Festival Managers Research Articles

Türkiye deki Sakin Şehirlerde Düzenlenen Festivaller

Considered as an important activity of cultural tourism in the past, the festivals nowadays appear to be a different type of tourism as they reach the market size expressed by millions of dollars. If the festivals are properly managed and marketed, they contribute to the economic development of the region, the promotion of local products, the promotion and marketing of the region. Issues such as content preparation, content registration, effective sponsorship, ticket sale, effective use of digital platforms and right theme selection are the most important issues in the proper management and marketing of festivals. Cittaslows have recently become the focus of attention of cultural tourists. The necessity of the citta slows to protect the cultural structure is one of the important factors attracting cultural tourists. In this study, festivals, which is an important element of the cultural heritage will be discussed in the case of Turkey’s citta slows. The aim of the study is to determine the festivals held in cittaslows in Turkey; themes, regulation periods and organizing institutions. Qualitative data will be used in the study. Obtained data will be analyzed and interpreted by content analysis. According to the findings of the research, the themes of the festivals held in the calm cities are very similar. In case of this common similarity, three festivals have been identified that make a difference in terms of theme: Pinar Bazaar Festival, Seed Exchange Festival and Smelling Festival.

Crawfish and Crawfish Festivals in the Pacific Northwest

A crawfish industry has existed in the Pacific Northwest since at least 1893. The hearth of the signal crawfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus)—and the core of the commercial crawfish industry—was Oregon's Willamette Valley and lower Columbia River. The industry has spread eastward, to Oregon's Lake Billy Chinook and Washington's Snake River. In Oregon, the 2004–2018 average annual harvest of 82,360 pounds was slightly above its 1893–1956 average, but Washington's was less than five percent of that. Recreational crawfishing is popular in both states, and crawfish have become more abundant in seafood markets, in restaurants, and at festivals. The increase in crawfish popularity is attributed in part to culinary trends such as Cajun and Asian-Cajun cuisine, but also to the in-migration of Southerners and ethnic Asians. Nine crawfish festivals in the Pacific Northwest include the oldest crawfish festival in the USA (Tualatin) and newly created festivals. George H. Lewis's rationally constructed food festival theory, in which festivals are linked to specific social goals, is used as a framework to understand these festivals and their origins. Festival managers were interviewed, and Lewis's theory was modified to include generational changes in the role of an iconic species in regional identity.

UNDERSTANDING INTERNAL CONNECTIONS OF MUSIC FESTIVALS’ EXPERIENCE DIMENSIONS

Purpose – For Generation Z (born after 1995) tourism during the summer usually means visiting festivals (especially music festivals) or seeking for extraordinary experiences. For them, the classical tourist attractions are not satisfying and interesting anymore. The aim of the paper is to examine experience factors based on models from the literature review and understand the internal connections among the experience dimensions in the case of music festivals in Hungary. Design / Methodology / Approach – For testing the suggested model based on the literature review and previous researches, a quantitative primary research was conducted. A structured questionnaire was used focusing on five factors of experience economy in case of Hungarian music festivals. The data was collected by an online survey via LimeSurvey, and PLS-SEM path analysis was used to interpret the acquired data. Findings – As a result of the quantitative research significant connection appear among the five experience factors in the field of festivals like other previous researches suggested in other fields. Education, entertainment and escapism experience can be built on aesthetics and economic value – the fifth experience factor – can be built on these four factors. Originality of the research – Knowing how experience factors are based on each other and how they can influence each other is an important factor for festival managers to create an optimal and balanced mix of experience for visitors. By achieving this memorable experience and long lasting memories of the event can be reached.

