Event Management Practice Overview

The current paper intends to investigate the events in Newcastle upon Tyne. In particular, it aimed to discover the advantages and disadvantages a large event brings to the area. Specifically, the research attempted to identify reasons for festival attendance; describe the factors affect government involvement in such events; explain how festivals affect cities they are held in; and determine the advantages and disadvantages of holding festivals in the city.

Surveying 20 clubbers and 20 residents each for 3volution and Rockness festivals, the results of the survey would show that the majority of the people think that festivals are generally good for their respective cities. However, the older generation proved to be a difficult group to convince to participate in festivities since most of them are unwilling to budge from their places of comfort. The results also show that many would not pay for high priced tickets for local festivals unless maybe there are more popular performers and a more diverse choice in music and performance levels of the artists involved.

Festivals have become a way of life and ingrained onto the cultures of the world, not only in the UK. Although the disadvantages of holding festivals including noise, litter and traffic congestions, a large event in Newcastle for now proves to be an advantage and a simple plan to rejuvenate the city and it seems to be working effectively for now. Today events are central to a city’s culture as never before. The longer leisure time given to workers also gives a window of opportunity to allow the general population to enjoy a variety of celebration and entertainments (Bowdin et al 2006, p.

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3). The government realizing this has taken the initiative to support and promote events that will provide for economic development, nation building and tourism (p. 3). The United Kingdom and other surrounding countries have embraced an affluent tradition of rituals and ceremonies that extends through history. It is highly influenced by urbanization and an increasing population that is culturally diverse and this tradition in turn influence events that are celebrated nowadays (Bowdin et al 2006 p.

4). Existing literature tells us that mega events such as the Olympic Games can bring benefits to the host community such as improved economy, tourism and an enhanced image. Whether or not some events attract more benefits than negative factors is up for debate. Reason for Project Selection The author of this dissertation is passionate about mega music events and felt it was necessary to investigate the cultural, financial and social effects they have on their host city.

The author decided it was an appropriate opportunity to use one of the biggest events both in his place of study (Newcastle) and hometown (Inverness) as examples of events that affect the local community. Objectives of the Study This research attempts to investigate an event held in Newcastle upon Tyne and Inverness. Research is aimed to identify the local communities’ views on both events and their opinion on the advantages and disadvantages such an event can bring to its area.

It is the intent of this paper to present a general overview of how festivals especially music festivals in the UK are structured, the cultural implications and the involvement of central and local government. The study aims to make known the following: 1. What factors affect government involvement in such events 2. Identify reasons for festival attendance 3. Realize how festivals affect cities they are held in 4. Advantages and disadvantages of holding festivals.

Data will be collected and analyzed with regards to the operation of festivals, particularly dealing with the questions mentioned above. This information to analyze the points set forth in the objectives and present opportunities for cultural arts exchange and cooperation and to provide a recommendation for European festivals and their networks in order to seek stronger cooperation among each other. Summary of Chapters Chapter One: An introduction to the topic and statement of the problem is briefed on this subject including criteria for selection of the topic.

A brief explanation on the objectives of the study and its aims, and an overview on how data will be acquired and studied are also briefed on the first chapter of the review. The reason why it is essential to study and learn about festivals and its impact on society in general including the financial, cultural and social aspects were also stated and the particular justification as to why the particular topic was chosen by the author and the particular places connection to the author and the authors desire to highlight city and the festivals held around it.

Chapter Two The second chapter on the other hand encompasses the literature review of the study focusing on the festivals held in the United Kingdom with more detail focus on Newcastle upon Tyne and Liverpool both of whom have been holding festivals in their areas in order to revive their cities, with Liverpool gaining the edge for winning the coveted European City of Culture 2008 award.

How to successfully manage events was also discussed in the chapter in order to understand the totality of holding events in areas, the pros and cons of holding such events and in the end a brief foray into the different festivals held in different places and their impact in those specific places. And the impact of mega events like that of the Olympics or other sports events like rugby or soccer championships on the places where this events are held, the city pride and prestige accompanied by such events but also the problems of noise, litter, traffic and other acts of defamation of the city.

Chapter Three The third chapter deals with the methodology of the review. An overview of the analysis taken including a brief explanation on the chosen analysis is also a part of the third chapter, a justification of the survey questionnaire as the best approach into delving into this research was mentioned as well as the advantages and disadvantages of employing survey questionnaire in doing research. Chapter Four This chapter will deal with the results of the survey questionnaire employed in chapter three. It will be an investigation and dialogue on the primary research collected by the author.

