipment’s such as; technical equipment like speaker,
microphones and other equipment’s such as instruments which the school
had provided for the acts on the festival day. This was very necessary to do
so just in case things were missing or they are not in its right place.
It 9.00 so we all gathered up for a meeting so that we all were sure of what
each member of the creative and media team were doing and who was to
work with who. My job role was the P.R Manager which meant that I had to
work with the stage hands and solve any problems so that it was easier and
better to run a successful festival.
We all set off to do our jobs roles. My teach Mrs Saroya had told me that I also
had to talk to each individual act so that the day went really smoothly and
they knew where they should be and when their performance would start,

3. this was really necessary as it was part of my job role. Most acts came in
through the main entrance of the festival and I had to allocate them to all to
the ‘Green Room’ and told them that that’s where they were expected to
maintain the whole time until it was their time to perform. I made sure that
they had free space to practice as much as they could so noting went wrong
on the day. I used the DR1, DR2 (drama rooms) and music rooms for them to
practise in.The time was 10am and most of the acts were arriving at Cranford.
Every time I checked and made sure all the acts were in the green room or in
the practise rooms. I did this so none of the acts was missing. As time went by
and there was pretty much nothing for me to
do, so I started to take photos of each groups
because I knew that later on it would come
really useful to me and the creative and
media team. When I had finished taking
photos of each groups I realised that most
acts felt really bored staying in the green
room and they wanted to get out, however
they did not realise how hard it was to keep
all the acts in control. The performers wanted to drink some water and go to
the toilet so I sent one stage with one group at different times so that all the
acts could arrive back at the green room without any of them missing.
My biggest problem of the day was the French singers as most of them had
not turned up when they were supposed to so most who had stayed in the
green room went missing. This was very stressful for me and the stage hand
because we had to go looking for them and locating them to the right
place. While I was away looking for the French singers with the stage hands,
more acts started to show up, however they were late and some of them
demanded for a practise room. I told most of them that they could also
practise in the concert hall. I and the stage hands found most of the French
singers but we needed to look for all of them as they were the important act
of the festival because the festival was all about international, cultural and
based on the Powel Olympics 2011.
The time now was 11am and all the acts had already arrived at Cranford
community college. I went over to all of the acts and took the register to
make sure that all the acts had arrived and was in the right place. The green
room was packed pull of acts and I felt that they needed to rehearse as
much as they could because I wanted all acts to look really confident and
brave when performing, so I encouraged them also I watched them perform
in front of me so that I could give them advice. This was important for them so

4. most of them know where they are going wrong so that they do not repeat it
on the day. Each act was well organised on the day, they all bought in their
customs and varies things the needed for the day – this was a very big
success for all of us and them as we didn’t have to worry about anything
missing or not bought to the festival.
The concert about four main doors, the three other doors were locked which
was very great, however the main door which was the exit door was not
locked and was not meant to be locked. Other people who were not taking
part in any of the performances where coming in and going out, I felt that
this shouldn’t be happening because there was a sign on the door saying
‘Performances Only’ so I placed one helping hands at different times. I did
this so to insure security of the doors in the concert hall. This time the concert
hall was actually and only for the performers and no one else.
My teacher Mrs Saroya told me that Khatra Ahmed had gone missing from
the parade, now this was one of the biggest problems I came across in the
festival because it was very important to find khatra or otherwise the parade
wouldn’t leave and the main stage would have to be delayed, the time now
was 11:30am and people were already coming in to the festival. I checked
the library to see if Khatra was there but sadly she wasn’t so minutes later I
found out that she was found and the parade was ready to leave. I called
Sathma Nejera who also was in the parade alongside Logan Jones Khatra
Ahmed and Rajan Handa, I told her to call me when the parade started to
leave and when it reached the school gates of Cranford Community
College. It was very important for the creative and media to know when
parade started and reaches the school gates so that everyone was
organised and the main stage was getting set-up Mr Prunty to make his
speech about the festival and why it is very important.
Sathma called the creative and media team to confirming that the parade
was leaving, the stage hands, I and other members of the creative and
media team helped bring in the equipment to go up on the stage. The
parade reached Cranford at 12:00 so Mr Prunty had to make a speech which
lasted for 10 minutes. I was given a programme so that i knew which acts
were to go up next. While Mr Prunty was making his speech I when to
organise the first five acts so that they were all there and no one was missing.
The first five acts where; The Metronomes who were the steel band, JKR a
dance group, Richard’s Lodge High school who were also dancing and I
invited them by e-mailing, French singers – the French singers were very
important and made sure they were practicing as much as they could and
the last group for the first five acts was the Solo Urban dance by Ryan

