‘Screen Bites’ - Second Slice, Food Film Festival
Local food film festival and mini farmers market.
Overview
This project was awarded Sustainable Development Fund support in 2018 and 2019 to help deliver our Management Plan objectives to promote and support sustainably produced goods and also to support activities that strengthen connections to the landscape and enable people to experience the landscape remotely.
2018:
SDF grant awarded £1300
13% of total funding awarded
2019:
SDF grant awarded £500
6.5% of total funding awarded
Other sources of income included ticket sales, raffle, bar and ice cream sales
Screen Bites – Second Slice is the continuation of a Food Film Festival which began 16 years ago as part of ‘Dorset Food Week’. Screen Bites is a not for profit organisation run by a group of enthusiastic & dedicated volunteers.
A small new team took over the reins in 2018 passionate to grow and re-invigorate this yearly festival which shows food-themed films and documentaries from around the world. The film events also feature a mini farmer’s market to promote awareness of the diversity and quality of locally produced food and drink.
The festival group hit a stumbling block in marketing the festival when they were unable to use the existing database of contacts due to GDPR rules. They were also keen to diversify the festival to attract new audiences.
Screen bites have benefitted from 2 small grants from the SDF fund.
In 2018, Screen Bites received a grant towards the cost of relaunching the website and introducing an on-line booking system.
The aim being to better promote the revamped festival, giving it a fresh, professional look thus increasing awareness of the festival, increasing ticket sales, as well as attracting sponsorship to enable it to grow in subsequent years.
In 2019 they applied for a grant towards the cost of the design, print & distribution of their promotional brochure.
This eye-catching programme of festival events also promotes the food and drink producers which attend the festival. It’s distributed across the county but lack of distribution the previous year was believed to have contributed to the reduced number of attendees at events.
2018
The grant was spent on the revamped website and its graphic design to improve its look and functionality, increase on-line presence and incorporate an on-line booking system.
2019
With help and advice from Dorset Food & Drink’s staff to minimise costs, a good quality brochure was designed, printed and widely distributed alongside attractive poster and flyer advertising.
The festival is going from strength to strength. The database of contacts is growing and in 2019 attendees were up and the festival broke even.
In 2018 approx. 300 tickets were sold, in 2019 over 500 tickets were sold.
Online bookings were up, with approx. 70% of tickets sales made online. Streamlining the process for the organisers.
2000 brochures were printed, plus posters and flyers for each event. These were distributed across the county to Tourist Information Centres, cafes, farm and village shops.
Additional benefits
The festival is:
• Promoting local Food and Drink producers, increasing the reach and awareness of businesses at festivals, via the website and through printed marketing material.
• Supporting the work of the Dorset AONB, Dorset Coast Forum and other organisations through their promotion at events and on the website.
• Fostering links with local communities. This year they have diversified the types of venues, opening up new audiences, including tourists.
• Bringing people together in a fun celebration of food and the arts.
Advice to others thinking of doing a similar project
Get some help with the Social Media side of things as it is very time consuming and get your publicity in place long before the event!
‘Many thanks, we certainly enjoyed our first introduction to Screen Bites. Bridget has told us about them in the past and said how much fun they were!’
‘Our grant in 2018 paid for our new website and online booking system. This made all the difference in bringing Screen Bites into the 21st century. It made ticket sales much easier for our audiences and ‘staff’.’
Susanne Harding – Organiser
Funding options within the Dorset National Landscape
Supporting farmers and land managers
Farming in Protected Landscapes programme
local funds
