Symposium on Events and Meetings in the City,

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EVENTS and the COMMUNITY
Symposium on Events and Meetings in the City,
University of Gothenburg, June, 2009 DONALD
GETZ, PHD -Visiting Professor, Centre for
Tourism, The University of Gothenburg,
Sweden -Professor, School of Tourism, The
University of Queensland, Australia -Professor,
Haskayne School of Business, University of
Calgary, Canada -
Centre for Tourism
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PURPOSE

• This presentation addresses the nature of
  relationships, and related research challenges,
  between planned events and communities
• communities as places (cities, towns)
• sub-communities and sub-cultures
• communities of interest or social worlds
• Develop a research agenda for events in the
  community.

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PROPOSITIONS

• Planned events are an inherent and essential
  element in all civilizations and cultures,
  meeting fundamental needs for social interaction
  and commercial exchange.
• Exchange of ideas goods and services (including
  trade and marketing)
• Interaction for celebration, ritual,
  entertainment, fun and sport, learning and
  sharing
• Tourism and Community-oriented goals for events
  can and should be compatible, but often are not.

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FESTIVALS AND CULTURAL CELEBRATIONS

• The very essence of festivity is celebratsion.
• Celebration requires a theme or subject.
• May be fostered by ritual, symbolism, emotional
  stimulation, authenticity.
• Issues
• One persons cause for celebration
• is potentially anothers cause for
• resentment.
• Maintenance of cultural authenticity
• in the face of commodification
• (festivalization)

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RITUAL

• Ceremonies
• Symbolism
• Costumes
• Traditions

Issues -authenticity -exploitation versus
preservation -the need for interpretation
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PERFORMANCE AND ENTERTAINMENT

• - Any show or activity designed to entertain
• Edutainment combines education
• and entertainment
• Issues
• -Some people confuse entertainment
• with celebration.
• -Entertainment is passive
• often fails to get people involved

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EDUCATION and INTERPRETATION

• Learning is a higher-order need that motivates
  many event-goers and travellers.
• Learning can be built into every event,
• whatever the theme.
• Learning is the essence of most seminars,
  symposia, conferences, and many exhibitions.
• Learning can be tied to
• environmental and social
• sustainability.

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GAMES, HUMOUR, RECREATIONAL

• Competition
• Recreational games
• Games of Chance
• Clowns and comedy
• Surprise!!!!

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POLITICAL AND STATE

• Inaugurations
• Investitures
• VIP Visits
• Rallies

• ISSUES
• Can be socially/culturally uniting or politically
  divisive.
• The state must promote the concept of a
  national community.

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BUSINESS AND TRADE

• Fairs, Markets, Sales
• Consumer/Trade Shows
• Expositions
• Meetings and Conventions
• Corporate Events
• Fund-raising Events
• ISSUES
• Are commerical events relevant to residents? Do
  they see the benefits?

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EDUCATIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC

• Seminars (small-group discussions)
• Workshops (learn how to do something)
• Clinics (learning through practice)
• Interpretive Events (designed to educate the
  audience)

Usually considered part of the Meetings and
conventions sector
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SPORT EVENTS

• These can be professional or amateur, for fun or
  for competition.
• Cities compete aggressively for foot-loose events
  through bidding and facility development.
• Might be more valued for
• media effects than
• tourist attractiveness.
• ISSUES
• Very high costs
• Often events disrupt local life
• Do residents support the events through ticket
  purchase?

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PRIVATE EVENTS

• Personal Celebrations
• Anniversaries
• Family Holidays
• Rites de Passage

• Social Events
• Parties, Galas
• Reunions

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ORGANIC COMMUNITY EVENTS

• Springing from, and an integral part of the
  community
• Place attached (their meaning is tied to specific
  geographic communities they cannot be moved
  without loss of cultural authenticity
• Identity-shaping (people relate
• to these events because they
• are part of, and help give
• meaning to their community)

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STRATEGIC EVENTS

• In the contemporary world most events are bid on,
  created or supported in a strategic frame, to
  achieve a specific economic goal (tourism
  development) or help implement policy (e.g.,
  foster the arts, sports, health, social
  integration)
• Festivals and other community or cultural
  celebrations have been co-opted through funding
  and other policy instruments, thus introducing
  multiple and sometimes conflicting goals.

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EVENT TOURISM PORTFOLIO
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GLOBAL PARTIES

• Ravenscroft and Matteucci (2003) described these
  as being produced for international audiences for
  their tourism and place marketing value,
  increasingly detached from the host community.
• MacLeod (2006) discussed Edinburghs Hogmanay in
  these terms decontexualised spectacles.
• Hughes (1999) sees Hogmanay as
• a hegemonic device for
• promoting a particularised image
• of a city or elements of its culture.

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THE BASIC CHALLENGE

• To balance the needs and wants of people and
  communities, who are sometimes passive consumers
  and sometimes political activists, with..
• The strategic goals of industry (tourism)
• and policy-driven agendas of public agencies
  which often involve top-down decision-making.