5. Hodges. By this time Mr Prunty had finished his speech and the Metronomes
where to perform. The equipment for the metronomes where already there
as they brought in their own equipment and used some equipment which the
school provided them with.
Our biggest problem of the day was the French singers because they kept
disappearing as they were getting bored. I had to make for that everyone
was confortable so every time an act wanted to go outside the green room
to go to the toilet or get some water, i allowed them by sending one of the
helping hands to supervise them and bring them back so they do not go
missing. The communication with the helping hands and Sara Khan who was
announcing each act was very good because we all dealt with problems by
communicating with each other.
The majority of the time I was in the green room solving problems and helping
with the backstage so everything was well organised and the acts knew
when they we needed to perform. The time as 12.55pm and Metronomes
had finished so there was a 5minute gape for the set-up of the stage. I
helped with taking objects from the stage and getting the next act ready
which was JKR – the dance group. JKR was ready to go up and perform,
while they were performing the decorations on the stage was being pulled
off by the audience, this was a problem to solve so we told them not to touch
them as we had spent very long on them and to make the stage look really
good. We also took of the front stairs for health and safety issues as the
audience were standing on them.
The third act to go up was the Richard’s
Lodge High school performance and they
danced to ‘Give Me Everything’. The time
was 1.10pm and all the creative and media
team was very busy solving varies problems
which they came across. I stayed by the
door for security to help Logan Jones for
only 15 minutes because I had to go and
organise the fourth act which was the
French singers. Richard’s Lodge School performance had finished and the
French singers where to go up next. They were ready and all the French
singers were there and we all were happy because we felt not all of them
had turned up. The French singer’s performance went really well and that
was a great success.
The Urban dance was to get ready and so up next, so I went and got Ryan
Hodges organised and started his performance at 1.30pm. At this time all the

6. helping hands were missing because there was not enough helping hands to
help me with the security of the doors, organising the acts and setting up
stage. This was very difficult because there was no one to help set-up the
stage and bring in equipment. The creative and media members who were
involved with the parade, their jobs were given to them and they were
thehelping hands. This was a great relief because there were more helping
hands to help set-up the stage, help me to organise each acts and most of
all security by the doors of the concert hall.
The time was 1.40pm and the act to go up next was Lampton Academy
School. This mean that I had to get the next act ready and they were the
Greece Side Story, they arrive late and they needed to perform somewhere
so I told them to perform in the concert all because all the rooms were being
used by other acts also Greece Side Story was a large group and I felt that for
health and safety they had to stay in the concert hall. There was nothing for
me to do so I used my time very well and went round again and took photos
of acts that were performing in the festival. I then went and stayed at the
doors of the concert hall to make sure that no one was coming in apart from
the staff and performers only.
By now Greece Side Story was on stage doing with performance. The ladyz
who were the act to go after Greece Side Story was organised and all the
acts were there. By this time I was told by one of the members of the creative
and media team that Mrs Green had dropped because of some personal
reason. We all were confused and did not know how to solve this problem so
we decided to ask Richard’s Lodge School to perform one more time as the
audience really like their performance. They were thinking about it and we
gave them time to do that. The time was 2.05 and the ladyz had already
performed and it was time for the next act which was the Street Dance. The
street dance started their performance and half way the one of the planks of
wood fell off which was to support the stage. We didn’t realise until the
performance had finished. We ourselves were not allowed to put it back up
because of health and safety so we got Mr Bray our Diploma teacher and
Joe the caretaker.
The stage was ready and once more and it was Joe the caretaker’s turn to
perform and he was rapping. The time was 2.15 and we the Zumba dancers
were not in the festival. Joe was done and we had to delay all the other acts
because of the Zumba dance. This was quite a big fuss as we waited for
30minutes and the programmed was confusing to follow because by now all
the performers were late by 30minutes. The Zumba dancers turned up really
late also they were much unorganised because they couldn’t decide on

