Do Arts in General Needs Festivals: Who are Festivals for - Literature review Example

Do arts in general needs festivals: Who are festivals for? Course Professor University City Date Arts and Festivals According to Bernadette (2010, p. 290) festivals permeate all the societies and human culture and their existence can be traced thousands. Thus the survival of festivals and arts is due to their immense influence on the culture of all communities. However it is until recently when they received the attention of researchers and scholars. This is because of their nature of connecting peoples together despite their geographical location. For example is the Adelaide fringe art festivals are promoted through use of sporting events valued in the community and use of community art and innovation (Hilary 2010, p. 416). According to Drummond (2012, p. 19) arts and festivals are events held after a particular time featuring exhibitions, competitions and other form of cultural performances in the community. Arts and festivals are important events where peoples gather and celebrate their traditional cuisines, their music and other elements. They are very important because they bring peoples from all over the world and for their role in encouraging innovation, displaying some of the most celebrated entertainments, paintings, jewelry, woodwork and other types of media in the community or the society. In many communities and societies they are held annually with the aim of giving opportunity to musicians who have excelled in many areas such as music etc. The time when festivals and art received a religious attention is fast fading and the new geographical perspective featuring human ecology. The geographical perspective in the last decades in the last centuries focused more on discovering the role played by various factors such as social economic and political forces (Hilary 2010, p. 414). Understanding The Value Of Festivals And Arts Hilary (2010, p. 417) claims that, festivals are form of activities taking a special place in the society and among different peoples. Festivals are viewed differently in respect to culture in any social setting. For instance music festivals are viewed differently in both urban and rural setting. People living in different setting have different level of acceptability. Particular types of music festivals are famous in the urban setting than in rural setting and the opposite happens. On the other hand, art is of great importance in the society and therefore deserves to be highly valued by the community members. Such value should not be monetary oriented but based on historical, spiritual and social perspective which is deeply embraced in the practice of art (Hilary 2010). For example in 1998, there was a half folk festival which was celebrated in Top northern Queensland (Michelle 2000, p. 51). Local community members of the community are involved in music festivals celebrations aligned to music festivals. For example the Top Half Folk music festivals which was held in the year 1970 was prompted by formation of two music cubs namely in Alice Springs, Mt Isa and Darwin were founded on the need to perform and at the same time listen to folk music (Michelle 2000, p. 51). Coded messages are used to show community solidarity and identity. In addition to this, this is expressed by cultural identity as embodied in community cultural values that are promoted by art festivals. Arts and festivals are known to use symbols, spiritual practices and use of historical artefacts. In economic sense some of the members who brace the event are non-locals who ensure flow of revenue and other income benefits for the community. According to Getz (2013, p. 113) this is due to the fact that that festival requires massive resources which seem expensive for local community to marshal, therefore requiring tourisms to chip in with their money for the even to take place. Other than these value placed on arts, it is important to be cognizant of other value which is generated by both art and festivals. When an individual take part in music festival, there is pleasure generated by participating and being a part of the process. The value derived from such is considered more emotional and serving important role to both the performers and the community in general (Hilary 2010, p. 412). Further, the value is of tremendous economic significance. However there is lack of completely no clear definition and understanding and focus of art on part of the people. When quantifying the level of value for art and festivals, the emphasis should be directed to cultural importance it serves to the people in the community and the individuals. Similar to arts, festivals has their own values in the community and should be understood from various perspectives such as religion, community, cultural and economic. For many communities the value of festivals is measured on the ability to promote tourism. Although such value also extends and cross borders to include the growth of art. This is due to the evolving nature of the role played in enhancing art in the community and value when art is performed. Caust (2004, p. 419 ) posits that creativity among members of the community is hereby supported In many instances the values of festivals is embodied in the roles it plays in promoting both cultural tourism in a particular community. Evaluation of such value revolves around social and community impacts. However, much of the existing literature by scholars tends to focus on the economic impacts while negating other dimensions (Hilary 2010, 415). Understanding Demand And Supply Of Festivals Festivals have existed for thousands of years with a tremendous boom in the last decades. Such boom can be considered as remarkable and astonishing. For example some of the famous music festivals in the world are jazz music, classical, folklore, opera, film and dance. Currently the people are treated with thousands of music festivals from all corners of the world. As a result demand for such has gone high increasing the demand and overstretching the supply side. Different types of music festivals are totally different in terms of followers, demand and supply (Brunos 1994, p. 29). For many types of music festivals the demand is very high because currently many peoples are leisure and music festival lovers. For example various festivals held in Edinburgh in 1987 or O'Hagan which took place in the year 1992 were highly attended and many activities took place. On the other hand supply is overstretched because of market restrictions and the cost of hosting music festivals. In some cases the profit return is very marginal and this discourages peoples from venturing in the sector (Brunos 1994, p. 30). Art festivals follow the rule of demand and supply in the market. The growth in terms of