Arts and Cultural Event Management - Report Example

University Name Department ARTS AND CULTURAL EVENT MANAGEMENT Student name & Admission number Lecturer Date of Submission Introduction Arts or cultural festivals have emerged globally as a rising and lively part of the leisure sector in tourism industry. In both developed and developing nations, cultural festivals are believed to contribute to a key in socio-cultural, economic and political arenas to host community, state or nation. As such, authorities worldwide have developed ways of assessing and understanding the viability of festivals by evaluating their costs and benefits involved (Allen, 2005, p.315). Aardklop Festival is among the 79 festivals that are hosted annually in South Africa. It offers attraction to both and local participants who take part in the festival. Many tourists throng the country during this festival to get glimpse on a variety of cultures around the world that is exhibited here. Aardklop Festival Vision In South Africa, festival and events are some of the key component of tourism. Besides the challenges SA have encountered in its recovery from apartheid, Aardklop Festival was primary initiated a contribution to increasing need of arts festival in Northern part of SA. The vision has contributed to exchange of cultures among participants both locally and internationally. Culture is so pervasive, yet still so multifaceted making it hard to expound on it. This implies that each person’s beliefs contribute to his own way of thoughts or doing things (Arcodia & Whitford, 2008). Moreover, the culture of individuals is marked as a discerning synthetic approach to reacting to know-how, thus lays down a behavioral model which entails that culture influences an individual’s motives or attitudes towards a product and their intent to make use of it. For that reason, Aardklop Festival cannot be perceived as a mere view of the participants’ activities and culture, but it instead extends to encompass the entire culture of a particular community and way of life and share with others (Van Zyl & Botha, 2004). The fundamental nature of a person concerns the rationales, liking and other personal traits that individual must have to appropriately decide the activities of his will in any surrounding (Gilmore & Pine, 2007). An individual may possess a number of qualities to belong to a particular group, comprising nationality, gender, race, age, occupation, religion, sexual orientation, among others (Arcodia & Whitford, 2008, p.9). This brings us into an arena where the phrase “identity” is broadly used, but obviously in a diverse and wider sense than what it is believed or thought to be. As such, a person may be depicted as someone with diverse identities, recognized as association in diverse groups and traits that compose such association. In the current world, the revolution of the international structure is likely to be bigger, hence will need the assimilation of different cultural and political traditions. In this case, the highly populated Northern region of SA will seek to play an even greater role. Like Germany and Japan, the increasing powers are nationalistic; hence, South Africa seeks to address the past grievances of apartheid through arts festivals during Aardklop Festival, as well as claiming their place in the global world of business through culture (Arcodia & Whitford, 2008, p.9). Through the existence of variations in needs and business opportunities, it follows that an understanding of a people’s culture is important to both marketing scholars and practitioners alike. Every form of culture is branded in terms of communication (language), religion, ethics, values and attitudes, manners, customs, social structures and organizations. Programming of Aardklop National Arts Festival The host community plays a major in conjunction with the national government in staging and hosting of the Aardklop Festival. The programming of this festival also incorporates participants which serve as a binding role of those involved on perception that this festival more inclined to tourists rather than the residents or local community (Caust, 2004, p.113). Several issues are mentioned concerning the World Tourism Organization (WTO) guide the planners of this particular event on areas to focus on at social context. The factors are meant to offer a motivation to host that particular event and create a desire to satisfy the needs of those involved. The programming of Aardklop Festival is constructed between factors ranging from family togetherness, socialization, escape, event novelty, community pride, self-esteem, entertainment, food and beverages, information and marketing as well as transport. The family togetherness during this festival is where families get to spend their time together as they also interact with friend and get involved in cultural activities exhibited at Aardklop Festival. The socialization perspective entails meeting new people and enjoying seeing other people during the Aardklop Festival. Individuals who take part in the