7. what track they were going to dance to. Even though the Zumba dancers
were very late we kept the audience entertained by playing them different
tracks they could dance to.
The Zumba dancers were to go up at 2.25pm however they came late so
they went up at 2.45pm. They were to stay on stage and dance for
30minutes. I went to ask if Richard’s Lodge School had come up with a
decision whether to perform again. They did not want to perform, we were
happy with their decision. I was free because there was nothing for me to do,
so I went and recorded the festival with a flip am. After doing that for 15
minutes I went on a break because I felt quite ill and dehydrated. I came
back once the Zumba dance was over and next up was Price Tag and they
singing to Taylor Swift’s ‘You belong with me’. Their performance ended and
the next up was the Student Rock Band, they were singing to two different
songs. I had to get the next act ready; however Mrs Green wasn’t in to
perform so we just moved onto the Metamorphosis.
The Metamorphosis were in DR2 which was one of the drama rooms, I went to
get them because it was time for them to perform on the main stage. During
the time when the Metamorphosis was performingme and the creative and
media team were told that the Bhangra dancers were notable tocome in
and perform because one of their group member’s had dropped out. This
was a disaster because then we would have had two acts dropping out. We
went and talked to the Bhangra dancers and told them that it was all right
and they had to perform. They agreed and were sent off to practice in the in
the concert hall. After sorting a problem outI went and got the pianists ready
because they were to perform their act after the Metamorphosis. The only
equipment the pianists needed was; a piano, a music sheet with all the
musical notes and two chairs. The stage hands and I made sure everything
was there and ready. Once the Metamorphosis was done the pianists were
up next. The piano was quite heavy to be lifted so Mr Bray and one of the
stage hands put the piano on stage.
The Bhangra dancers were to go up next,
I was a little bit worried because I was
afraid because I thought that something
was going wrong. Well they did
absolutely fine the minute they started to
dance, they went with the flow of music
and got everyone else dancing with
them. There was another problem which
was a big problem. The Metronomes lost

8. their equipment and someone had put them away but no one knew where
they were. The Bhangra dancers were finished and off stage, we had to
delay the Metronomes because of the problem we were facing. The
Metronomes we the last group and all the stage hands were in different
places looking for the equipment. Michael McCauley went missing so there
for I had to stay in charge of the music and play different track to keep the
audience entertained. After 10 minutes the equipment were found and they
were up on stage entertaining the audience. I was so glade the festival was
coming to an end because the Metronomes were the last ones.
At 4:30 we started to take the tarpaulin off because the festive had ended
and everyone was going home. We all worked together and helped each
other, we did this very fast because it was a long day and everyone was
tired. All the equipment were put away and I took off the decorations off the
main stage because we had to take the stage down. We were not allowed
to dismantle the stage due to health and safety issues but we still put most
bites of the stage away ones it was all part. We had to make sure the area
we used to run our main stage was really clean and tidy. We stayed for a
quiet long time cleaning and putting things away as the festival had ended. I
feel that the festival was run really successfully as we all came together and
helped with the clearing everything away and making sure that the main
stage was running the whole time. However we all faced many difficulties
such as performers going missing, equipment’s missing and other people at
the festival entering ‘Only Staff’ areas. Overall I am pleased that we had
come across obstacles as it helped our communication skills with each other
and develop onto our skills, at the end of this festival we all had physically
experience how to run a festival and solve problems.