Festival Organizers Research Articles

The impact of emotional solidarity on festivals visitors' satisfaction. Does the festival authenticity matter?

Festivals offer more than just entertainment, it considered a powerful platform for emotional connection and cultural exchange. This study explores the impact of emotional solidarity on festival visitors' satisfaction. It also examines the moderating role of festival authenticity in the relationship between emotional solidarity and festival visitors’ satisfaction. Quantitative approach using 456 self-administered questionnaire directed to festival visitors in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The findings reveal that all three dimensions of emotional solidarity welcoming nature, emotional closeness, and sympathetic understanding have a direct and significant positive impact on visitors' satisfaction. Furthermore, festival authenticity plays as a moderator between emotional solidarity dimensions and festival visitors’ satisfaction. The study discusses both theoretical and practical implications of these findings for festival organizers and tourism researchers.

The Impact of Eco-Friendly Perceptions on Festival Attendees’ Decision-Making

People are becoming increasingly concerned with environment as the society becomes more environmentally conscious and this is on a global basis. Festivalgoers are now very much concerned about the environmental impact of the events they go to, a consumer behavior shift. As a result of that, festival organizers are taking this into account when developing their strategies for future festivals. This research examines the influence of eco-friendly perceptions on the decision-making process among festival visitors. The study used an extended version of the planned behavior model which takes into account attitudes, subjective norms, anticipated positive emotions, expected negative emotions, and perceived behavioral control concerning decision-making. This correlation study focuses on attitudes towards attending eco-friendly events in terms of behavioral intention, subjective norms, positive anticipated emotion, negative anticipated emotion, and perceived behavioral control. 197 data sets were collected through convenience sampling of event management students at UiTM Puncak Alam via different online platforms were used for the analysis. The SPSS was used for the analysis of results through reliability tests, correlations, and regressions. The result indicated that there was a significant relationship between all the variables involved in participating in eco-friendly events. Four independent variables show a significant beta coefficient for subjective norm, positive anticipated emotion, negative anticipated emotions, and perceived behavioral control. Meanwhile, another independent variable, attitude does not significantly influence behavioral intentions. The limitations, recommendations, and implications of the study were suggested for future research.

Necro-branding: Elvis Presley as a necro-celebrity

ABSTRACT A myriad of investigations has examined the life and works of Elvis Presley from music, entertainment, and cultural perspectives. There is little doubt about his remarkable longevity and marketability. Yet, surprisingly, there has been little scholarly work attempting to explain the entertainer’s impact on a global scale, specifically from a branding perspective. Drawing from the emerging stream of research on necro-marketing, we introduce the novel concept of ‘necro-branding’ and associated, ‘necro-celebrity’, into the literature. We develop insights into consumer comments of 13,000 Elvis Presley YouTube videos via sentiment and lexical analyses. Key themes emerging from that investigation provide insights into that new concept of necro-branding. In particular, religion, musical talent, American culture, ceremonial and ritualistic elements, affect capturing, and mystical aura ‘the eternal’ resulted from our analysis. While these themes relate specifically to Elvis Presley, we argue, they would also be directly applicable to other famous dead celebrities, or as we now coin the term, necro-celebrities. Finally, theory stemming from our analysis presents a framework to explain a fan and other stakeholders (Elvis Presley Enterprises EPE, family, impersonators, festival organisers, Graceland) co-created Elvis brand that may have equal applicability to other necro-celebrities, just with different context.

Metal Meets Green: A Multifaceted Exploration of Sustainability Perceptions at Heavy Metal Music Festivals

