Adelaide Festival Analysis - Case Study Example

TOPIC: REFLECTIVE REPORT Name Name of Institution Executive Summary The report is a reflection of an extraordinary experience on March 2013 known as ‘Dance Off’ in the Adelaide Festival of the Arts. The report focuses on artistic performances from diverse disciplines in collaboration with young people coming from diverse backgrounds especially those who live in the Parks area. The matching of Parks community with various theatre companies was not only meant to affect the culture and the local community, in general it had a great effect on the Adelaide’s arts and practice and the society large the society. Introduction The event brought together different groups of young people who had attended various workshops. A strong friendship and learning relationship from the workshops was thereby developed. This friendship relationship triggered hilarious ‘Dance Off’ experience where I and some of my best friends enjoyed every bit of it. Artistic Director’s visit at the Parks and her meeting with the young people as well as the local workers triggered the events of this wonderful experience (Allen, Harris & McDonnell, 2011). She considered it important for the audience members to hear some of the local voices as well as stories from the members of the Community Cultural Development. This was meant to reveal some of the realities regarding the Parks before engaging the members of the audience into the world of active play. This idea was wholly welcomed by the audience who included various groups of young people and the outcome was incorporated into the program as the Tour. In this respect young people as well Parks workers were called upon to become tour leaders. Performance night was therefore devised during individual meetings put into place on the basis of needs with the Director of Artistic. This gave the young people a chance to participate in the Adelaide Festival. Consultation sessions were put in place to enable the young people socialize with the artistic team as they give their views on the play and share their ideas and the opinions regarding the community and their understanding of the artistic world. This process however, was basically meant for the young people to discuss their ideas and opinions rather than struggling to find solutions pertaining their immediate situation. Consultation sessions involved a group of young people not exceeding 10 and the artistic team. These sessions were not only meant to scrutinize content of the credibility for the play but rather relationship build up with diverse people who could otherwise not be met were it not for the festival. The final stage of the Arts process which everyone waited for was the performance. Performance on the art piece is a crucial part in the whole artistic process as it pertains to different rules, energy as well as the attitudes and it’s a measure of validating the artistic process. Over one week duration the Dance Off and the Tour were performed to a full house of around 100 and 130 locals. Visitors from the vast Adelaide suburbs and interstate were also in attendance. Typically the show kicked off at around 7pm and it was normally launched by a young MC. The MC was the ringmaster who welcomed everyone, entertained the crowd as well as drawing it nearer to the stage. Then the Dance Off would kick off. A group of young women dressed elegantly were singing some popular songs; young acrobats displayed their acrobatic styles which include tumbling and balancing on the mat, the Beat Boys danced elegantly and finally the R’ n’ B girls staged a wild dance composed of American Pop Rap. By now there is a lot of music and the Community Center square is characterized by numerous activities. And at the closing of the Dance Off the square was filled with laugher sounds and chatter where you could actually feel and hear the raptures from the young people. Discussions The discussion of the Adelaide festival can be based on based on three themes which includes; goals and concepts, engagement and participation as well as learning and change. Goals and Concepts The overall goals of the event had the effect on the Parks individuals and the structures put into place. The goals aiming at the individual as well as collective levels were not appealing and there was no consultation of the members of the Parks community. Therefore the goals should aim at creating opportunities where the resources would be increased (Sangpikul, & Kim, 2009). This will increase the arts’ profile in the Parks and sustainability assisted process which will have a great inspiration on the young people as it creates opportunities for them to new experience they have never had before. Although, the other distinguished goals were not conflicting with each other they seemed to differ for each party that was involved. These differences revealed the tensions and diverse use of stipulated terminologies, funding body requirements, assumptions underlying the needs of communities that seem disadvantaged and different views as well as ideas on what clearly defines the community, culture and the developments to be put into place. The outlined goals of the participating organizations involved giving a sense of worth to the young people, helping the young people to have a reflection on their lives, creating more opportunities for them and enabling them to interact and share ideas on pertaining to life challenges as well as changing their attitudes towards life (Keller, 1993). Most young people attend the festival for fun rather than achieving something exciting and developing their talents on acting, writing or directing which can be achieved through workshops and seminars. Engagement and Participation There is need for practitioners to be transparent, accountable, personable and consistent. Engagement occurred through a good relationship between the Artistic Director and all the event stakeholders where they had meetings and discussed the outcomes of the event (Deery & Jago, 2010). Consistency was seen to be a crucial element at the stage where artistic teams were introduced in the most appropriate manner. Further, accountability as well as transparency was seen as important and therefore the