The data of all 80 questionnaires after collection and analysis will be presented in bar graphs. The first 40 will be the results of the survey conducted for the Evolution Festival in Newcastle Upon Tyne and the last forty will be that of the Rockness festival in Inverness. References to the interviews with respondents were quoted as necessary and the new data found was related to the original theories noted in the literature review. Chapter Five The second to the last chapter of the research involves the discussion of the results of the survey conducted, and how the result can and will impact the events held in the specified places.

The discussion also revolved around the age and occupation of the survey respondents, the place where they live and their eventual involvement as participants in the festivals that are held in their places. How their opinions can influence how the festivals are held in the future and what more can be done in order to make and promote a better festival and for Newcastle upon Tyne, what they can still do in order to claim the coveted European City of Culture award in the future. Chapter Six

Now, the last chapter deals with the conclusion of the author after the research and review of literature, what was learned and realized regarding festivals and events, including the proper way to manage it and how it does impact the everyday lives of the people who directly or indirectly involved in these festivals and how festivals should be planned and evaluated in order for it to be a real advantage and impact the way other people look at a certain city, like Newcastle upon Tyne, for now it is an advantage to hold events in order to rejuvenate the city but the government in its quest to reach the top of the cultural ladder should be thread carefully lest they fall prey to unscrupulous people who only wants to take advantage of the city and whose aim is not to help and preserve the city but only to make profit. Chapter two Review of Literature

The review of literature will focus on the United Kingdom festivals and emphasis will be given to Newcastle upon Tyne and Liverpool, having been awarded the European city of culture. A brief explanation regarding the culture of event management will also be discussed along with a few studies that deal with festivals held in a variety of places and the pros and cons of holding such festivals in a given city will also be derived via the study of festivals held in various cities and countries. One may note that arts activity can be an effective tool for urban regeneration. Among marketers and city planners the thought of urban tourism and arts city marketing has gained popularity. Major or mega events have become an effective channel for the regeneration of a city (Garcia 2004).

Merging these activities with tourism and urban planning strategies has been known to bolster self affirmation among the local community. Although the complete act of tourism is yet to be fully assimilated within the community and its actual benefits have yet to be fully understood by the authorities. It is important to study and realize the impact of events among the lives of the participants, the attendees and the local community and place where it is held, it is also the global impact an event may achieve for the city where it will be held and it’s significance to the local government with regards to economic, social, cultural gains or loss an event can manifest within the said community. Events Management

The term arts is often linked to festivals and events and arts is often correlated to the culture and history of a given country or city (Yeoman et al 2003 p. 3). However the art of today includes more modern dance, film, popular music and a variety of visual arts unlike before when it mostly consisted of classical music, ballet, opera, paintings and sculpture. An unrealistic view that most people join festivals and art events due to ‘love for the arts’ and not for financial gain but one should note that especially nowadays when festival and arts are becoming ever so popular these festivals do hold a good ground for economic gain. In the sense that about ? 1.

7 Billion weekly, roughly 25-38% of consumer spending are spent thru leisure activities that is according to the Family Expenditure survey (2000 – 2001), making it one of the largest industries in the United Kingdom. And leisure activities which include festivals and events are often provided by the government either centrally or locally, their leisure function includes promotion and sometimes funding of these festivals and events in their areas. Figure 1: Unified Model of special events management (Yeoman et al 2003, p. 15) It is therefore imperative for an events planner to have a good management plan. Figure 1. 1 shows a unified model of special events management as described by Yeoman et al (2003). Borrowing a performance and management structure a detailed identification and deconstruction of the four main stages of event development namely:

Decision – in this stage the organisers finalizes their option whether to proceed with the event they formulated or to come up with a better idea and proceed with that or to totally disregard the notion. Detailed planning – includes planning of the venue, ticket prices, guests, performers, security measures and overall theme of the event and such. Implementation – includes the monitoring, dealing with contingencies and shutting down the event. This step is involved during the actual staging of the event Evaluation – deals with learning from the event planned and determining what could have been done better and can include client and employee feedback. How Events Impact Our Lives Any event creates an impact in the lives of its participants.

Events touch the lives in many ways socially, culturally, economically and politically. Such strong connections cannot certainly be disregarded and one can note that it is one of the reasons why events are so popular. Events impact our lives both in good and bad ways. It is outlined as follows: Social and Cultural Impacts An event can be noted to exert influences over the social and cultural strata of a community in a sense that an event can revitalize traditions and build community pride and validate community groups. An event can strengthen community by fostering participation of the community within the event and widen ethnical perspectives.

