SCOTTISHREGISTERED

CHARITY NO.SCO19883

ON THE ROCKSSCOTTISH STUDENT ARTS FESTIVALCORPORATE SPONSORSHIP GUIDE

CRISPIN BONHAM CARTER

I'm very honoured to be a patron of On The Rocks. Spring Festivals have vitalised and inspired towns, poets and audiences ever since - and probably well before - the Great Dionysia of ancient Athens. There, in another town clinging to rocks above waves, a whole population would join processions and feasts before spending all day watching and performing in the tragedies, comedies and satyr plays that have defined European thought for nearly 2,500 years. Small towns with big ideas. Now, more than

ever, we need festivals that remind us that art, language, culture cannot be taken for granted. If we don't celebrate and shout about our poets, they will leave us. I wish

On The Rocks a huge success for 2015 and I'm sure the spirit of Dionysus will be deeply felt in the dark wynds and narrow alleys of St Andrews.

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WHAT IS ON THE ROCKS?

HOW DO WE GET THE WORD OUT?

We are an entirely student run, ten-day festival, celebrating local creativity and talent within the town of St Andrews. On The Rocks aims to encourage participation and interest in the Arts, especially among the many

students who might not ordinarily take the opportunity to do so. Incorporating performances and workshops on art, photography, film, theatre, dance, fashion, music and comedy, the festival involves more than 50 events, and annually has attracted crowds of over 6000 people, making it the largest student run arts festival in the UK. By actively engaging the whole town, the festival is an opportunity for everyone to experience something

new, and to build relationships not just within the University, but also in the Fife community as a whole.

As the largest student run art festival in UK, its important to keep people interested. With annual features in The Times, The Telegraph, The Scotsman and The Sun, and on BBC radio, the festival is nationally renowned. Our theatre groups consistently go on to make highly successful runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, later in the summer,

and we host a Capella groups famed for making the top charts on numerous occasions, such as ‘The Acciden-tals’, and ‘The Other Guys’. With fliers going out throughout St Andrews, Edinburgh and Fife in the weeks leading up to the festival, and free programs and goody bags being distributed to students and locals throughout out the

week, we make sure everybody knows what is going on.

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WHAT’S ON?

A celebration of the charities campaigning within St Andrews, Big Top Ball regularly attracts upwards of 600 guests for a raucous night of music, dancing and performance. The ball, taking place in a circus big top marquee placed within the beautiful grounds of the lower college hall, is firm in its charity focus, with all profits going to the six student nominated charities. These include Maggie’s Cancer caring centres, Macmillan Cancer support, Medicines Sans Frontiers, Royal National Life Boat Association, Chas, and more locally, Families First.

BIG TOP BALL

SITARA

PLAYS AND MUSICALS INCLUDING:

From the stately teahouses of Japan to the vibrant dances of India, the annual Sitara* fashion show celebrates the beauty of South Asian culture, fashion and art. In a custom marquee in the iconic grounds of The Old Course, expect a show truly like no other. The theme of 2015 reflects the vibrant diversity found within street culture. Brought to us by the South Asian society of St Andrews.

Spring Awakening by Duncan Sheik and Steven Stater, concerning teenagers discovering the inner and outer tumult of sexuality set in late 19th century Germany.

Two, Jim Cartwright’s classic play about life, laughter, love and loss in a Northern community - ‘First night here? Well you’ll get used to us…’

Salomé, Oscar Wilde’s most controversial play, subverting the biblical story of John the Baptist in a retelling, focused on the tantalising Salomé, Princess of Judea.

As well as Open Mic Nights, Poetry slams, Sketch Comedy shows, Dance, live music events, and many more…

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WHO ARE WE?

OUR PEOPLE

DAME HELLEN MIRREN“This is the future and we will all be the

better for giving it a chance to flourish.”

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Our student run festival has a huge team behind it! We have a committee of thirty-five and an army of volunteers. We ensure that all of our committee members are involved in a variety of societies and sports clubs and represent as many schools as possible in order to reach the entire spectrum of the student body. While we act as a platform to facilitate other groups and individuals putting on evens, the On The Rocks team also coordinates our own events, to ensure that something great is going on at all times of the festival. This year we had sold out late night acoustic music cafes, street performance tasters everyday, tattoo booths, local art displayed in pop up exhibitions throughout the town, and our Launch event which featured raffle items signed by Helen Mirren and Joanna Lumley.

On The Rocks is run by St Andrews best and brightest. With a team of 35, we have members of our committee involved in sports clubs and societies across the University. We are well connected and professional, having established relationships with local businesses and maintained them over the years.

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ANDY SERKIS“On the Rocks is a truly inspira-

tional festival, to which I send my support and very best wishes.”

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A LITTLE ABOUT THE TOWN

Home to the oldest golf course in the world, and the third oldest university in the UK, St Andrews today is a small seaside town, with a large student population. In part due to the beautiful scenery and history of the

town, as well as the excellent golf, ranked some of the best in the world, St Andrews enjoys the benefits of year round international tourism. This has lead to one of the highest concentration of upmarket hotels and bars in the

UK, with property prices rivaling those in London.

The University itself is consistently ranked within the top 5 nation-wide, as well as the top in Scotland. With an international and diverse student base, including large links with the US - 15% of students are from North

America - the University benefits from first rate reputation and support. The recent alumni Gala in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, with over 450 guests, raised over £2.2 million. Attended by the Duke and

Duchess of Cambridge, and featuring performances by Seth Meyers and Renée Fleming, the event attracted attention from newspapers around the world.

SIR SEAN

CONNERY

DAMEJUDI DENCH

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WHY SPONSOR US?