Gender differences in motivations to attend festivals in Saudi Arabia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to conduct a within-gender analysis and between-gender differences in seeking (personal and interpersonal) and escaping (personal and interpersonal) motivations to attend a non-traditional festival in Saudi Arabia. Specific objectives were: to conduct a within-gender analysis in motivations to attend a non-traditional festival in Saudi Arabia; and to examine between-gender differences in motivations to attend a non-traditional festival in Saudi Arabia.Design/methodology/approachBased on the data collected from 458 attendees at a non-traditional festival in Saudi Arabia, the authors employed network analysis for within-gender analysis and MANOVA and ANOVA for between-gender comparison. The network analysis served two purposes, in that it examined each item’s predictability for each gender, and analyzed the correlations among motivation items within each gender. In addition, the General Linear Model served to compare the male and female groups’ motivations to attend the non-traditional festival. The authors first performed MANOVA for each dimension and then ANOVA for each dimension’s individual items.FindingsWithin-gender analysis reveals that several sets of motivations were associated strongly for both genders. This suggests that Saudi Arabians seem to enjoy entertainment because it projects the festival mood; they want to escape both from home and work and attend the festival to relieve stress by changing their routine pace. However, gender differences were apparent in several other items, especially for the group of women. Between-group comparison analysis shows significant gender differences in several elements of motivation. Overall, personal seeking and escaping were greater for males than females. In contrast, interpersonal seeking was greater for females than males.Research limitations/implicationsEntertainment seems to be a key contributor to the festival mood because entertainment and the festival mood were related closely for both genders. In fact, personal and interpersonal escaping means were greater than personal interpersonal seeking means for both genders. Indeed, opportunities exist to develop non-traditional festivals in the country further. Gender differences were identified in several items of personal seeking and escaping, and interpersonal seeking. With respect to personal seeking, men tend to seek the entertainment, festival mood and the event’s uniqueness more than do women, a finding that their higher means in personal escaping supported. It is clear that men view the festival as a way to enjoy themselves to escape from their jobs and daily stress to a greater degree than do their female counterparts. Women are more likely to seek interpersonal experiences in that they are more likely to enjoy the festival because it offers the opportunity to meet new people and spend quality time with family and friends. This study has several limitations, leading to suggestions for future research. Because seeking and escaping motivations have been used relatively little in the festival setting, future researchers should develop a valid scale of personal and interpersonal seeking and escaping motivations specifically for festivals employing both qualitative and quantitative methods. Second, while the data were collected at a single non-traditional festival, future research can use multiple sites to increase the ability to generalize the findings. Third, although this study was limited to Saudi Arabia, further research can apply seeking and escaping motivations, both at the personal and interpersonal levels, to other cultures to extend the applicability of the framework used in this study.Practical implicationsNon-traditional festival managers need to focus on an atmosphere that provides festivities, as many people in the Saudi Arabian culture appear to be escaping from their everyday lives to enjoy themselves and with family and friends. To appeal to male workers, festival organizers and managers need to advertise and market the events’ mood and liveliness overall with photos of workers leaving the office free of stress and looking forward to attending an event. To appeal to women who desire unique experiences that a variety of forms of entertainment provide, event managers must ensure that the entertainment is innovative and creative, and differs from what other festivals provide to attract more female attendees. Also, festival planners must focus on events that incorporate the family unit and promote the opportunity to meet new people to appeal to women in Saudi Arabia.Originality/valueThis is the first study to examine gender differences in festival motivations in Saudi Arabia. The relaxation of the historically strict and conservative cultural values, coupled with the country’s desire to develop its tourism and event sector, provides an ideal opportunity for future research. The authors hope that this research will stimulate further interest in the country with the goal to develop and market its tourism sector and products on the world’s stage.

Future of the arts festivals: do the views of managers and attendees match?

PurposeTo make sense of the relationship between the festival attendance and the aims in arts festival management, the purpose of this paper is to explore the key characteristics for success and analyze the perceptions of the future in arts festival productions.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative study uses interviews with festival managers and empathy-based stories (MEBS) written by members of festival audience. Discourse analysis is employed for answering the questions: What are the characteristics of a successful festival, and what could ruin it?FindingsThe paper highlights the importance of interaction with the audience orchestrated by the festival organization. Such interaction co-constructs a more holistic festival experience valued by both parties, which supports the sustainability and future success.Research limitations/implicationsThe research data are limited to one country, and music festivals dominate the data.Practical implicationsAmong managers, there is a need to consider audiences as consumers and as producers in the current competitive climate in the arts and cultural field and clarify the role of the audience as a partner in the networked festival production by placing the attendee at the core of the strategic planning process of arts festivals.Originality/valueThe research combines the views of the demand-and-supply side. It adds to the knowledge in arts and festival management by exploring the relationship between attendance and the aims of arts festival management in general, and the key characteristics of success in the arts festival context in particular. MEBS offers new interesting opportunities for future research in qualitative festival research.