But given this positive affirmations an event can likewise have the opposite effect, since it can foster community manipulation and estrangement. It can also be the promulgator for substance abuse which can cause bad behaviour and social disentanglement that can lead to an unfavourable community image. Physical and Environmental Impact A good impact of an event occurring within the community promotes that traffic and communication is improved. It also fosters care for the environment and promotion of environmental awareness. It also transforms and/or renews urban perspectives. It also fosters that certain legacies will be formed when an event takes place in a certain place.

But again it is not all good, bad things come out from events which include damage to the environment especially when festival attendees and participants fail to take care of events venue before during and after the event takes place (Bowdin et al 2006). There can also be pollution and property damage and destruction of a heritage. Noise disturbance and traffic congestion may become a part of the negative after effects of events and festivals. Political Impacts Politically speaking an event can be of benefit to its community by gaining of international prestige, especially for large scale, popular event. It also fosters popularity of the community within the international ring and promotes awareness of the existence of the community which can lead to investor interest.

An event can also strengthen administrative skills of the community leader (Bowdin et al 2006). But in the same sense an event can also foster abuse by misallocation of funds and lack of responsibility especially when an event fails, which is always a risk and lastly, an event can lead a community to lose its autonomy over the events and ownership of itself. Tourism and Economic Impact An event especially if promoted well can lead to an increase tourism base for the venue of the event, thereby can lead to the venue becoming a prime tourist spot and this would mean increased yields for the businesses in the area, more jobs business opportunities for the populace. But this can also lead to inflated price and exploitation.

It may also be noted that some residents may not like tourists around their area of residence (Bowdin et al) 2006). The community might also lose its reputation and authenticity owing to too much people traffic within their communities. Event Tourism is a relatively new term can be defined as the organised planning, development and marketing of festivals and events as a tourist event (Getz 1991). Development channels and image enhancers for destination areas, festivals, special events, and tourism build up the definition with the notion and scheme necessary to heighten the event tourism and be recognized as a legitimate and equivalent partner in the tourism planning field.

Although it is realized too that not all events are capable of playing a significant role in tourism and a lot of the traditional events are doubtless better left unexploited din order to preserve their cultural integrity, Getz (1991) mentioned that as with any other form of development, the event planner must be very careful with regards to the probable negative effects generated by an event within the community Festivals A festival is made up of a series of events happening usually for a short-term period. Festivals are both cultural and social events (Darmawan et al 2005 p. 9). They occur in an exclusive setting that enables the enactment of authentic works, often providing new interpretations. In Europe, festivals originated from the custom celebration in Athens in the fifth century B. C with an over-the-top festival in order to honour Dionysus (Darmawan et al 2005 p. 9).

The different rationale of festivals evolved as time passed: An illustration includes athletic games, religious ceremonies, military victories, dedications, and even funerals. Furthermore, the shape the festivals took evolved from annual bazaar fairs in the medieval Europe, to cathedral or square festival production in the 18th century, followed by the Bayreuth Festival by Richard Wagner in the 19th century (Darmawan et al 2005, p. 9). In modern Europe, festivals have been proliferating intensively especially since the end of the Cold War. Festival d’Avignon, Edinburgh Festival, and Holland Festival are the celebrated examples of sustainable festivals ever since the 1940s. Showing off the cultural events in a dense format, the job of the festival has approached to re-voice and re-interpret the traditions.

The festival is the intermediary of arts and culture to represent the traditional forms with innovative approaches. The conventional performances are variations for the festival every year (Darmawan et al 2005, p. 9). The festival also acts as the cultural modifier to initiate various cultural outlines from other regions. In this way, the festival offers the neighbourhood a “fresh taste” of foreign flavour and provides the cultures a chance to meet one another. Very often, new creation of arts is generated from the lively backdrop of the festival. Festivals also participate in tourism for the city or town where it is being hosted, bringing visitors from nearby areas to take part in the scheduled events.

It is the blend of bringing people together in unique social circumstances and the creation of new productions that give each festival its own uniqueness (Darmawan et al 2005, p. 9). Festivals usually gather people mutually around a celebratory event and are used as an important catalyst for cultural, social, financial development of a particular province. Festival Financial Resources Every festival has a different financial structure, especially regarding the origin of resources. We have identified in this study that the government, private sponsors, ticket income, foreign governments and individual donors are the festival’s main financial sources.

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