Staging gospel events a difficult task promoters Gospel events may seem easy to produce but the promoters say it is a difficult task and can cost you a tidy sum. Gospel concerts have long been thought to be easy to plan. For example, it is felt that gospel artistes' demands are not as great as their secular counterparts, which is true to an extent. However, that doesn't make a gospel concert easy to plan or cheap to put on. If a church is using in-house talent, then the concert can cost little or nothing.Use outside talent, not to mention the popular ones, and the cost surges. "Many aspects go into planning a gospel concert. It depends on the level. It can be expensive because you have to take into consideration artiste costs and other things. If there's an international artiste involved then you have to get a production consultant otherwise you can lose big," explained Ken Nelson, a production consultant. The promoters of gospel events say that, outside of the church events, to mount a gospel artiste such as Kirk Franklin, they have to dig deep. A concert with an international artiste, along with light, sound, stage and other equipment can cost at least $3.5 million. If there is no consultant on production then the costs can easily double. Nelson said that when a promoter decides to work without a consultant, the promoter could spend money on items he does not need or pay twice as much for what he does need. He adds that the production consultant is able to negotiate and cut costs when it involves dealing with the various equipment providers. In all of this, the producers maintain that the main objectives of concerts are to win souls and raise funds. Whether it's to build a church, extend church facilities or to win souls, the location must be taken into consideration. As they say, going into unfamiliar territory can be pretty dangerous. "In areas where gospel concerts aren't common you run the risk of losing money because nobody will come. So you have to meet with certain sectors such as church groups. We usually get support from the church because of the evangelical thrust. But if is not promoted, then you can lose," added Kevin Bell, a publicist with Talent Corporation. After that aspect of promotion has been solved, the promoter has to worry about his line up as, it is said, "the more powerful the ministry of the artiste, the more people will come out." To add to the problems, since the local acts can be seen very often, there may be unwillingness on the part of patrons to come to a show where only local acts are present. "In Jamaica people have certain tastes. If the music of an artiste is popular then they will come out to see that artiste. The concert can fail if you are using someone who is not popular and the concert is not well promoted," Bell added. In terms of provisions for artistes, the promoter and producer of these events know they can rest easy because the demands of gospel artistes will not be the same as their secular counterparts. "Material things don't matter to many of them. Some shy away from the media because they don't like the attention," Bell added.
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