Social media communications and festival brand equity: Millennials vs Centennials

The proliferation of live music festivals in Spain has involved for festival managers the need to differentiate their events, creating brand equity through marketing communications, especially in social media. Given the variability in the ages of festival attendees, the present paper aims at analyzing the moderating role of the generational cohort in the influence of social media communications on brand equity creation and its correlates. A personal survey has been conducted for a sample of 622 attendees of the main live music festival in Spain. Respondents have been asked about their perceptions of festival social media communications, the core variables of brand equity, overall brand equity, and the satisfaction and post-festival behavioral intentions. A structural equations model is estimated and multi-group analysis is performed to test the proposed hypotheses. The present work finds evidence about the moderating role of the generational cohort on the relationships between user-created social media communication and some of the antecedents of overall brand equity of live music festivals. Results support the convenience for organizers to consider social media as a key element in their integrated marketing communications, with special attention to contributing to virality of contents related to the event on social media. This study contributes to a better understanding on the perceptions of the attendees at a live music festival of social media communications generated by the organizers and the users, and their contribution to brand equity creation, satisfaction and, ultimately, behavioral intentions.

Festival quality, self-connection, and bragging

Festivals provide opportunities for experiential consumption, attracting both first-time and repeat visitors. However, current understanding of the perceptual and behavioural differences between these groups remains incomplete. This study investigates how experiential purchase quality influences experience self-connection and braggart word-of-mouth, for both first-time and repeat visitors, using a mixed-method approach. The qualitative (n = 32) and quantitative (n = 909) results together reveal that the combinations of experiential purchase quality dimensions stimulating experience self-connection and braggart word-of-mouth in repeat visitors differ significantly from those for first-time visitors, emphasising the need for festival managers to pay close attention to how different visitor groups perceive and prioritise experiential purchase quality dimensions. The findings thus extend current understanding of how braggart word-of-mouth emerges in an experiential consumption context.

Festival attachment: antecedents and effects on place attachment and place loyalty

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose the mechanism of festival attachment and examine how it serves as a significant predictor of place attachment and place loyalty.Design/methodology/approachThrough on-site survey with convenience sampling, 465 visitors were surveyed at the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival, which is one of the most famous Taiwanese festivals. Structural equation modeling is used to examine the proposed research model.FindingsEmpirical results of this study reveal that “hedonism” is the most important antecedent for improving festival attachment, followed by novelty seeking, attractions and cultural exploration. Festival attachment exerts positive effects on place attachment, which then increases place loyalty. Moreover, place attachment partially mediates the relationship between festival attachment and place loyalty.Originality/valueBy hosting festivals, festival managers can induce festival attachment in visitors and then transfer the attachment with festivals into the host place. The findings of this study demonstrate the major role of festivals in promoting local tourism.

Unraveling Mechanisms of Value Cocreation in Festivals

The aim of this qualitative case study is to explore the mechanisms underlying value cocreation in the context of networked festival productions. Applying the managerial perspective, this study particularly explores why cocreation represents a valuable factor in networked festival productions and how the activities are conducted in the value creative platform, namely conversational space. Considering festivals as services in their host destinations, this study applies the context of three festivals in one city in Finland and draws on the literature on festival management, service experience, and value cocreation. The study shows that the cocreation of conversational space fosters value cocreation as an interactive process; that is, as a mechanism of value cocreation. Conversational space is found to intertwine the festival with its host community and therefore influencing to the justification of a festival's existence by empowered legitimacy. Festival managers need to consider conversational space as strategically crucial because of the need to gain public support for festival and to enhance the justification and existence of festival in its destination.