The enduring presence of heavy metal music spanning multiple decades has generated a large global audience of devoted fans. Within Europe, renowned metal music festivals such as Wacken Open Air and Rock am Ring in Germany have solidified the genre's influence. Although scholarly research has explored metal music festivals and their attendees, there has been a noticeable gap in the examination of sustainability aspects within this domain. Consequently, this work undertakes a quantitative investigation into the social, environmental, and economic impacts within the context of metal music festivals, focusing on four key stakeholder groups: festival organizers, attendees, musicians, and volunteer workers (n = 742). To gain insights, an online survey was conducted to respondents, presenting them with questions pertaining to various aspects of environmental, social, and economic sustainability. These stakeholders were asked to assess these issues based on their individual perspectives. Subsequently, the collected data underwent explorative factor analysis utilizing maximum likelihood estimation, leading to the identification of eight distinct factors: perceptions of social behavior at metal music festivals, environmental responsibility, financial responsibility, environmental and social responsibility, sense of community, environmental and economic impacts, perceptions of volunteer work, and economic impacts. This study's findings revealed noteworthy disparities across all sectors, offering a comprehensive perspective on current sustainability practices and challenges within metal music festivals. By highlighting inconsistencies, this research underscores the need for festival organizers to critically evaluate their events and consider avenues for improvement in sustainability practices.

The Role of Cultural Festivals in Fostering Social Cohesion in Multicultural Societies in Brazil

Cultural festivals serve as vital platforms for celebrating diversity and promoting social cohesion in multicultural societies. This study investigates the role of cultural festivals in fostering social cohesion within the context of Brazil, a nation known for its rich cultural tapestry and diverse population. A mixed-methods approach was employed, incorporating qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques. In-depth interviews were conducted with festival organizers, participants, and community members to gain insights into their experiences and perceptions. Additionally, surveys were administered to assess the impact of festivals on social cohesion, measuring factors such as intergroup contact, trust, and shared identity. The findings revealed that cultural festivals play a significant role in fostering social cohesion in Brazil. Festivals provide opportunities for individuals from different cultural backgrounds to interact, exchange ideas, and celebrate their shared humanity. Participation in festivals was associated with increased intergroup contact, enhanced trust, and a stronger sense of shared identity. In conclusion, this study underscores the importance of cultural festivals as catalysts for social cohesion in multicultural societies. Festivals create spaces for intercultural dialogue, promote understanding, and foster a sense of belonging among diverse communities. The findings have implications for policymakers, community organizers, and researchers interested in leveraging cultural festivals to build more inclusive and cohesive societies.

Influence of Cultural Festivals on Local Economic Development in Zimbabwe

Purpose: The aim of the study was to analyze the influence of cultural festivals on local economic development in Zimbabwe. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: Cultural festivals in Zimbabwe boost local economic development by attracting tourists and increasing spending in businesses, hotels, and restaurants. They also create job opportunities in event management and hospitality. Additionally, these festivals promote cultural heritage and community pride, which can enhance regional attractiveness for investment. However, economic benefits are often concentrated in larger cities, leaving rural areas less impacted. To maximize benefits, it is essential for festival organizers and local governments to ensure equitable distribution of resources and support sustainable infrastructure development. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Creative economy theory, event impact theory & place-based economic development theory may be used to anchor future studies on analyze influence of cultural festivals on local economic development in Zimbabwe. Local governments and festival organizers should develop targeted marketing strategies that not only attract more visitors but also extend the festival’s economic benefits beyond its duration. Develop and implement policies that provide financial and logistical support to cultural festivals. This could include grants, subsidies, or tax incentives for festivals and local businesses involved in the event.

A queer feast of memories: using archives in festival research

ABSTRACT Founded in 1997 by arts and community workers, the Feast Festival in Adelaide is one of the major LGBTQIA+ festivals held in Australia. 2022 marked the 25th year of the Feast Festival and, as such, was an opportunity to reflect upon the importance of community-driven festivals, especially those that explicitly services and advocates for social and cultural minorities. Researching this queer history required multimodal strategies. We interviewed past participants, organizers and performers, which resulted in a short documentary film that was exhibited as part of Feast’s 25th programme. This project has also been supported by extensive archival research. We investigated the role that archives play in research and in documenting the history of a community arts festival, and how archives can actively contribute to the research process at various stages of data collection and creative artefact creation. Further, we explored the festival organizers’ careful engagement with both open-access and curatorial approaches to festival management, including engaging with the South Australian LGBTQIA+ community to encourage participation and develop special events for the programme.