On The Rocks is a student run, charity event in the town of St Andrews, so what’s the benefit of sponsoring us? Sponsoring students is a no brainer - a collection of young people around the country (and indeed the world), student events are a step towards ensuring a future for your company’s popularity with the next generation of consumers. Students are also an avenue for spreading brand awareness throughout the country, through people likely to go on to lead high profile and affluent careers. These factors mean that student events, such as ours, can provide some of the best ‘brand building’ opportunities, at a relatively low price.

No only this, but as a charity, our event is working towards making the world a better place. In sponsoring us, you’re showing how you care for the wider UK community, and how you’re dedicated to fulfilling your corpo-rate social responsibility, as citizens, to give back to the consumer.

SIOBHAN REDMOND“I’m delighted to hear about On the Rocks and hope it will be a huge success... it’s thrilling to know that the students of st Andrews are creating an opportunity to make something new and lovely for

the whole community to benefit from.”

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As a festival attracting more than 3000 people each year, drawn from throughout the student population, local community and visiting tourists, ‘On The Rocks’ provides the perfect opportunity for promoting brand awareness. The festival is stylish and widely marketed, showcasing the best of what our students have to offer, and engaging with the entire University - with an audience that will go on to have impacts both here in the UK, and abroad. In sponsoring the festival, you’re promot-ing your brand not just within the St Andrews and Fife area, but far further afield. With every venue in St Andrews booked for the week, and fliers and programs distributed at all major student and public sites throughout the town, the festival is impossible to ignore, and so your brand would gain universal attention of our students.

As one of the largest events of the town year, it is important for our event to have its own individual style and feel, especially when competing with events such as ‘The St Andrews Charity Fashion Show’, another of the largest student events in the country, which again obtains interna-tional media attention. On The Rocks stands apart due to its inclusive and engaging nature. We place a great stress on the involvement of the whole student population, and hence attract the attention of the student base as a whole, not just a chosen few. This means that sponsorship of the event provides the highest brand visibility, and can appeal to a wider, and hence larger student base.

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WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FORWe would be grateful for any support you could provide, but the aim for the coming year is to have the festival fully funded by a sponsor. A rough list of our proposed expenses is provided below.

VENUEWe want to continue to use the Byre Theatre (Scotland's only 5 Star Arts Venue) as our hub, which would cost

around £10,000 (including all staffing costs, venue, tech hire, etc).

PUBLICITYProgrammes, branded clothing, banners, posters, postcards, tote bags and other branded merchandise costing

around £4000

COMMUNITY EVENTSEvent supplies and venues at £1000

EVENTSIncluding bringing external acts into St Andrews at £5000

ADMINISTRATIVE COSTSat £500

EVENT SUPPORT COSTSAllowing events to receive funding through the festival at £5000

However, we’re not happy staying put. ‘On The Rocks’ is striving to be bigger and better, and so we’ve set out the following aims for the future:

We’d like to build a stronger presence for the festival throughout town and the surrounding region. Getting the whole town involved, through large across-street banners, large-scale posters, greater variety and depth in external adver-tising campaigns, including perhaps adverts in local, regional and national publications.

Encouraging wider range of performers through increased advertising and support available. The festival right now is a celebration of our student and local talent, but we’d love to see what the rest of the UK has to offer. By inviting talent from universities throughout the country, the aim would be to build a community of student art, which would help to strengthen ties, and promote involvement with similar events elsewhere. University is about experiencing the unknown, and developing new ideas through independent thought.

Our problem: these plans require money. More advertising means more costs, and while the payoff would be worth-while, the festival doesn’t currently have the funds to pull off anything of the sort. Not only this, but in order to promote external involvement from other universities, we’d have to have incentives for outside groups and individuals to perform, possibly including partial payment of travel costs.

With these aims in mind, we’d be looking to raise in the region of £25,000

In return for support, you’d have the chance to put your mark on the festival, with your brand put on all media and advertising surrounding the festival and advertising space in our programmes and fliers. We’d also be keen for any ideas you might have for your role in the festival, possibly including closer involvement in any of the events. All of this would of course be a form of promotion for your brand image, as mentioned above, providing a form of brand building, and a way of fulfilling your corporate social responsibility.

WHAT WE CAN GIVE IN RETURN

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Our mission is to showcase the best of what St Andrews has to offer in the arts, through a diverse program, to the wider world. The student-run festival aims to promote student participation in the arts while strength-ening the St Andrews community, encouraging collaboration within and

beyond the university.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

JOANNA LUMLEY“All my fondest good wishes for the great

success of On the Rocks and to students far and near... cheers, sweeties!”

ontherocks@st-andrews.ac.uk www.ontherocksfestival.com

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Our mission is to showcase the best of what St Andrews has to offer in the arts, through a diverse program, to the wider world. The student-run festival aims to promote student participation in the arts while strength-ening the St Andrews community, encouraging collaboration within and

beyond the university.

HOW WE ACHIEVE THIS

SIMON PEGG“All the best for On the Rocks

festival! It is a wonderful idea and integral in supporting new work in the

student arts whist exhibiting new talents around Scotland. Long may it continue.”

• Offering a platform for local artists and groups to reach a wider audience

• Celebrating the international community currently existing in St Andrews

• Encouraging participation in the arts among those who may not usually take the opportunity to do so, through a wide variety of events and admission rates

• Actively seeking to work with the town and its residents. We celebrate the collaboration between those who study here and those who live and work here year round

•Ensuring the festival has adequate core funding to fulfill its mission and remain sustainable in future years

For more information email or go to:

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