They do pay! Event merchandise attributes that affect sales and profits at a folk festival

The need to make profit affects the overall ability of a festival to operate. Merchandise sales are one way to increase revenue and also promote a festival. This study conducted a field experiment to test willingness to pay theory at the Canadian Mariposa Folk Festival. Results indicated that personal sales efforts, Canadian and sustainability branded merchandise increased sales and profitability. Implications from this study demonstrate that brands that match the market sell best but festival managers need to understand their market and their margins if they wish to capitalise on increased revenues.

They do pay! Event merchandise attributes that affect sales and profits at a folk festival

The need to make profit affects the overall ability of a festival to operate. Merchandise sales are one way to increase revenue and also promote a festival. This study conducted a field experiment to test willingness to pay theory at the Canadian Mariposa Folk Festival. Results indicated that personal sales efforts, Canadian and sustainability branded merchandise increased sales and profitability. Implications from this study demonstrate that brands that match the market sell best but festival managers need to understand their market and their margins if they wish to capitalise on increased revenues.

Motivation and Satisfaction of Volunteers at Local Festival : The Case of the 18th Gokseong Simcheong Festival

Volunteering has important insight for tourism, especially in the context of special events and festivals. In particular, local festival relies heavily upon volunteers because a large number of individuals are often necessary for creating and delivering various services. Therefore, understand the link between motivation and satisfaction will help festival managers to make appropriate decision in the selection and recruitment of volunteers. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of motivations on individual’s volunteer satisfaction. Data were gathered from 183 individuals that volunteered for the 2018 Gokseong Festival and finally 154 samples were used for the empirical analysis. According to the results, motivation factor analysis showed that intrinsic motivation is a main volunteer motivation to participate in the festival. This research concludes with the proposed conceptual framework that discusses the categories of motivational factors and also volunteers’ satisfaction. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in more detail.

Experiencing the destination brand: Behavioral intentions of arts festival tourists

This paper examines the brand experiences and travel patterns of arts festival tourists with a focus on gender-based differences. The researchers administrated a questionnaire based survey at the Kaohsiung Spring Arts Festival in Taiwan and analyzed the findings using two forms of factor analysis: exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The results indicate that respondents’ future behavioral intentions are best explained by two factors: (1) emotional experience, and (2) behavioral experience. In seeking to strengthen destination competitiveness and prompt positive post-purchase behaviors, it is suggested that festival managers should focus on enhancing the brand experiences of visitors. The study findings can inform the cultural tourism sector about consumer preferences and developing appropriate marketing strategies, thereby providing visitors with opportunities to experience the brand attributes that characterize arts and culture festivals within the wider destination context.

Grassroots festival keeps city alive during severe drought

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss the role of a grassroots initiative in engaging local people in an innovative place-making fringe festival. Festivals such as the Carnival of Flowers are a major tourism event for regional cities like Toowoomba and contribute to place-making through marketing and engagement. Within the professional management of such events, there exists space for innovation and genuine community involvement, which can assist in authentically reflecting place identity. Avant Garden (2007-2008) models a successful grassroots fringe festival, initiated by community members in response to the challenge of long-term drought. Avant Garden engaged locals and tourists in a positive re-imagining of place via site-specific public artworks generated by the community.Design/methodology/approachA survey of 504 visitors to Toowoomba’s public gardens during the first weekend of the 2007 Carnival of Flowers examined how Avant Garden was received by the community.FindingsThe paper suggests that fringe festivals can provide place-making capacity in broadening festivals as an expression of local identity. Fringe festivals can allow authentic community engagement within a mainstream festival and can indicate longer-term innovations to place branding.Practical implicationsThe paper includes implications for festival managers about effective ways to engage community in grassroots initiatives which reflect innovation, authenticity and greater diversity.Originality/valueThe paper provides a study of a visual arts fringe festival in the context of place management. The project described allows a “bottom up” approach to engaging the local community which provides authenticity and broadens the scope of an existing mainstream garden festival.

