Sustainable Events Management of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Annual Festival - Essay Example

Sustainable Events Management Contents Introduction 3 Discussion 4 Application of Triple Bottom Line theory 4 Sustainability Policy 7 What they are doing well? 7 What they are not doing well? 8 Issues 9 Recommendations 10 Conclusion 11 References 12 Introduction This study would be focused towards highlighting sustainability aspect of events management. Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival are a well-known three day arts and music festival organized in California desert. It was initially incorporated in 1999 by Paul Tollett. A subsidiary of AGE Live called as Goldenvoice organizes this event. This big-scale event is held in Colorado Desert, in Empire Polo Club located in Coachella Valley. The event mainly features different genres of music such as electronic dance music, rock, hip hop and indie. There are several stages set up across the ground hosting live music. The vision of this particular event is to bring forth different music genres in same platform. Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival create value through upholding traditional music and organizing live performances from famous artists. It not only takes into consideration value creation for audience but is even inclined towards reducing environmental impact. The main stages which are set up are Coachella Stage, Gobi Tent, Outdoor Theatre, Sahara Tent and Mojave Tent. In 2006 and 2011, a smaller Oasis Dome was introduced and later in 2013 a new Yuma stage was even implemented. The event had initially started with Pearl Jam who performed at the concert and since then many well-known artists like Madonna, Prince, Amy Winehouse, Daft Punk, The Killers, The Strokes, Beastie Boys, Arcade Fire, Beck, etc., had been performing in this event. It is stated as the most profitable and famous event organized in United States. The festival in 2014 had acquired revenue margins of $78.3 million. Discussion Application of Triple Bottom Line theory Triple Bottom Line can be defined as an accounting framework encompassing three major parts like financial, social and environmental. These three factors are also considered to be three P’s such as people, profit and planet. They are even stated as three pillars of sustainability. Triple bottom line concept has been gaining importance in government, for-profit and non-profit sectors. Many firms incorporate triple bottom line framework so as to evaluate their overall performance. The framework has been further highlighted in figure1. Figure 1: Triple Bottom Line (Source: Scerri, 2012) The triple bottom line is further development on basic economic model. In which if revenue minus expense is positive then it is profit else loss. There are two more bottom lines added such as social and environmental concerns. Three pillars of sustainability are people, planet and profit. Social environmental and social progress is two components of people aspect. Social progress is closely associated with educational community that is outreaching rights in human diversity. On the other hand, socio-environmental concept takes into consideration global climate change, environmental health and safety, environmental policy and crisis management (Scerri and Paul, 2010). Eco-stewardship and eco-efficiency are two factors encompassed within planet aspect. Environmental stewardship is concerned with biodiversity such as clean water and air, minimization of waste and land emission reductions. On the other hand, eco-efficiency is all about enhancing resource efficiency, life-cycle management, product stewardship and focusing on regional materials. The third sustainability pillar is profit which includes socio-economic conditions and economic growth. Socio-economic condition is related to job creation, social investments, skill enhancement and local economic impact. Economic growth is a major area of concern for many firms. Sustainability approach is also incorporated by an organization in order to initiate high economic growth. This factor comprises of innovation, growth enhancement and capital efficiency risk management. It can be stated that growth is closely knitted with innovative ideas and availability of funds. The triple bottom line approach also indicates that company’s main responsibility is to satisfy stakeholders rather than shareholders (Slaper and Hall, 2011). In case of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival sustainability issue plays a critical role. There are different approaches adopted by event management in order to accomplish goals as well as minimize any form of environmental impact. Environmental stewardship is acknowledged by the firm by paying more attention towards recycling program and waste management scheme. Many team members are involved in this process so as to minimize waste and cause no such significant impact on environment. In overall context, tents or stages set up by the management team is well aligned with environmental sustainability. However such programs have been organized recently by the team and comparatively less importance is given towards global climate change or crisis management. It is stated as the most profitable event been hosted in United States and hence it opts for improving economic sustainability. Organizers of the event are concerned about creating more number of jobs. Skilled workforce is hired by the organizers to promote the event and reduce all possible environmental impact. Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival are not inclined towards a specific community but attempts to bring all together communities so as to ensure that every attendee is culturally enriched. To some extent this factor facilitates sustainability in management of this large-scale event. On the contrary, less importance is given towards local community members and their habitat. In overall context organizers of this event is trying to balance all three aspects in order to achieve sustainability. However major loopholes are identified in areas like - ineffective emission reductions, community outreach, crisis management, global climate change and impact on local economy. Innovations are continuously been implemented by organizers of this particular event. The managerial staff of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival even had permitted wide range of spectators to set up tents on event grounds. Apart from including wide base of musical artists there were even other amenities incorporated by the organizers. Some of the on-site facilities at the event ground were recycling, mobile phone charging stations, internet cafe, free Wi-Fi facilities, showers and even a general store. All these factors contributed effectively towards economic growth and development. Innovations can be regarded as the basic factor which has sustained revenue margins of this event over the years (Hiatt, 2005). As per triple bottom line concept more importance should be given towards stakeholders and this factor is maintained appropriately by the event organizers. They are solely responsible for creating job positions and involving attendee’s for accomplishment of environmental goals and objectives. Sustainability Policy What they are doing well? Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival have been able to deliver different music genres to their audience. The motive of hosting this event is not only highlighting talent but even prove to be beneficial for local community. Event organizers are implementing best possible measures to reduce environmental impact and enhance revenue margins. In United States Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has been able to deliver superior quality musical piece. The management team of this event has been able to manage effectively carbon footprint. This is basically done through encouraging and involving attendees and employees. The event organizers reward people and promote various carpooling activities. Those cars displaying the event name can win VIP tickets on being selected by secret spotter. The event management team has also entered into contractual agreement with Global Inheritance in order to promote recycling program. Through this program an individual who is able to gather ten empty bottles is given an extra one. The team has also introduced refillable water bottles of ten dollars. Purchasers can easily refill these water bottles either at the campgrounds or at water stations available inside the event (Pernecky and Luck, 2013). These preventive measures are implemented by the management so as to ensure that less impact is being caused on environment. Waste management is a major area of concern since such large-scale events results into huge amount of wastage and pollution. On the other hand, employees work in collaboration with audience to sustain the concept of green event. What they are not doing well? Coachella Valley Music and Arts Annual Festival are neglecting some of the major issues of the environment in its policies of sustainable development. Sound pollution is one of the major issues of music and art festival. For organizing and performing different music shows a huge amount of sound is generated which creates sound pollution. They are currently not focusing on the different effects of sound pollution that are hampering the environment. This leads to problem creation and destruction of the natural habitants of that region. Though this organization is maintaining different measures for its sustainable development there are various loopholes in those measures (Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival., 2015). The attempt of this organization in reducing its carbon footprints is not very effective. The employees and the attendee’s try to reduce it but they are not being able to become successful in it. By organizing this music festival the organization is hampering the natural environment and life of the desert region. A large number of people come to see this festival for which the environment of the desert region gets polluted. Though this company have taken different measures to control it but always it is not possible for the company to clean all the garbage and trash from the large deserted area which is affected by the this music festival. For doing the music performance this organizers use many fireworks, lights in their shows. It heated up the temperature of that place which harms the environment. The gases which are generated from the fireworks create a negative impact on the atmosphere (Jones, 2011). This results in producing bad impact on nature. Organizing this music festival a large amount of energy is consumed. The firm tries to produce energy by using human resources and their energy but that is not sufficient in organizing this grand music festival. Therefore takes energy from other power sources which sometimes create scarcity of power. The organization is not taking proper care of the land where they are organizing the events. They have taken different measures related to this but those measures are not very much effective in maintaining the land of the desert region. Issues The three day music art festival of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has many issues related to sustainability. In this music event more than 90,000 people visit per day in that area. The presence of such large number of people in the deserted area creates hampers the ecological balance of that place. The lives of tribal and the local inhabitants of the surrounding region are disturbed for this giant event. 