demands and supply can be attributed to various factors which are triggered in the market by various factors such as political social activities. Factors purely responsible for the growth of festival consumption include the growth of economic capability among people in the antebellum world. During this time peoples experienced boom in their economic capacity and therefore expanded freedom on how they used the money (Brunos 1994, p. 30). The target was cultural activities and festivals where they spend ample time participating in these activities. Such endeavor was supported by reduced working hours negotiated by labour unions. Education was another factor which played an important role in the growth of festivals and cultural activities. The more educated people are the more the preference they have for music and cultural activities perhaps due to their relatively high level of income. In addition to this tourism who may not like festivals are influenced by their pears and end up participating in the activities (Brunos 1994, p. 31). To fill the gap of flowing numbers of consumers, creativity and innovation was fuelled. More and more travel agencies and hospitality industry began to grow as a result of this necessity. According to (Brunos 1994, p. 31) this attracted many peoples one of the groups being the educated peoples and the old couples who were enjoying their fruits endured in their many decades of service. The reasons explained above in one way or another contributed to rapid growth of music festivals in many part of the world especially in Europe and Canada. One of the famous examples includes the Bregenzer Festspiele and Opera Festival held in the city Verona. After the expansion of the music industry superstars began to enter into contracts and this drew a huge crowd of peoples and tourists. Politicians also greatly contributed by launching of music galas and buying media attentions for such activities. Others included promotions advertisements and free entrances offered (Brunos 1994, p. 32). Therefore the above discussed factors were supported by unparalleled supply of music festivals. However in other dimensions growth of festivals is viewed as the attempt to defy the restrictions originations from the government and trade unions and taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the music industry. Yeoman (2004, p. 43) posits that, when dealing with art and festivals it is important to ensure creativity is in the leading front. In this case it cannot be trivialized or ignored. The nature of art and music festivals and those who like both is changing much at a faster speed hence the need to stay creative. In this sense what is required is unique management skills. In some quarters art and festivals are challenged to function like a fully-fledged organization and be accountable to own actions and deeds. Who are festivals for? The pertinent question here is whether art need festivals and who are festivals for. The evidence available support the argument that art and festival moves together. In tourism arts plays a major role in enhancing tourism festivals or events within a specific community or a particular place. This is because the practice of arts is a way of promoting tourism festivals or events. For example Avignon, Verona and Salzburg festivals are considered to have attracted a huge number of tourists and even acted as a new social group catchment (Brunos 1994, p. 32). Bruce (1993, p. 89) enunciates that, tourism is a number one supporter of tourism and sustains it by fueling the growth of infrastructures where it is performed such as theatres and other places viewed relevant by the community. The essay explains how tourism is used to promote tourism and economic reasons. The growth of such infrastructures is due to seamless flow of revenue and other benefits accrued from tourism activities. In a broad sense, festivals offer fertile opportunity for promoting and branding tourism in the community (Bernadette 200, p. 288). As tourism dominate and shapes tourism policies in many communities the dominant issues seem to be in the realm of social economic benefits. As such festivals should not be seen as a mean of meeting the economic aspect of the community (Frey 1994, p. 40). The fact is that festivals should be looked above mere tourism and economic activities. Music festivals have rich historical roles and significant cultural Potential Avenue to attract huge numbers of tourism in the community. Music festivals are also recognized means for communication and serves as an important tool for branding the community. For example a music festival that took place In Winnipeg was seen as an avenue for attracting tourists and other economic benefit to fill the financial gap experienced (Bruce 1993, p. 89). According to Bernadette (2009, p. 288) the relationship between the two is a way of ensuring the community fully experiences rapid and sustainable social and cultural development. The problem is due to the fact that the process of acquiring international recognition dimension make communities neglect the cultural values with or without prior knowledge and this may be the major hindrance which may affect the creativity of the artist and their natural ability to question their natural environment. Further while trying to capture tourists attention some of the local indigenous groups may be neglected. Cities are most famous for using festivals to promote their economic sustainability and the best place for tourism and local visitors and business people. Emphasis when prompting them is only based on style as opposed to substance (Michelle 2000, p. 56). Therefore many cities have tremendously supported the growth of festivals for their own benefits. Other than tourism and local visitor’s cities are seeking to adjust themselves as the best place for cultural activities (Hilary 2010, 417). Quinn (2005, p. 101) argues that, the above may not be the main reasons for marketing the city, there are other reason which may be behind such moves. These includes non-cultural and non-tourist objectives. For many cities it is purely economic reasons driven by diversionary tactics to promote perfect image of the city. According to Bernadette (2009, p. 289) the main tools for doing this job are art and music festivals. The tools are considered effective to manipulate people’s perceptions and come up with a solution to particular problem. In some cities there has been a major success in the mission (Hilary 2010, p. 418). As a result of this relationship the term festival tourism has been coined by researchers. The strategies behind the moves serve economic nature of these cities. Increased economic revenues are tantamount to economic expansion and better economic opportunities for the residents and generally the community members