Towards an adapted MHP strategic capabilities model for moderating challenges to quality music festival management

PurposeThe music festival industry is challenged by intense competition and financial exigency. As a result, many festivals have either folded or are currently struggling. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to show that motivator-hygiene-professional (MHP) strategic capabilities (SCs) are positively associated with quality music festival management thereby providing a playbook for potentially mitigating these challenges.Design/methodology/approachThe mixed methods research design comprised a case study of a leading event management company as well as nation-wide in-depth interviews and questionnaire survey. The authors initially confirmed the nature of the challenges to the industry from the case study and the in-depth interviews. The authors then developed an MHP Model of 15 SCs that were identified from the literature and the qualitative research. The relationship of the MHP SCs model to quality music festival management was tested in the questionnaire survey.FindingsThe respondents suggested that all the SCs were related to quality music festival management. However, Professional SCs were considered comparatively less important than motivator and hygiene SCs. Across all three groups, interviewees highlighted the significance of artists, site and operational planning, financial and stakeholder management and ticket pricing. In addition, careful planning, delegation and quality focus, problem solving, resolve and flexibility, leadership and vision, communication and innovation were considered conducive to the quality management of music festival organisations.Practical implicationsThe MHP SCs model and dimensions of quality management offer music festival event managers a detailed practical playbook for moderating challenges to music festival management. In essence the authors provide the specific drivers that festival managers should best focus their attention upon. Visionary leadership, artist differentiation, innovation, customer service and flexible management have priority.Originality/valueThe findings add to the festival management literature by demonstrating the importance of motivator, hygiene and additional professional SCs for moderating challenges to the music festival industry. To the best of authors’ knowledge, no previous studies have directly investigated specific SCs critical for quality event and festival management. In particular, the academic significance of this paper is that the authors have combined Herzberg’s motivator and hygiene factors with SCs, which are in essence success drivers, to create a novel holistic MHP SCs model for quality music festival management. Further explanatory insight is gained by the addition of a third factor of professional SCs.

Use of Social Media for New Service Development by Finnish Event and Festival Organizers

This article explores how event and festival (EF) managers use social media in new service development (NSD), in what phases of NSD consumers are involved, and in what way the customer contributions are used in order to influence the different phases of service development. The empirical data for the study were collected by electronic survey from Finnish cultural and sports EF organizers, and complemented with phone interviews. The study revealed that Finnish EFs use the most common social media tools in everyday operations, particularly for marketing purposes. They have recognized the possibilities to use social media in NSD and have also acknowledged the benefits customer involvement in NSD can bring. Most commonly, customers are involved in the first and final stages of the NSD process. Constraints for web-based NSD was also found. This study brings information about the possibilities of social media in NSD in EF context that may help the organizers and developers to plan and develop the management strategies. Results also show that in the future there may be demand for additional training for EF organizers related to the usage of social media. This study also has limitations. The response rate was rather low, and larger samples should be used in the future. It would also be useful to interview diverse EFs using social media in NSD purposes in the future. The study was conducted only in Finland and thus the results cannot be internationally generalized.

The Applicability and Usefulness of the Stakeholder Strategy Matrix for Festival Management

This article examines the applicability and usefulness of the stakeholder strategy matrix in the context of festival management. An extensive literature review gave rise to the development of an online survey. Data for the study were collected from festival managers in the US. This empirical study indicated that internal and external festival stakeholders differ from each other in significant ways, and that different management strategies should be used to manage them. The stakeholder strategy matrix appears to be more effective for the management of internal festival stakeholders and the least effective for managing external festival stakeholders. Based on the results of the study, it can be postulated that the stakeholder strategy matrix can be applied effectively towards managing festival stakeholders and may provide useful management strategies for festival managers when managing their internal and external stakeholders. This is one of the first studies to be conducted in this area, and as such it contributes to the body of knowledge on management strategies for internal and external festival stakeholders.