Music festival geographies: Place‐creation and attendee experience

AbstractWe examine how design features influence the experiences of attendees at New Zealand music festivals. Drawing on interviews with festival organisers and attendees, we argue that organisers configure particular atmospheres to provoke affective dispositions. By interrogating how festivals engage in this affective engineering, we argue that festivals are ephemeral spaces where design plays a central role in influencing the thoughts, feelings, behaviours and, ultimately, the place‐experience of attendees.

Social sustainability on European food festival websites: A multimodal discourse analysis

Food festival websites often showcase the commitment of events towards a socially relevant issue. However, it is challenging to communicate how events contribute to the well-being of communities. This paper analyses European food festival websites to explore to what extent events' social benefits are represented in their online communication. The research is based on a multimodal discourse concerned with the interaction between visual, textual, and design elements. Findings show that intergenerational connections, awareness of physical and mental health, and the preservation of local food heritage are the most salient discourses related to social sustainability when these are represented on the websites. In most cases, sustainability initiatives to assure access and inclusion of diverse community members stay hidden. Food festival organizers are advised to use inclusive online communication to foster a sense of community, inclusivity, and social equity.

The formation of attendee loyalty at cultural festivals. What role for knowledge and authenticity?

Scholars have only recently been focusing on the study of knowledge in the formation of loyalty in cultural festivals and much remains to be understood regarding this. The present study adopts a managerial standpoint and develops a knowledge-based model of attendee loyalty in cultural festivals in which the role of authenticity is also evaluated. It considers two knowledge-based constructs, prior knowledge and acquired knowledge, referring to the cultures and the traditions evoked during the festival, and intercepts their role with respect to loyalty also in conjunction with authenticity. Based on data collected from 306 attendees at a cultural festival organized annually in South Italy, a co-variance-based SEM was performed. Results highlight that prior and acquired knowledge positively influence loyalty. Perceived authenticity acts as a mediator in these relationships. These findings provide theoretical and practical implications for researchers and festival organizers.

The Effects of Storytelling Format and Gender Difference on Festival Visitors’ Engagement and Behavioral Intention

The use of storytelling is becoming increasingly widespread in the event and tourism industry. However, despite the growing popularity of the storytelling strategy, to date, limited research has examined how festival organizers effectively utilize this strategy. Consequently, this research aims (a) to examine whether storytelling influences visitors??? engagement and behavioral intention, (b) to investigate how such impacts differ according to when visitors hear the story (i.e., temporal distance), and (c) to explore whether gender moderates the impact of the storytelling format. Study 1 indicates that storytelling positively influences visitors??? engagement. The results also reveal that visitors show a significantly higher level of behavioral intention when they heard the festival story more than 3 months before the festival. Study 2 finds that women have higher engagement and intention to visit when storytelling is delivered in video rather than image format, while men exhibit no such difference in engagement and intention to visit.

Feminist World-Making with Cinema’s First Nasty Women

Cinema’s First Nasty Women is a ninety-nine-film DVD/Blu-ray set that highlights silent-era comediennes and cross-dressed women. Cocurators Maggie Hennefeld and Laura Horak organized two live Zoom roundtables with members of the team who had created, taught, or contributed to the project, moderated by FMH editor Jennifer Bean. One included cocurator and film historian Laura Horak, Kino producer Bret Wood, cocurator and silent film archivist Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi, composers Renée C. Baker and Gonca Feride Varol, Indigenous film historian and booklet contributor Liza Black, and film scholar Kaveh Askari. The other included cocurator and film historian Maggie Hennefeld, silent film festival organizer Enrique Moreno Ceballos, film scholars and commentary contributors Yiman Wang, Aurore Spiers, and Kate Saccone, and film scholar Neta Alexander. Rachel Loewen transcribed the roundtables and Hennefeld and Horak condensed and cut together the conversations to highlight the key themes that emerged.