guidelines were discussed, availed and followed strictly to ensure the success of the event. The aim of the event was to engage the young people to fully participate in the event and have an understanding on how it works. Engagement entails active participation rather than mere observation. Participation of young people in seminars and workshops help them to get opportunities to learn on life experiences (Michael Coyne, 2005). The success of the event can be measured by the number of the young people who participated as young people attended most sessions, brought their friends along and were seen to have desire to learn more on the activities of the event. They were respectful throughout the sessions and actively aired their views and the opinions on the Adelaide Festival. However there are numerous distinct ways to foster engagement as well as participation based on the interest of the participant and his/her level. In this event the young people were seem to participate in the music and the dancing workshops (Moscardo, 2008). Learning and Change The Adelaide Festival brings community together. Participants have the opportunity learn, work and change together. However, the learning as well as the change that occurred was at structural, collective and the individual levels. The Parks’ service providers and the young people were seen to have achieved the aspired change in the short-term. The changes were accomplished through nurturing capacity as well as use of local expertise, encouraging decision making at the local level relating to performance making, better understanding of the concept of community and possessing a sense of worth. The event attached great value where the young people had various experiences, strengthen the social bond between the family, service providers, friends and provided a good ground where people from diverse cultures interact, enabled learning based on choice ,and advocated for the improvement of the Parks through access to more funds to serve the wider community better (Banksy,2005). Also there was learning based on acquiring the technical skills based on instruments and the participants gained more knowledge necessary to enable them pursue artistic performance especially in music and the production opportunities. Interpretive learning was also evident as people from diverse backgrounds interacted and shared their experiences. They had an opportunity to learn from other cultural backgrounds. Recommendations Recommendations were based on the benefits the Adelaide Festival has both to the local community and the visitors. The benefits can further be categorized into economic and socio cultural benefits. The economic benefits includes; creation of employment to the local community, the multiplier effect of the tourism dollar, opportunity to acquire skills through volunteer work, opportunities for local groups and organizations raise funds, and capacity regional promotion (O'Brien, 2007). On the other hand the socio-cultural benefits include; increased social cohesiveness, enrichment of culture and improvement in social outlook and invokes a sense of community pride as well as ownership. Therefore the recommendations included; Raising the Arts’ and cultural profile by making use of public places meant for art work, events, performances, exhibitions and festivals where the existing resources involve the forests ,beaches, lakes, botanical gardens, Red Rock and memorial squares. Provision of strategic support to the key festivals as outlined by the strategy on Events and Festivals. Source funding and resources for arts and the creation projects, enable the development of community arts, related groups and the recreation groups, have strong partnership with local, federal and the state authorities, providing relevant information to the arts and recreation communities. Channel more investments towards artists, arts as well as cultural infrastructure. This can be done through various programs meant to assist and strategize initiatives, which would encourage development, sustainability, innovation and artistic excellence. Provide relevant, timely, reliable and accurate advice to the South Australian Government. Provide South Australians with the opportunity to fully engage and participate in events to promote their cultural as well as the economic activities. Provide efficient and effective Art management through use of human resources, financial as well as information technology. Expanding opportunities for educational programs by involving local artists all over the state and commitment in reaching all South Australians. Conclusion Based from the report, a model underlying to the Community Cultural development (CCD) emerge. This kind of practice (CCD) is important because its founded on the policy of give (skills, workshop and performance) and take (energy, consultation and stories). Through the creation of such an event people are able to come together and develop strong relationship which is based on trust as well as establishment of better understanding of personal and the local issues. This event presents the young people with an opportunity to have self realization (Amos & Scott, 2005). Various presentations on the community night including plays provide the bases of issues affecting the community and methods on how these issues can be resolved. However, the whole event was fantastic as the creation of the art piece seemed so real, functional and active. It directly related to the real life experiences and helped them to gain more skills in Artistic work. Evident from a female worker at the park she described the ‘Dance Off’ as an enthusiastic experience for the youth which presents the young people to identify their talents and give them the chance to follow their dreams. The ‘Dance Off’ experience helps the youth to become confident with their abilities to perform on the stage (Getz, 2007). The experience also presented the young people with a forum to discuss the issues that affect them on day to day issues. Through the Artistic Director the issues raised included; Drug and substance abuse, idleness-emptiness and nothing, friendships and relationships that could ruin their morals, issues to do with homelessness where