Scenic Design For The Stage On A Budget – 5 Tips For Cheaper Stages

Many people are discouraged from staging a special event simply by the shear cost of putting it all together and it can be a scary thing to do, not to mention expensive if you do not know some of the tricks.

Venue

There are now literally thousands of possible venues in each major city to hold your events from small restaurants, to school halls, to ballrooms in hotels through to exhibition centers and convention room!

The range is now staggering compared to a few years ago and this can be a good thing for you if you are searching for a venue.

The costs of maintaining a venue are huge and the owners need to have the halls filled as often as possible to avoid loss.

Often they will negotiate large discounts just to get the venue used and a regularly used venue looks attractive to other potential buyers, so first things first, ask for a discount when booking the venue.

Once you have a venue we can start discussing the scenic design for the stage on a budget with them.

Ask them to include a stage, steps and catwalks in the price. Most venues have their own stage and often charge for it, but negotiate it to be part of the deal and you will save money on your stage. Do the same for chairs and tables (and anything else you can think off. See how far you can go before they say no!

Lighting And Sound Vendors

Lighting and sound can be expensive if you do not know what you are doing, but if you are renting video projects for example, ask them for free video screens.

This will help you fill in the backdrops so you do not need as much materials in the construction, saving you money.

See what other gadgets and features you can get from your suppliers. Competition can be huge, so many suppliers are happy to provide you with more equipment just to get the order.

Drapes

It is possible to make stunning looking backdrops from drapes or old curtains.

Ask your venue if they have, but make sure they are anti-flammable to be safe.

This saves you having to construct screens and backdrops and save you time, money for materials and money for crew.

Tarpaulins

Tarpaulin is now becoming cheaper and cheaper and effective backdrops can me made relatively quickly. Sometimes tarps can look a bit cheap so make sure that they are printed professionally, but they are quick to put up and cheap to construct.

Lighting Designer

When you need scenic design for the stage on a budget, the one place I would not scrimp is on the lighting designer. They can with clever lighting make the worst venue look simply staggering.

Sceneic Design For The Stage On A Budget

You will be able to save huge amounts of money elsewhere if you sit down with the lighting engineer in advance and discuss your requirements.