Online Content Analysis Focusing on Local Ingredients and Food Culture: A Study of Selected Food Festival Websites

The rising popularity of food tourism is fueled by a growing interest in destination-specific culinary experiences, with food festivals playing a crucial role in this trend. This article conducts a qualitative online content analysis of European and North American food festival websites to explore how these events promote local ingredients and preserve food culture through communication. The analysis reveals an increasing commitment by these festivals to showcase local food and traditions, supporting local producers and service providers. Additionally, the study categorizes food festivals based on their online representation’s connection to local ingredients and food culture. Its significance lies in contributing to the understanding of communication patterns of local food culture, offering insights to support festival organizers in fostering local economies and communities.

The Mechanism of Stimulating Resident tourists’ Place Attachment via Festivals

ABSTRACT In this research, the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) paradigm is employed to empirically investigate the connections between cultural motivation, involvement, authenticity, and place attachment in festivals from the perspective of resident tourists. We collect data through a questionnaire survey (N = 382) during the festival Encounter in Macao – Arts and Cultural Festival between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries. Subsequently, the model is assessed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling with AMOS 26.0. The outcomes reveal that both cultural motivation and involvement positively affect authenticity, which in turn enhances place attachment. These findings have significant strategic and practical implications for festival organizers and service providers involved in festival management.

Visitor outcomes from dark sky tourism: a case study of the Jasper Dark Sky Festival

ABSTRACT Dark sky tourism is a growing, but under-studied sector of ecotourism. While some research has examined the economic impacts, regional sustainability, and management of dark sky tourism, researchers know little about tourist experiences and outcomes. This study seeks to determine visitor outcomes (satisfaction, learning, attitudes, and behavior changes) among participants at the Jasper Dark Sky Festival in Alberta, Canada. Visitors were middle-aged, balanced between genders, traveled an average of 430 km, and were primarily urban-based. Most were first-time visitors, were present 2 or more days, and attended over 5 festival events. Respondents reported high satisfaction levels, due to the low cost and diversity of events, and welcoming nature of the community, presenters, and volunteers. Respondents reported many areas of learning, particularly about the night sky and night animals. Respondents had very positive attitudes about protecting dark skies, but only 42% planned to change any behaviors to protect dark skies. Study results will help festival organizers design dark sky tourism events to optimize visitor outcomes. In particular, festival organizers can address some barriers to behavioral change, such as stressing the value of dark skies and providing information about how to reduce light pollution.

Religion and Strategic Disaster Risk Management in the Better Normal: The Case of the Pagoda sa Wawa Fluvial Festival in Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines

Religion involves expressing beliefs, performing practices, and obeying norms about what is considered sacred and worthy of worship. While some argue that religion has become irrelevant due to the widespread influence of secularism and scientific reasoning, many still find comfort in the sacred. Scientific research has shown that religion can positively impact health and safety, especially during disasters. Accordingly, religion plays a crucial role in one’s wellbeing. In the Philippines, the sound of church bells calls for parishioners to gather and celebrate, and acts as a warning system for different types of danger, such as earthquakes, typhoons, floods, raids, uprisings, and fires. Filipinos are warned to leave their houses and come to the church to take shelter. Thus, churches have been considered evacuation centers and loci for disaster risk-reduction undertakings. The proponents conducted a qualitative study investigating the disaster risk management strategies developed and implemented by St. Martin of Tours Parish Church in Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines, during the “Pagoda sa Wawa” fluvial festival, where safety measures and crowd control are essential in maintaining a prayerful and peaceful experience. The objective of the study was to investigate how festival organizers prioritize the safety of devotees after a tragedy occurred 30 years ago, which resulted in the deaths of 266 people. Furthermore, this study explores the precautionary measures taken during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, recognizing devotees’ compliance and resilience for the common good. This study utilized a tripartite method, including reviewing relevant literature, participating in a pagoda fluvial parade, and conducting semi-structured interviews. The results were presented in a format that consisted of context, content, and challenges for the sake of coherence.

