Value of Festivals - Literature review Example

Running Header: Value of Festivals Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission: Value of Festivals Festivals are periods or days of celebrations that brings groups of people together to engage in a common activity (Voss, Johnston & Morris 2000). Depending on the objectives of the festival, there are different kinds of activities involved so that the unique aspect of the festival or celebration is realized. Since large groups of people are involved and the activities often require coordination so that they are accomplished, the event management skills are very essential in making the entire event a success. Tum, Nevan &Wright (2005) observes that event management helps in creating and developing festivals in a manner that it captures the interest of the target audience and relates it with the aim of the festival. This essay looks at the values of festivals in any community, the financial implications associated with hosting of festivals, the effect of festivals to the host community and the environmental issues that needs to be considered when putting on a festival. According to Allen (2005), festivals are developed through celebrations and have a unique goal they intend to realize at within the community. Often, the festival celebrations are usually accompanied by entertainments and feasting. There are two major values of festivals; functional satisfaction and emotional satisfaction (Pfister & Morais 2006). Functional satisfaction is achieved when the festivals meet the entertainment needs of the participants and when all the activities of the festivals are achieved. The emotional satisfactions are achieved when participants achieve a heightened feeling to the entire system of festival. Through the emotional satisfactions the community involved creates a sense of belonging to the society, geographical group and the festival itself. Moreover, festivals are times when people exchange or pass on knowledge. For example elders in the society transverse knowledge to the next generation and brings unity to members of the community. It is also the time when different people exchange social ideas and strengthen the individual relationship. Maughan & Bianchini, (2004) observes that finances are part of the very sensitive issues when it comes to organizing of events. From getting monies to fund the festival to how the funds shall be utilized is a very major issue in festival organization. If economic challenges present themselves in course of implementation of a festival, they can lead to failure of accomplishing the festival appropriately (Topfer 2000). Finances are used in preparing the scene of the festival, purchasing of the equipment to be used and coordinating the entire process. By the fact that any festival can take any format, there are chances of using more than available finances. Planning is the key to the success of any event. Therefore, to ensure that the available finances fit the needs of the festival, planning on the way the funds shall be utilized is essential. To effectively realize this goal, all the individual elements that are involved in the function should be identified. From these elements, the planners should identify the nature and amount of resources that shall be incurred in making each of these elements successful. Sherwood, Jago & Deery (2005) further observes that there is also need to deploy a mechanism of monitoring the progress of utilized finances in the associated activities. This ensures that no divergence of the resources to do activities which is likely to make the overall objectives of the festival unattainable. Properly planned festivals attract funds from companies and the participants themselves. The measure of success of event is measured by how satisfied the participants are. Participants would be willing to pay enough money if they will be guaranteed that their participation would lead to success of the festival (Maughan & Bianchini 2004). If a festival is able to bring together a large group of people from with common interest, then most companies uses such events as platform for advertising their products. Allen (2005) observes that such companies would want to be guaranteed that the festival involved would be successful. If a festival is funded by a company, then how successful such a festival would be would definitely contribute to the perception that customers have on the company and its products. If the festival is properly organized, the community hosting the festival would definitely gain from the event (Maughan & Bianchini 2004). Where there many communities converge together during the festival, the hosting community enhances its image and identity. Through festivals positive values of communities are portrayed which improves the perception of people and places. The participant of the festival that is carried out in a certain community carries the image of the society to their local areas based on what they see. If the image portrayed by the host community is negative, they are likely to be perceived so by the rest of the communities. The community gains economically from festivals. Visitors who come to participate in the festivals buy and utilize facilities from host community which brings economic value to the host community. In selection of the venue where the festival is to be carried out, the host community needs to identify all the components and events that are supposed to take place and the type of audience to be involved (Topfer 2000). Special plans needs to be put in place to ensure visitors coming feels comfortable and participates accordingly. The commitment of the host community is very essential in the engagement of festival activities. The higher the level of commitment of such event, the lower the financial and technical problems experienced from the entire event. According to Voss, Johnston & Morris (2000), the host community also learns a lot from the visiting communities. It not only learns to create good relationship with others, but also learns the values of the visiting communities. Whenever the visitors come from different communities they bring in their ideas to the festivity. It is therefore essential to ensure that there is as much interaction between the members of participating communities. Allen (2005) observes that most of the resources used during the festival come from the environment of the society within which the festival is being carried out. Ultimate care ought to be taken to ensure that no negative environmental issues are created or arise out of the festival. In any case, the festival should promote proper use of the environment rather than destroying it. Among the major environmental issues related to festivals are land use, air, water, waste, noise and public health. The type, situation and position of land used to host festival also matters. The choice and use of the land should be taken in consideration of the possible outcomes that results after land use (Pfister & Morais 2006). At the end of the festival, the initial status of the land should be returned. Proper care should be taken to ensure that the ecological systems are not negatively interfered with. Most festivals are accompanied by cooking which may happen in open ground. As a result, air is polluted through smoke fire (Topfer 2000). Maughan & Bianchini, (2004) further observes that movement of people either by road or when dancing to the occasion may result to dust. Pollution of air may also result from fireworks. All these form of gases may either directly or indirectly cause greenhouse effect. During festivals, issues of water sanitation crops up. Sherwood, Jago & Deery (2005) observes that where large populations of people are involved, there are high possibilities of large volumes of water to be used in the preparation and during the festival. In this case, issues of storage and safety of drinking waters may arise. Often if the participants of the celebrations are not properly regulated, there are possibilities of illness resulting from poor sanitation. Waste management is another environmental issue that needs to be considered during festivals. In the cause of festivity, solid wastes, liquid wastes and construction wastes shall be generated and dispersed to the environment (Maughan & Bianchini 2004). If they are not properly disposed, then these wastes became an environmental hazard. To ensure that environmental issues are properly handled, care should be taken to ensure that the public health principles are observed at all levels. Proper planning of the festival should be able to take care of anything environmental issue that arises. In management of such event, public health policies that relates to disease control, food control, first aid, fire among others should be integrated in the planning stage to ensure that the environment of the event is left in better state and not worse. In conclusion, festivals bring people together allowing them to engage them in an activity that integrate through the participation. The major components of festivals are celebrations through feasting and entertainment. A lot of finances are used in organization of the events which may either make the society stronger or weaker depending on how the finances are used. The community hosting the festival learns from the visiting communities, promotes the image of its society and gains economically from the visiting communities. Environmental issues such as land use, air pollution, water use and management, waste management, noise and public health should be considered. To ensure that everything works out well in management of festival, proper plan should be developed to cater for each and every element involved in the festival. References Allen, J 2005, Time Management for Event Planners. New York: Wiley Maughan, C & Bianchini, 2004, The Economic and Social Impact of Cultural Festivals in the East Midlands of England, viewed 22 April 2012, . Pfister, R & Morais, D, 2006, ‘ Residents’ Attitudes toward Tourism Development: a Case Study of Washington, NC. Proceedings of the 2006 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium, pp. 411-418. Sherwood, P, Jago, L & Deery, M 2005, Triple Bottom Line Evaluation of Special Events: Does the Rhetoric Reflect Reporting? In: Proceedings of the Council of Australian University Tourism and Hospitality Education. Charles Darwin University. Topfer, K 2000, The triple bottom line: Economic, social, natural capital. UN Chronicle Vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 39-44. Tum, J, Norton, P, Nevan Wright, J 2005, Management of Event Operations. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Voss, C, Armistead, C, Johnston, B, Morris, B 2000, Operations Management in Service Industries and the Public Sector: Texts & Cases. New York: Wiley. . Read More