Arts Festival Research Articles

Mental Health Arts Festival as a tool for mental health promotion

Abstract Background of the problem 1 in 4 people experience mental health problems each year, and that number is only growing. Stigma and discrimination of mental health are widespread and affect the quality of life at the individual and societal level. The WHO identifies mental health arts festivals as an effective way to reduce stigma and improve mental health. Description of the problem We are not comfortable talking about mental health difficulties and the care we need. Consequently, individuals often withhold personal experiences to shield themselves from potential bias and harsh judgement. Methodology The Mental Health Arts Festival (MHAF) Bonds https://www.rysiaifest.lt/, https://www.facebook.com/Rysiaifest) seeks to contribute to the human rights based mental health knowledge creation across the partner organisations, involved communities and audiences, as well as contribute to local creation of artworks on the topic of mental health in open, accessible, safe space where every voice matters. The biannual MHAF brings together recognised artists, arts institutions, scientists, policy makers and communities of people with mental health issues (over 80 events, attracting about 4,500 spectators) for group exhibition, films, contemporary dance and live performances, literary readings, open microphones, followed by discussions and workshops. Qualitative study methodology is applied to assess the potential impacts of the MHAF. Lessons • Visual identity that seeks to challenge existing stigmatising views. • The festival has become the production or premier place of new artworks on the topics of mental health, spanning addiction, war-related trauma, transgenerational trauma, neurodiversity. Key messages • Mental health arts festivals promote mental health literacy and reduce negative attitudes towards health-seeking behaviour. • Art festivals should be an integral part of national programs to address stigma and promote mental health and well-being.

Online solutions and sustainability in festival tourism

The article describes the activities of the Arts for Rural Development Foundation and the Hungarian Tourism Programme Foundation (MTPA) and details how they support online solutions for festival tourism and sustainability. By means of examples, the Arts for Rural Development Foundation shows how festivals can be a tool for rural development. The Valley of Arts Festival and the Kerekdomb Festival are outstanding examples of cultural events which have had a long-term impact on the region’s economy and community. The Foundation’s mission is to boost the economy of rural areas and to preserve and promote local cultural and built heritage. Involving volunteers and partners, excellent communication and sustainable methods, the events actively support rural development. The MTPA focuses on the development and competitiveness of the domestic events sector by providing professional materials, conferences and international contacts. RaKÉTa supports the professional development of event organisers and the coordination of events through a scholarship programme and a unique calendar of events. The Valley of Arts Festival’s sustainability strategy reduces its environmental footprint through a range of environmentally friendly solutions, supporting public transport and making progress on waste management. The MTPA also focuses on training event organisers and increasing their international visibility, helping the Hungarian events sector to grow and become more competitive.

Achievements and Challenges of Japan’s Regional Revitalization Policy through the Local Art Festival: The Case of Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture

Achievements and Challenges of Japan’s Regional Revitalization Policy through the Local Art Festival: The Case of Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture

Ценность улучшения китайского фортепианного образования

In China in the past, the piano belonged exclusively to princes and nobles, but now it has entered thousands of homes of ordinary people. Countless preschool children have started learning to play the piano with the support of their parents and teachers. According to incomplete statistics, the share of pianos in China has exceeded two million units, which is one tenth of the total in the world. Currently, at least one million people in China are learning to play the piano, of which beginners and young students make up the majority. Today, in the field of education, the piano has become one of the musical instruments of many learning enthusiasts in China. The piano has become a hot topic in society after reform and openness. In 2023, the fifth International Piano Art Festival was successfully held in the Futian district of Shenzhen. China has turned Shenzhen into a “piano city” and this theme has become a big focus in Shenzhen. Then, with such a tense status quo, the problem of piano education in China arose. The text below contains a discussion of this issue.

Engaging Vernacularity and Identity Politics of Public Spaces to Promote Cultural Tourism: Art Festivals in Bandung, Indonesia

Public space has a vital role in defining the politics of identity. Art festivals in public spaces can increase the function of public spaces to negotiate cultural identity, characterized by vernacularity, and simultaneously use various local symbols and tourist attractions. This research discusses how art festivals in public spaces become a means for reconstructing cultural identity and promoting cultural tourism in Bandung City, Indonesia. This research employs qualitative research methods. Data collection is carried out through a literature study and field research using various approaches, including observations, interviews, and Focus Group Discussions with relevant stakeholders during JulyAugust 2023. Findings show that art festivals become a space where the politics of culture and cultural tourism meet different interests. At the same time, government policies appear to promote the preservation of vernacular culture and local traditions in order to improve tourism attractions. The paper concludes that the festivals serve as a significant place for cultural commodification, even if their primary goals are to celebrate cultural identity.