“I didn’t want to promote it with a white girl”: marketing practices and boundary work at popular music festivals

PurposeThis paper aims to explore how music festival organisers negotiate diversity and inclusion in marketing and promotion practices through symbolic and social boundaries.Design/methodology/approachBased on semi-structured interviews with 18 festival organisers in Rotterdam and participant observation with six festival photographers I show that symbolic and social boundaries are employed in three areas: (1) boundaries in festival format (i.e. [partially] free or ticketed), (2) boundaries in distribution partners and technologies and (3) boundaries in promotional content.FindingsSymbolic and social boundaries are intentionally used by festival organisers to build and delineate festival audiences. Implications are drawn on current understandings of the accessibility of music festival spaces, arguing that festival research should move beyond within-space dynamics to grasp the negotiation of diversity and inclusion at festivals more fully.Originality/valueWhile music festivals are often marketed as celebratory spaces that are “welcoming to everyone”, few studies have investigated diversity and inclusion nor marketing and promotion practices at music festivals. This study shows how festival audiences are shaped through marketing and promotion practices.

Promoting sustainable development in festivals through ritual revisions

This study takes a process-oriented approach to answer the research question: how may long-standing religious festivals promote sustainable development by modifying various ritual elements? The contribution of one-time events to overarching long-term sustainability goals may be hindered predominantly by their transitory nature. Based on a case study, this research examines a 400-year-old annual Hindu festival, Durga Puja, as a potential contributor to sustainable development. The data comprises online news articles on the Durga Puja published between 2002 and 2022 in the Indian daily, The Times of India. Based on a thematic data analysis, the research findings highlight three processual themes related to altering various ritual elements: artefacts, scripts, performance roles and audience. These themes include subverting the patriarchal, adopting a proactive approach to invitation and facilitation, and incorporating visual storytelling. The study’s findings have theoretical implications regarding the broader discussions on sustainability, such as sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the potential of festivals to contribute to them through ritual modifications. As such, festival organisers, policymakers and practitioners may find the study helpful in promoting sustainable development through ritual changes in festivals.

Research on the Usage Types and Psychological and Spiritual Responses of Users of Cultural Arts and Cultural Contents

Objectives: This study addresses the mental and psychological conditions that arise from using cultural arts and cultural contents by leisure over-indulgers in South Korea. We attempt to understand whether using cultural arts and cultural contents can be more engaged and utilized if provided in an experiential, spectating, or lecture, and contribute to the mental health of similar countries in Asia. Methods: Our participants were adults (N=301) highly engaged with cultural and artistic content for more than 4 hours a day. Results: Those involved in cultural properties should provide psychological and behavioral information on the learnability, value, and other aspects of cultural properties through development of brochures, animations, characters, and documentaries to tell people more about cultural assets. Performers need to enhance the emotional impact, satisfaction, and realism by providing screen footage to help them see and understand the performance better, and by showing what the actors cannot express through video. Festival organizers need to identify and create festival themes that adults can relate to, and provide them with experiences that allow them to engage in mentally healthy behaviors. Those involved in the game should provide hedonic values such as self-efficacy, interest, and mental satisfaction by providing game competitions through TV, online, YouTube, and SNS media and communities. Finally, one should ensure that cultural arts and contents can be used so that the psychological and spiritual behaviors of hyper connectedness can occur. Conclusions: South Korea is developing an industry centered on the development and sale of cultural arts and content. However, there is little research to date on the mental health, psychological state, and usage behavior of adult users.

Illusions of Inclusion

In recent years, the issue of gender inequality in music festival lineups has become a major topic of discussion in the industry. In response, some festival organizers have implemented quotas or other regulative policies in an attempt to produce gender balanced lineups. However, by distinguishing between “hard” and “soft” gender balance, I argue that organizers often employ a “soft” definition which masks prevailing gender disparities and I propose that a “hard” approach which encompasses a more fine-grained analysis of the gender dynamics of festival programming should instead be adopted. Using the WOMAD Festival as a case study, I demonstrate the benefits of a “hard” approach for scrutinizing the gender composition of festival lineups and interrogating the claims of progress made by organizers. I also discuss WOMAD’s strategies for fostering greater gender balance, which may offer other festival organizers some valuable starting points for addressing gender inequalities in their own lineups.