Community Perceptions on the Impacts of Art Festivals on Overall Quality of Life, A case study of the Innibos National Arts Festival, South Africa

Abstract

Art festivals have witnessed a boom in the past few years; with new festivals proliferating that cater to every taste and region, in what has become a vital source of revenue and publicity for cities and artists (Eventbrite, 2014; Relaxnews, 2015). The ideal arts festival represents a carefully crafted mixture of artists, a variety in its programming, being visually spectacular, and also meeting its social objectives (The Guardian, 2015). Art festivals in general are important for many reasons, some of which are to grow the regional and local economies, to promote the specific destination, to contribute to the livelihood of the artists and the local community, displaying different forms of art and to create specific images of the destinations. An art festival should therefore not only exist or take place; it should make some form of contribution to its stakeholders (Getz and Andersson 2010). When art festivals are, therefore, hosted in a specific area the lives of the local community become affected by it either in a positive or in a negative way. Art festivals have various impacts (socio-cultural, environmental, political and economic) on stakeholders, and on one of the most important stakeholders, that is, the local community. For years festival impact studies have mainly focused on the economic, environmental and socio-cultural impact of festivals on the local community, but a limited number of researchers have conducted studies to measure the impact of art festivals on the overall quality of life of the community members and the community as a whole. In order to do this, it is important to look at which socio-demographic variables influence the quality of life of the community and its members.