Plant memories: Art co‐created with the public as a tool for investigating how people build lasting connections with plants

Societal Impact StatementPeople often undervalue plants, hindering botanical education and conservation efforts. This study demonstrates how art‐based approaches including audience co‐creation elements can yield new insights into human‐plant interactions. Analyzing plant‐related memories showed that reflecting on personal experiences with plants evokes emotions and can reconnect individuals to specific people and places. The role of multisensory experiences of plants was also highlighted. This knowledge can inform botanical education practices and improve the design of effective outreach programs, fostering greater societal plant awareness and appreciation.Summary The lack of plant appreciation, a manifestation of plant awareness disparity, is concerning in the context of plant conservation and preservation of botanical knowledge and skills. Developing effective strategies to foster plant awareness requires a better understanding of the nature of human interactions with plants. Art‐based approaches offer a new lens for attracting diverse audiences and can generate unique data through promoting self‐reflection and evoking emotional responses. Herein, we used the case study of visual exhibition “In Memory of Plants” to investigate how arts can be used to explore lasting connections to plants. The exhibition, presented at the Alternative Kilkenny Arts Festival 2022, was designed to inspire reflection on plants as elements of personal experiences and introduce the concept of plant awareness disparity. It also included a co‐creation component where visitors were invited to add their own plant‐related memories to a display board. These audience contributions were subjected to qualitative and quantitative analyses. The results underscored the ability of plants to act as memory anchors, providing lasting connections to places and people from the past. Additionally, the study yielded insights into the identity of “plant mentors” and highlighted the role of multisensory perception in human‐plant interactions. Presented observations can inform future projects focused on plant awareness and may encourage new collaborations between artists, botanists, and science communicators. Collectively, this study supports the use of arts‐based methods to both enhance and investigate plant awareness.

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE PERFORMING ARTS INDUSTRY ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN URBAN AND RURAL SETTINGS: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

The performing arts industry in India significantly contributes to local economies through job creation, tourism revenue, and local business growth. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the economic impact of the performing arts in urban and rural areas, focusing on two key objectives: evaluating the economic contributions of the performing arts to urban and rural communities, and analyzing the differences in economic outcomes due to varying levels of infrastructure, investment, and audience participation. The analysis reveals that urban areas, with their superior infrastructure, higher investment levels, and diverse audiences, generate substantial economic benefits through large-scale events and festivals. These events create employment, drive tourism, and foster business growth. In contrast, rural areas, while benefiting from traditional and folk performances, face challenges such as limited infrastructure and financial constraints. However, rural arts festivals and cultural tourism initiatives have shown potential in stimulating local economies, especially in underdeveloped regions. The study highlights the need for targeted investment and policy interventions to bridge the urban-rural divide and promote equitable economic development through the performing arts. Digital platforms and government initiatives like “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” are identified as key opportunities to enhance the economic contributions of the performing arts in rural India.

HUMANITARIAN INTERACTION IN THE SPHERE OF CULTURE BETWEEN AMUR REGION AND HEILONGJIANG PROVINCE IN THE LATE XX - EARLY XXI CENTURIES

The article is devoted to the research of humanitarian interaction between the regions of two states - Amur Region (RF) and Heilongjiang Province (PRC) at the turn of XX-XXI centuries. With the normalization of Russian-Chinese relations and the opening of borders, humanitarian cooperation has become an integral factor in Russian-Chinese ties between the border territories, which are in exceptional geographical proximity to each other. Humanitarian contacts between the border territories of Russia and China - Amur Region and Heilongjiang Province - are developing in various spheres. An important place is occupied by the sphere of culture. In the article the authors examine the importance of humanitarian contacts in the sphere of culture for the normalization of Russian-Chinese relations, analyze the peculiarities of the development of humanitarian cooperation in the last decade of the XX century and in the beginning of the XXI century, highlight a number of significant international cultural projects ("Russian-Chinese Fair of Culture and Art", Russian-Chinese Festival of Arts "Amur - the River of Friendship", etc.). The authors conclude that despite the sporadic and chaotic humanitarian contacts in the 1990s, in the 2000s a number of large-scale events between Amur Region and Heilongjiang Province have developed and become traditional, attracting an increasing number of participants from both countries and becoming a kind of brands of border territories. Humanitarian interaction in the sphere of culture, realized in the Russian-Chinese borderland, has a direct impact on the development of Russian-Chinese relations at all levels. The work uses the problem-chronological method of research. The authors present documents from the funds of the State Archive of the Amur region and the archive of the Foreign Ministry's representative office in Blagoveshchensk, revealing the features and the course of joint cultural events in the Russian-Chinese borderland. Materials of collections of documents of the archival bureau of Heihe and materials of the Chinese mass media in the author's translation are used in the research.