festival also get to escape from their daily routine at their place of work to do some new, feel free and relieve themselves from stress and tension (Van Zyl & Botha, 2004). The participating community gets to exhibit their unique culture which enhances pride and community spirit. Aardklop Festival also avails entertaining moments to attendants as they get to enjoy music, shows, drams and opera with a variety of arts and crafts at stalls. There is also exchange of sufficient information relating to activities at the festival. Management of the festival The Aardklop Festival is organized by the festival managers who work hand in hand with government ministry and host community. There responsibility is to make sure that the event is well planned and succeed. They also research on the components that make the festival sustainable and contribute to local residents and the country well being and future success of the festival. Aardklop Festival is one of the most heavily visited festival sections of the metropolitan Northern SA (Elspeth, 2009). It provides many entertaining activities to tourists and locals, also is well regarded for its excellent programming of events. In the implementation of the policies governing festivals, the SA government has been transparent as this encourages the investment of stakeholders that may want to be involved. Proper governance and management Aardklop Festival enhance the trust of the stakeholders and also the credibility of the government was not put in jeopardy (Caust, 2004, p.115). Communication between the involved parties enhanced achievements that are creative because the trust between the stakeholders is important for the maintenance of a better relationship. The government initiated the formation of networks such as the Local Tourism Organization (L.T.O). These networks provide ways that are flexible for hosting festivals in South Africa (Scott Et al, 2008). The networks encourage dialogue between the stakeholders thus enhancing trust, generation of knowledge and legitimacy. The SA government always plays a key role in the improvement of the Aardklop Festival by initiating many community based projects that aimed to perfect on future festival. The involvement of the government in various community based project such as hosting of festivals attracts various stakeholders because they felt the initiative being very big to involve a big organization such as the government. The concerns that were initiated by the government encourage creativity and innovation (Caust, 2005). Great attraction of various stakeholders is also attributed to the shift in the governance by the government from administration to a managerial way. This creates a lot of confidence to the parties who are to be involved in the planning of various initiatives of Aardklop Festival. Funding The funding of Aardklop Festival is comes from various stakeholders and initiatives such as government, local community, non-governmental organizations, foreign embassies and corporate firms. The involvement of a wide variety of stakeholders’ influences the interest of the public as this provides a great influence and how highly valued is the Aardklop Festival. The inviting of opinions and consultation with various parties shows the importance of the activity that the festival is being done. Corporate sponsorship has turned out to be the main source of funds in Aardklop Festival (Elspeth, 2009). A number of governments are increasingly encouraging organizers of festivals and events to look for funding from private sector. The recommendation if followed could result into a serious gap in funding for festivals. According to many, this would have a substantial adverse impact on social and cultural diversity in such countries. Staffing The staffing of the Aardklop Festival varies based on the participants and sponsors on board. The festival has a steering committee chaired by chairman who is supported by vice-chairman. Other positions include that of Event Planner and Organizer who update the committee on the progress. Fund manager is in charge of coming up with avenues of raising more funds (Wheatley, 1999). The staffing comprise of one representative from the government and other from local community. Marketing of Aardklop Festival Presently, Aardklop Festival is turning out to be more commercialized, thus sponsorship have got hold of arts and cultural festivals. Elspeth (2009) argues that festival sponsorship has developed into an essential marketing instrument for promoters because of its flexibility to reach many people and creation of corporate trademark. Yet some sponsors whose products entails alcohol and tobacco have created pandemonium within the society because of embargo imposed on them in the society, even though they make about half of sponsorship in professional sports at the moment. With alcohol firms being under close scrutiny from the government funding of festivals around the country have sometimes been be questioned in regard to the effect they pose on South African youth Sponsorship is