some of the young people have no place they can call home, sense of belonging and attaching value to themselves, coping up in cases where some of them are already single parents and having a positive attitude towards life. Equally the event best suited the artistic team as they had an opportunity to display their innovativeness in new performances, develop relationships with young collaborators as well as the audience, to strengthen the bond with the event organizers and the community center. References Allen, J, O'Toole, W, Harris, R & McDonnell, I, 2011, Festival & special event management, 5th ed. Amos Vogel; Scott MacDonald, 2005. Film as a subversive art. New York : D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers : United Kingdom : C.T. Editions Banksy,2005. Wall and piece. London : Century Deery, M & Jago, L, 2010, 'Social impacts of events and the role of anti-social behaviour', International Journal of Event and Festival Management, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 8-28. Getz, D, 2007, Event studies: Theory, research and policy for planned events, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Keller, KL, 1993, 'Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity', Journal of Marketing, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 1-22. Michael Coyne,2005. Second spring : the regeneration of the Jesuits. Blackheath, N.S.W. : WriteLight. Moscardo, G, 2008, 'Analyzingthe role of festivals and events in regional development', Event Management, vol. 11, no. 1-2, pp. 23-32. O'Brien, D, 2007, 'Point of leverage: Maximizing host community benefit from a regional surfing festival', European Sport Management Quarterly, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 141-165. Sangpikul, A & Kim, S, 2009, 'An overview and identification of barriers affecting the meeting and convention industry in Thailand', Journal of Convention & Event Tourism, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 185-210. Appendix Event Experience LOG Name of event Adelaide Festival Type of event Dance Location of event Parks Area Date of event experience 1-17 March 2013 With whom did you go to the event? Friends Experience Log 1 1-1. Briefly describe your event experience. What specific circumstances led up to this experience? How did you feel about this experience? What exactly made you feel that way? (150 words) The ‘Dance Off ‘experience at the Adelaide Festival would kick off at around 7pm.A group of young women elegantly dressed would sing popular songs, the Beat Boys danced elegantly and the R’ n’ B girls would stage a wild dance composed of American Pop Rap. The closing of the Dance Off the square was filled with laugher sounds and chatter where you could actually feel and hear the raptures from the young people. The dance was so real, humorous and exciting where young artists were presented with the chance to do their performances on the stage. As an aspiring musician I was thrilled by their performances which best suits my career and greatly helped me to have more interest to become an aspiring musician. The dance was so engaging where everyone could dance to the tunes of the music performed by the artists. The event also presented me with an opportunity to know how to play some of musical instruments. 1-2. Identify a relevant event management concept and briefly explain how the relevant concept is applicable to this experience (argue for it). (100 words) The event coordinators should however link with relevant funding bodies. This will enable access more fund for more investments towards artists, arts as well as cultural infrastructure. Although, they have made an attempt to ensure that everyone feels comfortable in the Festival, there is need for improvement in infrastructure especially the theatres which are not well established to meet the current standards. This can be done through various programs meant to assist and strategize initiatives, which would encourage development, sustainability, innovation and artistic excellence. This will ensure that there is enough space to hold the required capacity of the audience in future hence leaping more benefits from such events which leads to the socio-cultural and economic developments. Experience log 2 2-1. Briefly describe your event experience. What specific circumstances led up to this experience? How did you feel about this experience? What exactly made you feel that way? (150 words) The ‘Hilarious Outdoor Entertainment’ was my second experience at the Adelaide Festivals. Entertainers from diverse backgrounds were allowed to perform on the stage. Live performances from various young groups were so exciting. The audience would roar with laughter. The entertainment was so real and it helped me to learn more about various cultural backgrounds. Local entertainers also had a chance to participate in the event which was very encouraging as a means of nurturing their talents and probably develop their future career. The outdoor Entertainment also helped me to appreciate the need for self-confident as an aspiring musician. Entertainers were so enthusiastic in their performance and displayed a great sense of humor. The event was so colorful with the entertainers dressed in cultural attire which helped them to have a sense of belonging. To the aspiring young entertainers it was an opportunity to learn more about outdoor entertainment and develop their talents and careers as well in the entertainment field. 2-2. Identify a relevant event management concept and briefly explain how the relevant concept is applicable to this experience (argue for it). (100 words) The Artistic Directors in the area of outdoor entertainment should seek to engage local performance. This will help the young people identify their talents and present them with the opportunity to nurture them. To serve the visitors better the event managers need to raise the Arts’ and cultural profile by making use of public places meant for art work, events, performances, exhibitions and festivals where the existing resources involve the forests ,beaches, lakes, botanical gardens, Red Rock and memorial squares. This will ensure that the available resources are used effectively and efficiently. Read More