Cultural Identity in International Relations: Analysis of the Concept of Polewali Mandar International Folk and Art Festival (PIFAF) in West Sulawesi Through Three Principles of Cultural Diplomacy

Cultural Identity in International Relations: Analysis of the Concept of Polewali Mandar International Folk and Art Festival (PIFAF) in West Sulawesi Through Three Principles of Cultural Diplomacy

Exploring the Materiality of Augmented Reality Markers through Arts-Led Cocreation: Drawing, Weaving, and Tiling

Abstract This article explores the use of arts-led approaches to augmented reality (AR) marker design through the presentation of four commissioned projects featuring AR markers created using traditional techniques including drawing, hand weaving, and tiling. The physical-to-digital process to convert artworks into AR markers produces opportunities for cocreation with diverse participants and for materiality to shape the AR experience. Reflecting on the materiality of the different techniques in relation to the temporal, spatial, and social settings of each project (arts festivals, a summer school, and workshops on heat wave-risk communication), the authors argue for a responsive approach to integrating multimodal dynamic markers.

National Arts Festival (review)

National Arts Festival (review)

일본 지역예술제 활성화의 정책적 배경과 아티스트 및 기업의 활동 변화

일본 지역예술제 활성화의 정책적 배경과 아티스트 및 기업의 활동 변화

VISUAL SIGNS ON THE BILLBOARD OF BALI ARTS FESTIVAL XLV YEAR 2023 : PEIRCE SEMIOTICS ANALYSIS

This study is aimed at examining the visual signs found on the billboard of the Bali Arts Festival XLV Year 2023 using Charles Sander Peirce's semiotics approach. In an effort to understand how messages are communicated to the audience, an analysis is conducted on the icons, indexes, and symbols that appear in the design of the billboard. Through qualitative descriptive methods, the visual elements in the billboard are separated and observed, then analyzed using Peirce's semiotics framework. The results of the analysis indicate that the theme "Segara Kerthi" (Ocean of Harmony) is successfully represented in the billboard by using icons such as the illustration of Gajah Mina, which symbolizes the protector of the sanctity of the sea, indexes such as the rising sun, which depicts hope and a new beginning, and symbols such as government logos and social media icons that reflect support and technological advancement. These visual signs provide profound meanings related to the protection and appreciation of the sea as a source of life and civilization. In conclusion, this analysis provides a deeper understanding of how the visual signs in this billboard create a strong cultural identity, educate, and capture the audience's attention. This research offers a positive contribution to the analysis of visual communication works and has the potential to be further developed with diverse theoretical approaches and disciplines.

“Story-Mapping” Within a Local Festival Environment: A Method to Encourage Regenerative Tourism

Limited research has been conducted on the benefits of utilizing festival spaces for methodologies involving storytelling and narrative inquiry for use in other (related) areas of investigation (e.g., tourism). This article introduces a method, “story-mapping,” for the collection of locals’ stories during a combined arts festival. The intention was to capture place-focused data from community stakeholders from the case study destination, Bridgend County Borough, South Wales. Locals were encouraged to tell stories about the area, including specific grassroots elements using a map as a visual prompt. The process was designed to empower and involve the local community in defining and sharing a “sense of place” as part of a paradigm shift towards regenerative tourism. Utilizing “story-mapping” in the festival space proved effective but also presented some challenges. The article evaluates the method through the lens of narrative inquiry and makes recommendations for future researchers wishing to utilize this approach.

Contemporary Censorship Debates in Germany

During the past five years the cultural world in Germany has been shaken and divided by a series of controversies involving contemporary works of art charged with being anti-Semitic. Obviously, with the Holocaust continuing to occupy a major position in modern German consciousness and history, sensitivity to anti-Semitic expressions is particularly keen here. This sensitivity has been increased by a number of recent developments, including the growing visibility of far-right political groups, the rise of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS) protesting Israeli treatment of the Palestinians, and the official politicization of these tensions by a parliamentary ruling in 2015 restricting the activities of the BDS. The conflict between legitimate criticism of policies of the Israeli state and legitimate censorship of ethnically offensive material has recently become increasingly bitter in Germany. This article discusses the dynamics of three of the most significant recent examples: the conflict involving Germany’s most prestigious arts festival, the Kassell documenta in 2020; the withdrawal in 2022 of the European Drama Award, the continent’s largest award, from British dramatist Caryl Churchill; and the withdrawal from the Munich stage of the most recent play by Wajdi Mouawad, who has been widely heralded in Germany as the most significant contemporary dramatist.