important supplement to usual advertisement, however it becomes more valuable where advertisement is barred or restricted. Sports sponsorship offers several chances of reaching out to audiences in four different ways: during the pre-promotion of festival event, at the event itself, in the live broadcast of the event and lastly, in the reporting of the event’s results (Arcodia & Whitford, 2008, p.9).Each time a festival is illustrated on the TV screen or announced in a radio, the sponsor gains exposure to the viewer or listener respectively, an intervention that many sponsors embrace by sponsoring festivals event in certain arenas and stadiums presumed to have mammoth crowds. Besides, they place their advertisements posts strategically in the arena, so that those attending the event can easily view them and acknowledge their corporate brand. A number of beer corporations are heavily concerned with festival sponsorship, mostly owning or sponsoring major festivals in Australia, UK and US. Also in most international events, same to national, alcohol companies like Guinness have greatly sponsored, for example in most recently the just concluded Olympics in London. A good example can be traced from SA whose Aardklop Festival commonly known has now been taken over by a Guinness company. This is an incredible illustration on how beer companies sponsor professional sports in both developing and developed nations around the world. For these companies, sport media is a fundamental means of presenting and promoting their products in association with activities which many people refer to them as healthy (Elspeth, 2009). This is an intervention thought to safeguard their product image and thwart any negative perceptions from people. A study conducted in Australia reveals that brands which were popular among the underage are same brands that sponsor major festival event in the country (Porter & Kramer, 2011). Tourism has a valuable affluence of technological, marketing, as well as operational acquaintance that are very important for their success in festivals. A review of Aardklop Festival In reference to Wheatley (1999), several associations have erupted in US and Australia as well as in South Africa to advocate for the ban of alcohol marketing in festivals. They have teamed up with policy makers in making sure that their agenda is achieved. For example, in US there is a latest national campaign called Time to End Alcohol Marketing in Sports (TEAMS) was initiated to minimize the promotion of alcohol usage among the young Americans by barring alcohol marketing in sports and festivals. The TEAM is also engaged in promoting positive sports role models among young sportspeople. Their main priorities are to eliminate alcohol sponsorship of college and Olympics sports and disallow alcohol advertising in festival events (Caust, 2004, p.110). Since May 2004 to March 2005, the Australian Federal government closely monitored the alcohol products advertising campaigns on television and magazine both nationally and regionally. Later on, the government instituted Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code which clearly states that alcohol advertising must “not show any direct connection and involvement in any festival”. However, the code does not clarify any certain festival events (Allen et al, 2005, p.321). Rodrik (2011) argues that corporate sponsoring festivals should abide by the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code in their commercial speech to tell consumers about their products. If a product is legal to produce an overriding public policy, reason such as public safety is. Whereas alcoholic beverages can lead to health problems and social concerns, responsible drinking may cause no such problems. Alcohol companies should continue to show a strong and clear commitment to promote sensible drinking habits, thus supporting to minimize alcohol misuse and fostering a balanced understanding of alcohol issues in festival advertisement. Banning alcohol sponsorship in Aardklop Festival would impact negatively on economy and perception of the country (Elias-Varotsis, 2006). For example in Europe, banning alcohol sponsorship would encourage a significant proportion of international events organizers to avoid staging tournaments and festivals in Europe, where drinks sponsorship would not be permissible. In the long run, European States could miss out on the significant opportunities that hosting festivals (Allen, Johnny et al, 2005). Individual views on the money alcohol advertising brings in for each of the festival sponsored is good for those events, as it’s used to pay players and improve on facilities Ensor, J., Robertson, M. & Ali-Knight, J. (2007).The sponsorship should not be banned but advertisements on alcohol need to be limited so that it does not impact negatively on youth development (Arcodia & Whitford, 2008, p.9). The fundamental nature of a person concerns the rationales, liking and other personal traits that individual must have to appropriately decide the activities of his