residing there (Quinn 2005, p. 103). However recently, policy regulation has been introduced to redo the dangers caused by recent technological developments. Also festivals in many instances have proven themselves ineffective to achieve their desired ends. So, if the desired ends are to be realized in future strategies used when branding cities should be overhauled and researchers tasked with ensuring strategies are formulated and implemented timely and effectively. Researchers need to explore how art and festivals can be revived to be productive. This should be in respect to rebranding cities (Garcia 2001, p. 28). Arts and festivals in the modern world Compared with few decades ago, festivals and arts have changed completely. Clubs and other entertainments joints are the place where art and festival belong to. Art and festival is combined with music is embraced by young and old and are enjoyed during the weekends. From the begging of the last decade music festivals have exploded with unimaginable force (Robertson and Frew 2013, p. 89). Now more than ever festivals and arts have captured almost all dimensions in the society and encompasses every activity that people are engaging in. Majority of these events takes over during the weekends (Drummond 2012, p. 23). As compared to festivals and arts of the yester decades the recent are more profitable, jovial, diverse and graced with creativity. And because of this the city can whatever it takes to help support them and make them more jovial. Compared with yester decade festivals and arts have grown tremendously with over 70 percent (Frey2013, p. 25). According to Drummond (2012, p. 26) both festivals have established their wide presence with more people willing to invest. Promotions are taking place in entertainment joints such as clubs and bars with the target being the youths. Further many peoples are willing to sponsor these activities. The only difference is that the modern festivals and arts are not perceived as community affair any more. The nature of festivals have evolved dramatically with the economic burden becoming bigger and bigger every day. Cities are not involved any more in planning the activities and instead corporations have been formed to carry out the planning and implementation. This however has not been without challenges because even with deep penetration of music festivals others are still continuing to exit the market. Many of them failed to survive their second year in a row. This is an indication that planning a festival is not an easy thing due to economic constraints that come with it. In the modern world where the world is multicultural the problem remains striking a balance between peoples and the problem of peoples missing the festivals even after huge amount has been invested (Melik 2012, p. 13). Diversity in music festivals and arts is now meant to capture and bring everybody on board. Diversity in music festivals and arts is now meant to capture and bring everybody on board for diverse reasons. Festival and arts are now becoming established entities driven by many needs and demands. They have become a fertile ground for those scouting for talents and for commercial purposes (Drummond 2012, p. 23). So lovers of festivals can be considered lovers of diversity. Simply nowadays festivals are meant for everybody depending on their preferences. With increased freedom as a result of rapid development and technological advancement and breakage from cultural orientation festivals and arts are evolving more and more (Pedersen 2011, p. 34). Arts And Festivals In Communicating Traditions Arts and festivals play a major role in promotion and communication of community culture, norms and their cherished values. In the community there are cultural performances which take place within specific periods. These events act as channels in which culture is conveyed through highly coordinated events. More so, they involve a large number of peoples but on daily basis they capture a small unit of the society through social interactions. So their existence is rooted in their nature (Getz 2013, p. 110). Through a system of social reciprocity they are conveyed as social norms and values. Their communicative aspect involves many social participants which facilitates social life and make the group identity strong. In many ways arts and festivals brings peoples together and communicate the role of individual in the society (Pedersen 2011, p. 22). References Bernadette, Q 2009, ‘Problematizing ‘Festival Tourism’: Arts Festivals and Sustainable Development in Ireland, Journal of Sustainable Tourism’ Bernadette, Q 2010, ‘Symbols, practices and myth-making: cultural perspectives on the Wexford Festival Opera’, Tourism Geographies 5 (3), 2003, 329–349 Brunos 1994, The Economics of Music Festivals, FREY Institute of Empirical Economic Research, University of Zurich, Switzerland Bruce, W, B 1993, ‘Situating cultural politics: fringe festivals and the production of spaces of inter-subjectivity’, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 1994, volume 12, pages 75-104 Caust, J 2004, A Festival in Disarray: The 2002 Adelaide Festival: A Debacle or Another Model of Arts Organization and Leadership? Drummond, S 2012, Festival and events management, Routledge. Frey, B. S 2013, Arts & economics: Analysis & cultural policy, Springer Science & Business Media. Frey, B. S 1994, ‘The economics of music festivals’, Journal of Cultural Economics, 18(1), 29-39. Garcia, B 2001, ‘Enhancing sport marketing through cultural and arts programs: Lessons from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festivals’, Sport Management Review, 4(2), 193-219. Getz, D 2013, Event tourism: concepts, international case studies, and research, Cognizant Communication Corporation. Hilary, G 2010, ‘Valuing Participation: Artists and the Adelaide Fringe Festival’, The International Journal of the Humanities, Volume 8, Number 2, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia Michelle, D 2000, ‘Lines of drift: festival participation and performing a sense of place’, Popular Music / Volume 19 / Issue 01 / January 2000, pp 51 – 64 Melik, R. 2012 ‘City festivals and urban development: does place matter?’, European urban and regional studies, 19(2), 195-206. Quinn, B 2005, ‘Arts festivals and the city’, Urban studies, 42(5-6), 927-943. Pedersen, J. S 2011, Negotiating values in the creative industries: Fairs, festivals and competitive events, Cambridge University Press. Robertson, M & Frew, E 2013, Events and festivals: current trends and issues. Routledge. Waterman, S 1998, “Carnivals for elites? The cultural politics of arts festivals”, Progress in human geography, 22(1), 54-74. Yeoman, I 2004, Festival and events management: an international arts and culture perspective, Routledge. Read More

