Sponsorship Training for Under Resourced Organisations

securing Sponsorship

Practical worshops for arts organisations, festivals & event producers.

Sponsorship TRAINING for Festivals, Arts Organisations & Event Producers

Small and regional festivals, emerging arts companies and event producers across Ireland are unintentionally leaving sponsorship money on the table, not because they lack value but because they’ve never been taught how sponsors actually think.

After almost two decades securing and managing sponsorship for some of Ireland’s biggest, nationally- recognised festivals, producers and arts organisations, I have developed a practical, repeatable approach to help under-resourced teams prepare pitches that secure sponsorship and build partnerships that last - without compromising artistic integrity.

These live, online sponsorship workshops will provide the tools and insights you need to approach sponsorship confidently, secure money and maximise your income.

Workshop one: Monday 23 February at 2pm.

Workshop two: Thursday 26 February at 2pm.

About Tom Lawlor

Your Guide to Securing Sponsorship

I'm Tom Lawlor, a consultant and lecturer in marketing and sponsorship for arts. entertainment and hospitality organisations.

As well as lecturing on marketing and sponsorship at the Lir Academy, I have managed sponsorship for multiple arts companies, including Body&Soul Festival, THISISPOPBABY, Dublin Fringe Festival, Kilkenny Cat Laughs, Georgina Campbell’s Ireland Guide Food Awards and consulted with many others on identifying sponsorship options, pitching and securing sponsors and sponsor compliance.

Who This Workshop Is For?

Small or regional festival directors, marketing leads or general managers without a dedicated sponsorship lead
An emerging arts company with a growing, engaged audience
An event producer in nightlife, entertainment or clubbing with a desirable demographic
An emerging producer suddenly wearing the sponsorship hat alongside programming and operations
A board member tasked with securing sponsorship but with no experience in landing deals
A cultural entrepreneur with a new proposal but no idea how to find partners…

Does This Sound Like You?

"I know my festival/programme has potential for sponsorship, but I don't know where to start on identifying what brands want..."
"I've reached out to a few contacts, but I'm just not getting any buy-in or responses that lead anywhere..."

"Everyone keeps telling me the sponsorship market is tough so where does a small festival like mine even fit in?"

"I can picture potential sponsors, but I have no idea how to structure benefits or packages that actually deliver value for them..."

"I'm spending hours on emails and proposals, but they feel amateur next to what the bigger festivals are pitching..."

What I’ve Noticed After 17 Years WORKING iN Sponsorship

I started working in the arts at Dublin Fringe Festival in 2007. Since then I’ve worked across sponsorship, marketing, PR, strategy, fundraising and senior management with some of Ireland’s most celebrated festivals. This work matters to me and I care deeply about helping arts organisations work better and secure their future.

Here’s what I see all the time:

Small festivals and emerging companies juggling programming, curating, marketing, volunteers, box office, social media, grant applications. This means finding sponsorship feels like a black art, brokered by dedicated development teams.

The reality is different.

Ireland's sponsorship market hit €236M in 2025, with 34% of sponsors planning budget increases this year. They want what you have:

Local, engaged audiences
Authentic cultural credibility
Agile, creative activations
Access to their desired customers
A trustworthy team capable of compliance with contractual sponsorship obligations

BUT most small festivals and emerging producers never pitch, or fail to pitch sucessfully, because they lack the insights and skills to meet confidently with potential sponsors.

The result? Festival strands get cut or minimised. Shows go undercast and don’t match the ambition. Producers rely on chasing Arts Council grants when €5K-€20K sponsor deals could be sourced.

My SPONSORSHIP Track Record

Scoil Scairte & Foras na Gaeilge

I brokered and managed a multi-annual sponsorship of Scoil Scairte, founded by Kathy Scott with Manchán Magan, by Foras na Gaeilge, who continue to support this groundbreaking approach to learning An Ghaeilge.

Dingle Literary Festival & Dingle Gin

An obvious fit, I brokered and managed the sponsorship deal between Dingle Literary Festival and Dingle Distillery, ensuring this new festival was equipped to comply with expectations and secure a multi-annual agreement.

Body&Soul Festival & Multiple sponsors

I worked with Body&Soul and Veuve Clicquot on creating the first ever champagne bar at an Irish music festival: a multi-annual deal which brought value and income to the rightsholder and unrivalled access and stock sales to the sponsor. This was one of many sponsorships I secured or managed for Body&Soul.

Thisispopbaby's RIOT & Outcider

I secured a major sponsorship for THISISPOPBABY's RIOT at Vicar St with C&C's Outcider - the brand achieved awareness for their new product with the rights-holder maximising their budget potential.

Kilkenny Cat Laughs & Multiple Sponsors

Over two years at Kilkenny Cat Laughs, I secured pouring rights for the festival with Coors Light alonside sponsorships with Paddy Power, WOW Airlines and Jameson Whiskey.

Georgina Campbell's food awards & AIB

I secured a multi-annual sponsorship of Georgina Campbell's Food Awards with AIB Bank, who were keen to leverage Georgina Campbell's unrivalled name recognition within the hospitality sector to support their B2B goals In that sector.

