While what constitutes a festival is still contested (Gibson and Connell, 2012), a useful definition is: “a celebration of a theme or special event for a limited time, held annually or less frequently (including one-time only events), to which the public is invited” (Smith, 1990, p. 128 in Williams and Bowdin, 2007, p. 187).
Festivals should, ultimately, be fun (Wilder, 2004). The spaces in which they ‘operate’ are where people interact more informally, particularly as “the general public increasingly see festivals as a fun way to use their leisure time” (Gibson and Stewart, 2009, p. 32). Festivals “must be an experience that is different from or broader than day to day living” (South Australian Tourism Commission, 1997, p. 2 in Arcodia and Whitford, 2006, p. 3). They can facilitate belonging (Duffy and Waitt, 2011), afford a place of ritual (Gingery, 2004), define communities (Levi, 2004) and “frequently advance laudable goals of inclusion, community, and celebration”(Gibson et al., 2010, p. 281). Gibson et al. (2010, p. 291) suggest that “cultural festivals are emotional, playful expressions of local culture, national pastimes, or global subcultures”. They are generally social in nature rather than economically driven (Gibson and Connell, 2012).
Festivals are often hallmark events, as described by Allen et al. (2002, p. 13), because these are “events that become so identified with the spirit or ethos of a town, city or region that they become synonymous with the name of the place, and gain widespread recognition and awareness”. For example, “festivals in rural and regional Australia are deeply connected to geography – they are expressions of local places, as well as local people” (Gibson and Stewart, 2009, p. 15). Hallmark events hold significance as traditions, are often recurring events and can afford competitive advantage (Getz, 1997 in Allen et al., 2002).
Festivals are also often the ‘glue’ that binds communities (Gibson and Connell, 2012, p. 9). Gibson and Stewart (2009, p. 33) suggest in this context that building community is a common aim of festival organisers and the “best festivals build communities out of audiences”. They also argue that some “festivals help to redefine the nature of life in the places where they occur while others build on the life that presently exists” (p. 15). Clearly, social capital can occur through events of this kind (Deery and Jago, 2010) and demonstrates “the potential of being maintained far beyond the short life of the festival” (Arcodia and Whitford, 2006, p. 11). Gibson and Stewart (2009, p. 29) summarise the spirit of this when they state:
Marketing a place through festivals enables celebration of natural links, local produce and industry, seasonal transitions or other endogenous cultural traits and at the same time, creates an association with place that lingers in the national imagination.
As a consequence, “against a backdrop of rural decline, many places have sought to reinvigorate community and stimulate economic development, through staging festivals” (Gibson and Stewart, 2009, p. 2). Festivals have positively turned communities around economically and helped to redefine them (Gibson and Connell, 2012). Gibson and Connell (2012) suggest that some music festivals can improve economic and social capital. Improving economic and social capital in small towns can ‘put them on the map’ (Brennan-Horley et al., 2007).
For example, since the beginning of this millennium, Tasmania has witnessed a significant increase in the volume and status of festivals. These range from one-day music festivals such as MS Fest in Launceston, Soundscape in Hobart and A Night on the Terrace in Burnie; umbrella-marketed festivals such as Ten Days on the Island,
Burnie Shines, Colours of Wynyard and Music Tasmania’s Amplified Festival; large- scale, community-wide festivals such Greater Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Arts’ Festival of Music and Art (MONA FOMA), Devonport Jazz in July and Launceston’s
Junction Arts Festival; community festivals such as the Bloomin’ Tulips Festival in Wynyard and the Tasmanian Circus Festival in the North-East; food and wine- focussed festivals such as the Taste Festival in and around Hobart, Launceston’s
Festivale, Latrobe’s Chocolate Winterfest and Devonport’s Taste the Harvest Food & Wine Festival; community festivals that have evolved into trade fairs such as the
Tasmanian Craft Fair in Deloraine and Agfest near Carrick; and camping festivals such as the Forth Valley Blues Festival, the Motorcycle Riders Associations of Tasmania’s Tas Rally, the Cygnet Folk Festival and the Falls. Most of these festivals, especially the music festivals, cluster along a “well-trodden tourist route” (as explained by Gibson and Connell, 2012, p. 18) although the Falls intimates to be located away from the tourist route (Gibson and Connell, 2012).
The festivals identified above bring attention to the range of aims ascribed to festivals: from community celebration, social networking and cultural awareness through to niche marketing, product branding, place branding and mass tourist attraction. All three tiers of government in Australia have played a significant role in funding many of these events. This reinforces a growing interest in what Gibson and Kong (2005) describe as the cultural economy.
In the context of a growing cultural economy, Gibson (interviewed by CAMRA Producer, 2012), lead researcher on extensive festivals study in Australia, observes that “with population decline, aging and uncertainty around the future of rural Australia many places are putting on festivals as one means to bring tourists in, bring their communities together or simply to have fun”. Festivals can bring together “scattered farmfolk, young and old and disparate subcultures; they blend attitudes, enlarge social networks and encourage improvements in social cohesion” (Gibson and Stewart, 2009, p. 5).
“Festivals qualitatively improve local economies and encourage cooperation” (Gibson et al., 2010, p. 290) and it is suggested that the “cumulative economic impact of festivals has the potential to be significant for rural economies” (Tindall, 2011, p. 74). While the more direct economic benefits of festivals and events as tourism and employment can be argued (for example: Janeczko et al., 2002, Hill Strategies, 2003, Maughan and Bianchini, 2004, Arcodia and Whitford, 2006, Daniels, 2007, Gibson and Stewart, 2009, Carrell, 2011), the understanding of the social and cultural benefits of festivals and their flow-on value to the wider society is not well formulated in policy, scholarly research or social commentary. Furthermore, a narrow focus on the economics does not present a complete picture of festival impact (see Gibson and Connell, 2012, p. xi). Arcodia and Whitford (2006, p. 15) argue that further research is required to investigate the connection between festival attendance and the development of social capital – not (necessarily) benchmarked within an economic framework. This thesis will focus on the former concerns.