Rihova, I. (2013) Book Review: C. Gibson & J. Connell, Music Festivals and Regional Development in Australia (2012) Ashgate Publishing Limited,Farnham, ISBN: 9780754675266, 237 pp., Tourism Management, Vol. 36, p. 119 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Music festivals and regional development in Australia
2012
Throughout the world, the number of festivals has grown exponentially in the last two decades, as people celebrate local and regional cultures, but perhaps more importantly as local councils and other groups seek to use festivals both to promote tourism and to stimulate rural development. However, most studies of festivals have tended to focus almost exclusively on the cultural and symbolic aspects, or on narrow modelling of economic multiplier impacts, rather than examining their long-term implications for rural change. This ...
Music as a strategy for the regeneration of remote areas in Australia through promoting tourism
Some remote areas of Australia have been caught in a vicious cycle due to the decline of economy in export trade, infrastructure and population (Gibson & Connell, 2012). Many small cities and towns are losing industries, residents and even the confidence of a sustainable future (Brennan-Horley et al, 2007), which has been regarded as significant issue of national importance in recent years (Rogers & Collins, 2001). These remotes places have tried to not only develop their regional economy but also reinvent their local images through various activities.Film, food and sports are concentrated on by most of them. However, some other remote areas have focused on music tourism. Music tourism has become more important for the regeneration of remote areas because, as a social catalyst, it can illustrates how culture, economy and identities are entangled (Gibson & Connell, 2005). Since the 1970s, one significant music form, music festivals, has become an important means of promoting places and regions, especially the local tourism industry (Gibson & Connell, 2005). With more comprehensive marketing, music festivals have been regarded as one strategy for seeking better business opportunities to develop the local tourism industry thereby reinventing the local economy and place identities (Gibson & Connell, 2005). For instance, some country cities, such as Tamworth and Port Fairy, focused on music festivals which have not only substantially improved the local economy and development of the tourism industry but have also brought many benefits for the regeneration of the cities (Walmsley, 2003). This essay will explore how these areas have promoted tourism and even been regenerated though music festivals. To analyze these two parts, there is an initial need to understand in depth the relationship between music festivals and the tourism industry in these areas. Besides, in order to research why these remote areas rely on music festivals and why these areas can hold huge music festivals, the regional situation which contains the culture background and economy background of these areas will be analyzed. This essay will then focus on some successful music festivals in remote areas of Australia, such as the Park Elvis Revival Festival, Tamworth Music Festival and the Wangarattea Jazz Festival, to explore how these festivals are operated and how these music festivals impact the local area in different way including tourism, the local economy, local culture and local identities. All of these analyses will not only help us have a better understanding of the relationship between music, tourism and city regeneration, but also support our argument that music activities such as festivals is one strategy for the regeneration of remote areas in Australia by promoting the local tourism.
Cultural Festivals and Economic Development in Nonmetropolitan Australia
Journal of Planning Education and Research, 2010
Examining a database of 2,856 festivals in Australia and survey results from 480 festival organizers, we consider how nonmetropolitan cultural festivals provide constraints as well as opportunities for economic planners. Cultural festivals are ubiquitous, impressively diverse, and strongly connected to local communities through employment, volunteerism, and participation. Despite cultural festivals being mostly small-scale, economically modest affairs, geared around community goals, the regional proliferation of cultural festivals produces enormous direct and indirect economic benefits. Amidst debates over cultural and political issues (such as identity, exclusion, and elitism), links between cultural festivals and economic development planning are explored.
Event Management, 2022
This paper explores arts festivals in terms of their relationship to local economic development within the rural island region of Orkney in Scotland. Fourteen qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with arts festival organisers, tourism representatives and local volunteers during the summer festival season. The findings offer new insights into the factors affecting how arts festivals impact the local economy; the areas of the local economy that are affected by arts festivals; and the implications of funding from awarding bodies on the endogenous development of arts festivals. For instance, it is concluded that supporting the cultural values of locals is vital to the economic success of rural arts festivals through a strategic design in the combined integration of minimised paid staff and maximised volunteers. Furthermore, it is revealed how in certain cases the initial retention of funding may benefit start-up arts festivals in terms of strategic development of their social approval and natural progression. Through the provision of an original theoretical framework for the relationship between arts festivals and economic development in a rural island context, the paper also makes substantive contributions to theoretical development and knowledge advancement in this field, whilst offering future research directions for rural studies researchers. Ultimately, island community practitioners such as festival directors, local authorities and merchants could benefit from using the findings to develop enhanced strategic operations, which could generate greater synergies and sustainability for the local arts festival sector and ultimately contribute towards greater economic prosperity.