Such value should not be monetary oriented but based on historical, spiritual and social perspective which is deeply embraced in the practice of art (Hilary 2010). For example in 1998, there was a half folk festival which was celebrated in Top northern Queensland (Michelle 2000, p. 51). Local community members of the community are involved in music festivals celebrations aligned to music festivals. For example the Top Half Folk music festivals which was held in the year 1970 was prompted by formation of two music cubs namely in Alice Springs, Mt Isa and Darwin were founded on the need to perform and at the same time listen to folk music (Michelle 2000, p. 51). Coded messages are used to show community solidarity and identity.

In addition to this, this is expressed by cultural identity as embodied in community cultural values that are promoted by art festivals. Arts and festivals are known to use symbols, spiritual practices and use of historical artefacts. In economic sense some of the members who brace the event are non-locals who ensure flow of revenue and other income benefits for the community. According to Getz (2013, p. 113) this is due to the fact that that festival requires massive resources which seem expensive for local community to marshal, therefore requiring tourisms to chip in with their money for the even to take place.

Other than these value placed on arts, it is important to be cognizant of other value which is generated by both art and festivals. When an individual take part in music festival, there is pleasure generated by participating and being a part of the process. The value derived from such is considered more emotional and serving important role to both the performers and the community in general (Hilary 2010, p. 412). Further, the value is of tremendous economic significance. However there is lack of completely no clear definition and understanding and focus of art on part of the people.

When quantifying the level of value for art and festivals, the emphasis should be directed to cultural importance it serves to the people in the community and the individuals. Similar to arts, festivals has their own values in the community and should be understood from various perspectives such as religion, community, cultural and economic. For many communities the value of festivals is measured on the ability to promote tourism. Although such value also extends and cross borders to include the growth of art.

This is due to the evolving nature of the role played in enhancing art in the community and value when art is performed. Caust (2004, p. 419 ) posits that creativity among members of the community is hereby supported In many instances the values of festivals is embodied in the roles it plays in promoting both cultural tourism in a particular community. Evaluation of such value revolves around social and community impacts. However, much of the existing literature by scholars tends to focus on the economic impacts while negating other dimensions (Hilary 2010, 415).

Understanding Demand And Supply Of Festivals Festivals have existed for thousands of years with a tremendous boom in the last decades. Such boom can be considered as remarkable and astonishing. For example some of the famous music festivals in the world are jazz music, classical, folklore, opera, film and dance. Currently the people are treated with thousands of music festivals from all corners of the world. As a result demand for such has gone high increasing the demand and overstretching the supply side.

Different types of music festivals are totally different in terms of followers, demand and supply (Brunos 1994, p. 29). For many types of music festivals the demand is very high because currently many peoples are leisure and music festival lovers. For example various festivals held in Edinburgh in 1987 or O'Hagan which took place in the year 1992 were highly attended and many activities took place. On the other hand supply is overstretched because of market restrictions and the cost of hosting music festivals.

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