Foreign languages education in international literary festival tourism: the case of Festivaletteratura in Italy.

<p><em>Festivals have always represented a good opportunity on the economic front, but most importantly they have been perfect occasions for creating settings for social, cultural and inter-linguistic interaction. Nowadays, thanks to the globalisation process, intercultural and inter-lingual communications are increasingly important in the festivals domain, especially those focused on international literary events. According to the experiential learning theory, international book festivals can be environments for learning activities, and specifically for language development. Thus, these cultural events have provoked such questions as the following: attending international literary festivals can increase participants' language learning? In what ways do international literary festival managers invest in multilingual services in order to encourage language learning? This study aims to investigate if international literary festivals can develop adult visitors’ language learning, taking Festivaletteratura of Mantua (Italy) as a case study. Firstly, I shall present the importance of interlingual communication in festival tourism and the experiential learnign theory. Secondly, I will explore Festivaletteratura supply analysis, considering also its international projects as potential language training tools: Scritture Giovani and Vocabolario Europeo, and Festivaletteratura’s international connection with other partners: the Hay Festival and the Berlin Internationales Literaturfestival. Then, I will investigate the role of foreign languages in the demand analysis of the festival, according to the questionnaire survey among 300 adult attendees during the 2015 Festivaletteratura edition. Finally, I intend to argue that even if the festival might provide a setting for language learning with lots of international guests, due to its target, who is not familiar with foreign languages, it cannot be described as an example of language learning environment.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p> </p>

An integrated model of festival revisit intentions

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the determinants of current visitors’ festival revisit intentions. The concepts of festival quality and satisfaction were adapted and integrated with the theory of planned behavior (TPB) from social psychology to theorize a model of festival revisit intentions. In addition, given the importance of social characteristics in festival visiting behavior, the relative impacts of three modes of social influences (i.e. subjective norms, group norms and social identity) were investigated. Design/methodology/approach Statistical analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized relationships with the data collected onsite during the Nonsan Strawberry Festival, held in Nonsan, South Korea. The eleven constructs were incorporated into the structural model to examine the hypothesized relationships among the latent factors. Findings Results of the analyses indicated that the proposed model had an acceptable fit to the empirical data. The overall explanatory power of the model had an R2 of 84 per cent for revisit intention and an R2 of 60 per cent for satisfaction. Satisfaction was found to be the strongest predictor of visitors’ revisit intensions, followed by social identity, subjective norms and group norms. Research limitations/implications This study developed an integrated model to explain festival visitors’ revisit intentions by adopting not only visitors’ personal evaluation of the festival experience and but also a series of social influences. Practical implications Based on the results, festival managers should allocate their marketing resources for the festival program, environment and souvenirs to increase the visitors’ perception of quality. Particular attention should also be given to visitor groups and their travel companions’ influences on their intentions to revisit the festival. Originality/value The incorporation of festival quality and satisfaction and TPB extended with additional social influence variables provided a model with a theoretical basis to explain festival revisit intentions. This approach may provide an initial blueprint for further investigation of other theoretical revisit models.

Expanding the Domain of Festival Research: A Review and Research Agenda

Festivals are an important sub‐field within event studies which, until recently, have not been studied as separate experiences. A systematic review of the emerging literature on festivals reveals several key characteristics. While festivals are diverse in nature and geographical location, scholarly interest focuses on five main themes: the motivations for organizing, funding and attending festivals; the experiences of festival attendees; the relationship between festivals and their local environments; the economic and sociocultural impacts of festivals; and the management of festivals. Despite growing interest in festivals as research sites, little attention has been afforded to investigating festival processes. In particular, considerations of how festivals are established, and which individuals are involved in their initiation and regular staging, offer opportunities for research. This paper highlights the significant role festivals play within their local communities, including their facilitation of social cohesion and regional identity. Our study reveals that the literature rarely discusses the development of festivals over time and the wider networks in which festivals are embedded. This critical review of festival research identifies various research gaps and directions for future research to develop theory and practical understanding of festivals.