Rural Community-Perceived Benefits of a Music Festival
Societies, 2021
There is a general consensus that tourism activity must have the support of a local community in order to build sustainable tourism development. Among the competitive Romanian tourism products, festival tourism should be mentioned, even though it is relatively new. Therefore, given the traditional communities from rural areas which are confronted with an international flux of tourists, it is vital to analyze the perception of and support for festivals. The presumption is that if there are benefits for the locals, support increases. In order to achieve the objective of the study, research has been conducted among the local rural community of Bontida, which is the location of an international annual music festival. The instrument used was a questionnaire which had four parts that aimed to measure the cultural benefits and costs of the festival and the sense of well-being of the community, given the fact that previous studies focused mainly on the economic and environmental impacts, bu...
2008
This thesis examines four regional community cultural festivals in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. It reveals the complex interplay of a sense of place and community, a destination’s identity and representation, host guest relationships and the underlying nature and role of celebration expressed in each festival. It examines the regional context in which the Jacaranda Festival in Grafton, the Beef Week celebrations in Casino, the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Byron Bay and the Mardi Grass Law reform rally in Nimbin are conducted. An extensive literature review provides a global perspective on theories, issues and trends in the sectors reflected in the case study festivals. The phenomenological approach to the case study methodology is explained before each festival is closely scrutinized, addressing the study’s aim. The thesis aims at a better understanding of the elements of resilience fostered by festivals when communities take intentional action. This r...
The importance of networks in special interest tourism: case studies of music tourism in Australia
International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2009
Music tourism can be seen as a type of special interest cultural tourism. This paper addresses the role of themed music festivals in regional development. Three diverse and recurring music tourism events in regional Queensland, Australia are studied. The case studies describe the festivals and their impacts and contributions to tourism development in their area. These analyses specifically examine the roles of clusters and networks in the contributions made by these events to regional tourism and associated development. The results of the analyses are used to examine government policies and recommendations are made to support better outcomes for host communities.
The real “worth” of festivals: challenges for measuring socio-cultural impacts
Asia Pacific Journal of Arts and Cultural …, 2011
With festivals more attuned to consumer/production typologies, and festival audiences now overwhelmed by choice, competition for funding amongst festival organisers is high and the need to prove worth for funding higher still. This paper provides an overview of the key response to this situation, notably: event evaluation. In particular, it looks at the shifts that have occurred in festival and event evaluation and argues that even though the socio-cultural importance of festivals and events is becoming more recognised, economic measures remain the dominant paradigm for determining the worth or value of a festival to funding authorities. Furthermore, the paper argues that development of socio-cultural impact evaluation model (SCIE) is complex and requires a suitably flexible and critical approach.
The social consequences of rural events: The Inglewood Olive Festival
Rural areas have encountered numerous changes to the economic and social fabric of their communities over recent decades. As a result they have suffered declining economies and shifting demographic characteristics, therefore they have looked to tourism and specifically events as a foci of rejuvenation. However much of the research in this area has been directed towards the economic impacts of tourism and overlooked the social consequences that tourism and events create. Additionally much of this research has investigated urban and large scale events at the peril of smaller community rural events. This paper investigates the social consequences of a small rural community festival utilising a case study approach of Queensland's Inglewood Olive Festival. The results suggest that a number of social consequences occur within rural areas from hosting community events, these are evident on both an individual and a community level. The findings were categorised into five domains: physical, economic, learning and developing, affective and networks and interactions.
Geographical Research, 2007
This paper discusses the annual Elvis Revival Festival in the small town of Parkes, 350km to the west of Sydney, in rural Australia. It explores the way in which a remote place with few economic prospects has created a tourism product, and subsequently captured national publicity, through a festival based around commemoration of the birthday of Elvis Presley, a performer who had never visited Australia, and certainly not Parkes. The Festival began in the early 1990s, when a keen Elvis fan rallied promoters (and other fans) around the idea of bringing Elvis impersonators to the town for an annual celebration. Since then, the Festival has grown in size, with notable economic impact. The town now partly trades on its association with Elvis, constituting an 'invented' tradition and place identity. Yet the festival is not without tensions. The images of Elvis and the traditions generated by the festival challenge those who wish to promote Parkes through more austere, staid notions of place and identity. For some, Elvis is a means for the town to generate income and national notoriety, while others prefer less 'kitsch' tourism attractions such as a nearby (and nationally famous) radio telescope. Results from interviews with key players and surveys of visitors demonstrate how 'tradition' is constructed in places (rather than being innate), and how small places, even in remote areas, can develop economic activities through festivals, and create new identities-albeit contested ones.