DI/S Articles - Illuminating New Revenue Streams: Jakub Zeman on Signal Festival’s Participation in the DI/S Project

Illuminating New Revenue Streams: Jakub Zeman on Signal Festival’s Participation in the DI/S Project

A partner of the Digital Inter/Section (DI/S) project, Signal Festival, Czechia’s most visited cultural event, is renowned for its fusion of digital art, urban space, and cutting-edge technology. Jakub Zeman, Signal Festival’s COO, shares insights into the organization’s approach to business innovation and securing long-term sustainability.

Sustainable Funding Challenges

Signal Festival, now celebrating over a decade of creativity and cultural impact in Prague, faces challenges familiar to many arts and culture institutions: sustainable funding. Despite long-standing public support and partnerships with private sponsors, the festival’s financial landscape can be unpredictable.

"We decided to get involved in the Digital Inter/Section project to identify new potential sources of income that would allow us to be less dependent on the above," Jakub explains. The DI/S project has provided Signal Festival with a platform to explore sustainable financial strategies through collaboration and ideation with other European cultural organizations. As the DI/S project approaches its final phase, Jakub shares his optimism: "We are very hopeful that our pilot project will bring us closer to finding a reliable financial model that will support us for years to come."

Moving Beyond Sponsorship: Signal’s New Ticketing Strategy

So what is this new business model? While the Signal Festival has always maintained strong ties with the private sector, Jakub and his team saw an opportunity to move beyond traditional sponsorship models and focus on ticketing. The upcoming 2024 edition of Signal Festival will include research aimed at identifying new audiences, refining marketing strategies, and maximizing ticket sales.

"The aim of our pilot project is to develop a long-term and innovative strategy for the festival’s ticketing and all its activities. This research will provide us with data that is essential to it," says Jakub. The new, more stable funding strategy can serve as a replicable benchmark for others. "Hopefully, we will identify a model that can be applied to other digital arts institutions and festivals, allowing them to adopt our best practices," he adds.

As the festival approaches on October 10–13, 2024, we are eager to observe the results of this new research. Stay tuned by following the Digital Inter/Section consortium’s LinkedIn page to learn more about Signal Festival’s journey and the DI/S project.

Jakub Zeman

is responsible for managing the Signal Festival, developing its operations, and creating a new marketing and business concept. Previously, he headed the marketing and communications for Czech Radio’s Radio Wave for three years. He co-founded the Prague-based Polygon brand, producing electronic music in non-traditional spaces, and led site-specific events for the film company Aerofilms. At Signal Festival, he has overseen marketing and communication since 2018, while also serving as project manager for the sister brand, Signal Creative.

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