will in any surrounding. An individual may possess a number of qualities to belong to a particular group, comprising nationality, gender, race, age, occupation, religion, sexual orientation, among others. The issue of festival funding in the postmodern world has all along been the matter of concern by economists, on grounds of how it relates to labour market and economic growth. The global market may vary because of consumer behavior, language, legal system, technology infrastructure, business culture, educational system, labour relations, political ideology, fiscal regime, personal authenticity and so forth (Yousef, 2003).These issues have posed a great challenge to post modern managers who host mega festivals and are forced to operate across borders businesses on how to adapt to the international diversity encountered or overcome the constraints imposed to their business by national systems, structures and behaviors (Elias-Varotsis, 2005).This is so, because people define themselves not just within the sometimes damaging groupings in society which may have been dispensed to us through a safer personal and cultural structure. Conclusion The concept of shared value have dominated liberal economic theory discussions to explore what is good for ‘business’ and for ‘society’. This has sometimes reshaped the policies and operating practices that have been implemented at the market by some governments, so that firms not only make profits but also promote both economic and social terms in the communities they operate within. As such, the companies have been able to overcome the shortcomings of capitalism, which eliminate the chance for man-to-man exploitation with the motive of making profits. The success of Aardklop Festival in Northern SA cannot be underestimated at any time. I believe changing climate in hosting festivals worldwide, social stratification and political arenas in society are already initiating sea of changes in the quality of service companies offers to sponsor festivals .Such changes are mostly relevant to the service sector like hotel industry and tourism, as individuals demand for high values of services being offered to them and firms compete for the market share or public sincerity for their goods or services during hosting of such events .Majority of big multinational corporations have hinted that introduction of overall quality initiatives in tourism sector has improved their morale, increased their productivity and boosted their entire business strategy. References Allen, Johnny et al (2005). Festival and special event management, Milton, Qld.: John Wiley & Sons. Arcodia, C. & Whitford, M. (2008). Festival attendance and the Development of social capital. Journal of Convention & Event Tourism. Amazon Publishers. Caust, J. (2004). A festival in disarray: The 2002 Adelaide Festival; A debacle or another model of arts organization and leadership, The journal of arts management, law and society, pp.103-111 Caust, J. (2005). Does it matter who is in charge? The influence of the business paradigm on arts leadership and management. Asia Pacific Journal Arts and Cultural Management, Vol.3 (1), pp.153-165 Elias-Varotsis, S. (2006). Festivals and Events – (Re) Interpreting Cultural Identity. Emerald Backfiles, Tourism Review, vol. 61, no.2, pp.24-29 Elspeth, F. (2009). Comedy festivals in Australia. Events and festivals: education, impacts and experiences, pp.167-182 Ensor, J., Robertson, M. & Ali-Knight, J. (2007). The dynamics of successful events – the experts’ perspective. Managing Leisure Journal, vol. 12, pp.223-235 Porter, M. & Kramer, M.R. 2011. Creating shared value: How to reinvent capitalism and unleash a wave of innovation and growth’, Harvard Business Review, January-February, p 63-77 Raj, R. (2000). The behavioral aspects of financial management. Journal of festival and event management, pp.281-285 Rodrik, D. (2011). Growth Strategies, in Handbook of Economic Growth, eds. P. Aghion & S. Durlauf, Elsevier, North Holland, Chapter 14. Tong, Q., McCrohan, D., & Erogul, M. (2012). An Analysis of Entrepreneurship Across Five Major Nationality Groups in the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 17(2), -1 Van Zyl, C. & Botha, C. (2004). Motivational factors of local residents to attend the Aardklop national arts festival. Event management, vol.8, pp.213-222 Van der Wagen, L. (2007). Human resource management for events: managing the event workforce. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, ch.8, pp.123-140 Wheatley, M. J. 1999. Leadership and the new science. San Francisco: Berret-Koehler. Whitelock, D. 1980. Festival! The story of the Adelaide festival of arts. Adelaide: Griffin Press. Williams, D. 1995. Creating a social capital: A study of the long term benefits from community based funding. Adelaide: Community Arts Network. Yousef, D. A. (2003). Validating the dimensionality of Porter et al.'s measurement of organizational commitment in a non-Western culture setting. International Journal Of Human Resource Management, 14(6), 1067-1079. Read More