Perceptions of SONARA’S Corporate Reputation by the Host Community, Limbe II Council Area, Cameroon

This study examines how the population of Limbe II council area perceives the Cameroon National Refining Company Ltd (SONARA) in terms of its business activities, its relationship with this major stakeholder group, its respect for environmental ethics, and the contribution of the company to the socio-economic development of the area. The population under study is the Limbe II council area, made up of 11 communities with 42300 inhabitants. Two methods of data collection are used: survey and qualitative content analysis of SONARA’s corporate policy documents. The questionnaire was administered to 330 respondents. Findings suggest that the Limbe Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) is the most prominent social event sponsored by SONARA. FESTAC also projects SONARA’s image most, and best promotes inhabitants’ cultural values. Findings also indicate that for SONARA to gain improved reputation in Limbe II, the corporation should give priority to indigenes of Limbe II municipality in holiday jobs and recruitments. Respondents equally affirm that it is necessary for SONARA to sponsor cultural, educational, health and related activities in Limbe II municipality; pay royalties to the Limbe II Council; and sponsor political campaigns. Empirical evidence show a statistically significant linear relationship (p= 0.000) between SONARA’s satisfaction of Limbe II community needs and a positive reputation that the Limbe II community has about the company. This also implies that the company needs to carry out a re-appraisal of its community management plan for the host communities in order to ensure that only projects that are directly relevant to the needs of the host communities (as indicated by the inhabitants) are embarked upon.

Community weaving across Latin American peripheries: A listening infrastructure in Oaxaca

In July 2021, residents of Vicente Guerrero, a settlement built around the largest landfill in Oaxaca, commemorated the waste-pickers’ 40th anniversary with an urban art festival. This event was organised by Santa Cecilia Music School, a community-led cultural infrastructure that has shaped the social and material landscape of Vicente Guerrero since 2011. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted around this festival and throughout 2023, I propose studying cultural initiatives like Santa Cecilia as listening infrastructures to discern their ability to ‘centre’ peripheral communities through the opportunities they create for self-, collective and social listening, which, respectively, promote self-growth, spark community projects and display peripheries as creative places. I argue that the combined effect of these forms of listening – what Vicente Guerrero residents call community weaving– helps overcome material and social stigma conditioning life on the periphery. By examining these listening mechanisms, this analysis aims to enrich debates about the fundamental role of cultural infrastructure in the making of (Latin American) cities and their peripheries.

Effects of Culture Art Festival Attributes on Visitors’ Behavioral Intention and Local Community Contribution : Focusing on the Ji-yong Festival

Effects of Culture Art Festival Attributes on Visitors’ Behavioral Intention and Local Community Contribution : Focusing on the Ji-yong Festival

텍스트 마이닝을 통한 문화도시의 문화관광 콘텐츠 요인 연구

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the factors affecting cultural tourism content in cultural cities and to broaden our understanding of the relationship between cultural cities and cultural tourism.
 Methods: This study conducted text mining on social media big data using 'Seogwipo Cultural City' as a search term. TF-IDF (Term Frequency - Inverse Document Frequency) analysis, Centrality Analysis, Structural Equivalence Analysis, and LDA Topic Modelling were used to analyze the social media data.
 Results: As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that it is possible to distinguish between culture cluster keywords such as ‘noji culture’ and ‘bookstore day’ through Structural Equivalence Analysis and tourism cluster keywords such as ‘travel’, ‘tourism’, ‘course’, and ‘space’. In addition, through topic modelling, topics related to cultural tourism such as 'bookstore culture contents' and 'Seogwipo Cultural City Art Festival' were classified, and cultural tourism contents were derived.
 Conclusion: The derivation of cultural tourism content through text mining was a method of exploring cultural tourism content factors after the establishment of a cultural city, which was different from the existing method of considering tourism from the stage of promoting a cultural city. This reactive exploration of cultural tourism content, which derived themes for cultural tourism based on cultural cities, could suggest the possibility of coexistence of cultural tourism with the establishment of local cultural ecosystems in cultural cities. In addition, this approach was significant in that it could dispel concerns about various social problems arising from the touristification of cities.

Festive Federalism: Race, Nation, and Neoliberal Aesthetics at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games

The 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, often misunderstood as a reflection of the nationalist hyper-patriotism of the Reagan Era, were in fact a crucial moment in building a neoliberal, global Los Angeles. Tracing the development of LA’84’s Olympic look ‘festive federalism’, this article considers the ways in which organizers in fact made strenuous efforts not to associate the Games with the nation state. It argues that festive federalism – the name given to the colour scheme and iconography of LA’84 design – was more than just an Olympic look. Rather, it was a neoliberal aesthetic, a philosophy for confronting economic challenges posed by local racial contexts. Festive federalism celebrated diversity and colourblindness simultaneously and extolled the neoliberal virtues of individualism, competition, and self-reliance. In doing so, it nullified the risk posed to the Games’ profitability by race-based demands in communities of colour nearby to Olympic venues. In place of race, festive federalism called for a new type of individualistic, post-racial citizen-consumer. Analyzing the application of festive federalism to the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival, this article demonstrates how culture redefined race, national identity, and history for a new, neoliberal age.