School arts fest software takes the annual arts festival — the inter-house cultural competition every school runs — and moves the whole thing online: registrations, chest numbers, stage schedules, judging, house points and certificates. eTalenter is built for exactly this kind of judged Arts event, so a teacher-in-charge can plan an entire arts day without a single spreadsheet or hand-tallied score sheet.
Whether you call it the annual arts fest, arts day, cultural festival or by the Kerala term kalolsavam, the shape is the same: hundreds of students, dozens of items, four houses, and a results table that everyone wants the moment the last item ends. This page explains how to prepare that event and how the software carries it.
What a school arts fest actually involves
A school arts fest is a judged Arts event organised across age groups and houses. Students are split into age bands, every student belongs to one house, and each competition item is contested within an age group so that a Class 3 child never competes against a Class 11 student. Points won by individuals roll up to their house, and the house with the highest total lifts the overall trophy on prize day.
Typical age groups in a school arts fest:
- Lower Primary (LP) — roughly Classes 1–4
- Upper Primary (UP) — Classes 5–7
- High School (HS) — Classes 8–10
- Higher Secondary (HSS) — Classes 11–12
And the houses are simply four (or more) named teams — Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, or your school’s own house names — that every student is classified into. In eTalenter you add a House level, list your house names, and each candidate is assigned to one; house points then tally automatically as results are entered.
Sample competition list for an arts fest
Arts fests mix individual and group items across music, dance, speech, literary and fine-arts categories. A representative catalogue looks like this:
- Music (individual): Solo Song (light & classical), Instrumental, Recitation
- Music (group): Group Song, Choir, Band
- Dance: Classical Dance, Folk Dance, Group Dance
- Speech & literary: Elocution, Debate, Storytelling, Essay Writing, Poetry Writing (offered per language — English, Malayalam, Hindi and others)
- Theatre: Mono Act, Mime, Skit
- Fine arts: Painting, Pencil Drawing, Collage, Clay Modelling
- Academic-arts: Quiz and General Knowledge (run as judged Arts items)
Each item can be configured per age group with its own rules — time limit, maximum entries per house, participation type (individual candidate or a group team), language and maximum score. You set the catalogue once, then assign items to the age groups that should contest them.
How the house system and scoring work
Individual items (Solo Song, Elocution) take a single candidate; group items (Group Dance, Choir) take a team — a named squad with its own roster of member candidates, built during registration. A house can even enter more than one team in the same group item under different team names. Every entry, individual or team, is tied to the student’s house.
Judges score on stage using the criteria you define, grades and points are calculated automatically, and the house tally updates in real time as items are marked Finished and published. That removes the two things that always go wrong at an arts fest — a mis-added score sheet and a delayed final result.
From registration to certificates — the full flow
Setting up an arts fest in eTalenter follows a natural order: create the event, define age groups, add the House level and house names, build the competition catalogue and assign items to age groups, configure scoring and chest-number prefixes, then open registration. Students register through a public form or are added in bulk by a teacher; each gets a chest number and printable ID card. On event day you run the draw, judges score, results are reviewed and published, house points are totalled, and champion, rank and participation certificates plus trophy stickers are generated automatically. For a step-by-step walkthrough see our guide on how to run a school arts fest / kalolsavam on eTalenter.
Why schools choose eTalenter
eTalenter is flexible by design. The same platform handles a small single-day arts day and a full week-long festival, a four-house school or a multi-level fest that promotes winners upward. It supports individual and team items, per-language competitions, real-time house tabulation, ID cards, call sheets, results publishing to screen and social media, and configurable awards. Because it is purpose-built for judged Arts and Sports events, you are not bending generic event software to fit — the vocabulary of houses, age groups, chest numbers and tabulation is already there.
Frequently asked questions
Can we use our own house names and number of houses?
Yes. Add a House level and list whatever house names your school uses — four, six or more. Every student is classified into one, and points roll up per house automatically.
Do students register themselves?
They can. A public registration form lets students or guardians enter themselves, with teacher review and approval. You can also add candidates in bulk or import them from Excel — whichever suits your school.
Does it produce certificates and the final house result?
Yes. Once results are published, eTalenter generates champion, rank and participation certificates plus trophy stickers, and calculates the overall house championship and item-wise winners for you.
Run your arts fest online with eTalenter
Ready to move your school arts fest off spreadsheets? Explore the kalolsavam / arts fest management software, message us on WhatsApp, or email support@etalenter.com and we will help you set up your event.