560 acres of land is used for this music festival. The large number of people and many stages leads in eroding the land. This can become an important cause for facing natural disaster. Sound pollution is an important issue of degrading environmental sustainability (Andersson, Armbrecht and Lundberg, 2012). This grand event causes sound pollution which endanger the life of different animal species residing in that region. The event is organized in the deserted area and the organizers use the natural resources of that area. The deserted area has very limited natural resources and over utilization of these limited natural resources leads in the scarcity of the resources in that region. As a result local inhabitant of the Indio experiences many problems for the deficiency of the resources. Scarcity of the water is another significant problem of this desert region. Large number of people coming in this event consumes huge amount of water. But the local people and animals residing there can’t get sufficient water for this maximum utilization of the natural resources. This creates many environmental problems which destruct the deserted region in many ways. The natural beauty of the place is hampered for this music festival (Titon, 2009). Loud music and huge crowd disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the place. Many numbers of cars moves into that region which pollutes the atmosphere of Indio. It creates a negative impact on the climate of this region. It heated up the atmosphere and causes a rise in the temperature of Indio. This environmental change causes harmful effects on the ecology of that place. Moreover the condition on the land also gets deteriorated for not taking appropriate measures in covering land damage. Recommendations Maintaining a sustainable standard is an important aspect of any business and organization. The organization Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival needs to improve its efforts for sustainable development. To control its sound pollution this organization can use advanced technology and high quality sound system which will lower the sound pollution. The company takes initiative in recycling the waste products but it has not taken effective measures to manage waste human products. Waste human products pollute the environment of the desert region. The company should make proper arrangements for disposing human waste is a proper manner without harming the ecological balance of the desert environment. The organization can move their whole set up to any proper town or city which can provide proper accommodation facilities to the huge number of people coming to the event. This will help in preventing the huge crowd to come in the desert region and utilize the natural resources of Indio. By conducting the music festival in a proper city the organization will abide by the environmental laws and pollution levels. The festival organizers should take necessary steps to protect the natural environment and animals of that region those who are badly affected by different issues of the music festival. They should take different initiative for maintaining the natural atmosphere of the place. The organization should reduce the use of fireworks in their shows. This will helps in lowering air pollution. It should take more effective measures in controlling carbon emission. For this music festival a huge number of cars come to Indio which causes air pollution. Therefore Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival can put a limit on the entry of car to reduce pollution. For decreasing the usage of water from the desert region the organizers of the music festival can bring water from different cities and town which don’t have water scarcity. Conclusion Outdoor Music festival is a major even where a large number of public gather for enjoyment and experiencing different music performances. This case is about Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and its effort in maintaining sustainable environment. This organization conducts its grand music event in the desert of California. For evaluating its economic growth and its environmental issues this firm incorporates Triple bottom line theory. This organization undertakes many ways for doing its sustainable development. The company use efficient methods for recycling different waste product. It makes various creative things by the recycled products. Profit of this company highly depends on its sustainability issues. Implementation of the effective environmental policies helps to increase the profit of the organization which satisfies its shareholders. This firm creates a huge opportunity for jobs of skilled people. They hire the people who are culturally enriched. The organizers of this event try to balance the maximum possible aspects of environment for managing sustainable development. But in spite of their various efforts the firms experiences many loopholes in performing different functions of sustainable development. Its grand event has many negative effects on the environment. The company is ineffective in reducing carbon emersion. For their large scale event the environment and the atmosphere of the desert region gets polluted. It hampers the life of the inhabitants of that surrounding area. Therefore the organization should take necessary step for reducing its negative impact on the environment. References Andersson, T. D., Armbrecht, J. and Lundberg, E. 2012. Estimating use and non-use values of a music festival. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism. 12(3). pp 215-231. Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival., 2015. Sustainability. [online] Available at [Accessed 12 January 2015]. Hiatt, B., 2005. Rock & roll: hot fun in the California desert - coldplay, nin and the arcade fire highlight the Coachella festival - the ultimate rock & roll weekend. Rolling Stone, 18. Jones. M., 2011. Sustainable event management: A practical guide. Canada: Routledge. Pernecky, T., and Luck, M., 2013. Events, society and sustainability: critical and contemporary approaches. New York: Routledge. Scerri, A., 2012. Ends in view: The capabilities approach in ecological/sustainability economics. Ecological Economics, 77(1), pp.7–10. Scerri, A., and Paul, J., 2010. Accounting for sustainability: combining qualitative and quantitative research in developing ‘indicators’ of sustainability. 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