Over 17+ years, I have connected brands with hundreds of thousands of cultural attendees while protecting artistic integrity for rightsholders.

Consulting on, and managing sponsorship for multiple festivals and organisations has given me expert insights into the sponsorship landscape and how to land deals - I understand the commercial, sales and brand metrics sponsors consider when choosing what events and festivals to support. Alongside the above examples, I have worked with Macnas, The Lir National Academy, Douglas Hyde Gallery and many more arts and entertainment organisations on establishing their sponsorable assets - as a consultant, board member and freelancer.

My work has encompassed pitching and secured pouring partnerships and title sponsorships with multiple alcohol brands; airline partnerships; multi-annual sponsorship agreements; deals with banks, food brands and new-to-market FMCG brands; negotiating sampling rights and innovative activations; devising tiered sponsorship packages for emerging arts companies; brokering media partnerships always with the goal of delivering satisfaction for my clients, the sponsors and their audiences.

There are very few people who could bring such a wealth of experience in both sponsorship and marketing to the MFA programme at the Lir Academy. Tom is a bit of a unicorn in the space he inhabits and we're lucky to have him.

Matt Smyth, previous Co-Director of Kilkenny Cat Laughs Festival & Director of MFA Producing at The Lir Academy.

Tom Lawlor delivered an outstanding sponsorship workshop for our team at The Douglas Hyde Gallery — it was engaging, insightful, and highly practical. His ability to combine strategic thinking with real-world application helped us sharpen our approach and uncover new partnership opportunities. Tom's delivery was clear, dynamic, and tailored to our needs, leaving the team both inspired and equipped with actionable tools. I'd highly recommend him to anyone looking to elevate their sponsorship strategy.

Georgina Jackson, Director of the Douglas Hyde Gallery

Sponsorship Training - What We'll Cover

Session 1: Getting Sponsorship Ready

You'll leave ready to create your benefit schedule, deck & with competitor insights.

What are sponsors looking for and how do they think?
Determine your sponsorable properties: turning audience intel, venue and artist access / digital reach into assets
Understanding the sponsorship landscape & language
Ethics & Due Diligence when creating sponsorship targets
Who and what you’re competing with
Examples of partnerships and sponsorships I have brokered and managed to compare with your sponsorable properties
What should be in your benefit schedule?
Developing your benefit schedules & decks

You'll leave with the skills to understand what you have and how to get started on building your deck and benefit schedule (with templates)

Monday 23 Feb | 2pm - 4.30pm | Zoom

Session 2: Finding Sponsors & Closing Deals

Turn your insights into pitch-ready emails, decks and benefit schedules

Clear methods for finding the right sponsors
Work out sponsorship tiers: Realistic €1K (local business), €5K (mid-market), €10K-€20K (national brand) packages that scale to your event
Direct access strategies to reach decision-makers, not gatekeepers
High-converting pitch frameworks for festivals and events
Negotiation skills to move from “required to stage” (€3.5K) to “premium profit” (€10K)
Measurement and metrics that drive renewals

You’ll leave with the skills to find sponsors, pitch with confidence, close deals and secure repeat partnerships.

Thursday 26 Feb | 2pm - 4.30pm | Zoom

What's Involved

At the workshops:

Two live 2-hour Zoom sessions + recording + notes
Step-by-step execution of the above processes

Done-For-You Templates:

Template for benefit schedules
Template for sponsorship decks (10-slide structure: Opportunity → Audience → Assets → Close)
Pitch email template

(€1,000+ Value)*

* Standard consultancy fee for initial sponsorship overview packages with individual clients.

Why Book Now?

Unlike sales-focused courses or asking AI for insights, my Sponsorship workshops are built for Irish arts and enterainment professionals:

Your scale is your strength: Intimate doesn't mean small when it's targeted - my experience in arts sponsorship proves this
Local brands need you: Regional brands and small/medium sized businesses are on the hunt for authentic activations based on access and authenticity... but how do you find and speak to them? I have secured sponsorship for multiple organisations and will guide you on how to do the same
No time waste: 5 hours total + templates = pitch-ready in a week
Arts-first: Return on Investment focus without compromising the rights-holder's vision has been my way of working successfully for multiple clients.

EARLY BIRD price

Early Bird - €269 | Limited to the first 10 participants

Access to 2x 2.5 hour zoom workshops

(1:1 Follow Up Sessions via zoom or phone can be arranged for an additional cost)

Regular price

€299 | All Signups after the first 10

Access to 2x 2.5 hour zoom workshops

(1:1 Follow Up Sessions via zoom or phone can be arranged for an additional cost)

If your organisation needs sponsorship but lacks expertise, let me teach you the skills sponsors expect.

Questions: Email Me | My LinkedIn

Need one on one sponsorship consulting or advice?

Are you already pitch-ready, but need some external consulting on your approach, ideas or negotiation?

Contact me to discuss how I can help your organisation on any matter relating to sponsorship.

Email Me

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