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A CONTINUUM OF PLACE DEPENDENCE and
ATTACHMENT FOR PLANNED EVENTS
Events Looking for a Home (privately owned and
mobile)
World Parties (held in specific places, but
global in orientation)
COMPLETELY FOOTLOOSE (never in the same place
twice)
Multi-Location Events (held in two cities or
countries, or more)
COMPLETELY PLACE DEPENDENT (cannot be moved)
Worlds Fairs, Olympics (seldom repeat in one
place they can leave a permanent legacy)
Local and Regional Events (by and for
residents)
Hallmark Events (permanent institutions for
residents and tourist attractions)
Biddable Events Meetings, Exhibitions, World
Championships and other one-time only events that
use existing venues)
Mobile Events -follow a circuit and return
periodically to specific places)
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OUTCOMES

• RESEARCH TRADITIONS
• The dominant tradition has been estimation of the
  economic benefits of tourism on local economies,
  and development of related methods.
• Also popular topics
• employment effects
• image and place marketing effects
• events as a catalyst for development or urban
  renewal

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OUTCOMES

• Many researchers have examined negative impacts,
  costs, and how the meaning and effects of events
  are contested by different stakeholders. For
  example
• Exclusion or displacement of certain groups
• Commodification and loss of authenticity of
  cultural events
• Crime, loss of amenities, accidents, health
  issues
• There has been development of several Social
  Impact Assessment Scales, although these
  generally focus on resident perceptions and
  attitudes rather than measured changes (e.g.,
  Delamere 2001 Delemere et al 2001 Fredline et
  al 2003).

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Social Impacts of Community Festivals as
Identified by ResidentsK. Small (2007) Social
Dimensions of Community Festivals. Event
Management, 11(1/2) 45-55
IMPACTS FELT AT THE PERSONAL LEVEL -Inconvenienc
e -Personal frustration -Entertainment and
socialization opportunities
IMPACTS FELT AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL -Community
cohesion and identity -Community growth and
development -Behavioral consequences
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OUTCOMES

• Recently attention has been given to adopting a
  Triple Bottom Line Approach to event impact
  assessment.
• Peter Sherwoods (2007) dissertation assessed the
  event evaluation literature and found that
  environmental-ecological impacts had been largely
  ignored.

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ASSESSING AN EVENTS FOOTPRINTFrom E. Fredline
et al 2005.
In this example the event is assessed as having
low economic, medium social, and high
environmental impact . Issues -what does each
scale measure? (indicators) -will each scale
be given the same weight?
ECONOMIC IMPACT SCALE
3
low
0
5
medium
8
high
SOCIAL IMPACT SCALE
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT SCALE
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Stakeholder Interests in TBL(A. Hede, 2007
Managing Special Events Using TBL, Event
Management, 11(1/2) 13-22)

• Their interests cover
• Social
• Environmental
• Economic

-GOVERNMENTS -RESIDENTS -COMMUNITY
GROUPS -Sponsors -Media -Businesses -Employees -
Volunteers -Tourists/guests -Shareholders

• Economic
• Social

• Social

• Economic

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RESEARCH ON HOW EVENTS BENEFIT COMMUNITIES

• Foster place identity, and a
• sense of belonging
• Foster group identity
• Generate social and cultural capital
• Build capacity of communities to develop as
  they choose
• Preserve and enhance traditions (cultural
  heritage)
• Contribute to development and support for the
  arts, sports, healthy living

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Place Identity (authenticity?)

• The annual Elvis Revival Festival
• in the small town of Parkes, in rural Australia.
  
• 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.
• The Festival began in the early 1990s. 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.
• Brennan-Horley, C., Connell, J., and Gibson, C.
  (2007). The Parkes Elvis Revival Festival
  Economic
• development and contested place identities in
  rural Australia. Geographical Research, 45 (1)
  71-84.

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Group Identity

• The key to identifying benefits and segments is
  to
• examine customers relationships to the
  subculture of the
• sport being showcased.
• Recent research suggests that consumers
  enjoyment
• of sport events derives, at least in part, from
  their
• identification with the sports subculture.
• Recent research into three events the Key West
• Womens Flag Football Tournament, the Gold Coast
• Marathon, and the Australian Motorcycle Grand
  Prix
• highlights the utility of leveraging event
  consumers
• identification with the sports subculture when
  promoting
• sport events.
• Green, B.C. (2001). Leveraging subculture and
  identity to
• promote sport events. Sport Management Review,
• 4(1) 1-19.

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SOCIAL CAPITAL

• At present, there is a deep concern among
  scholars and policymakers of an alleged decline
  in social capital within contemporary society.
  Social capital refers to the relational resources
  embedded within social networks. These resources
  are integral to the social fabric that gives
  substance to a healthy community.
• Yuen, F., and Glover, T. (2005). Enabling social
  capital development An examination of the
  Festival of neighbourhoods in Kitchener, Ontario.
  Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 23
  (4) 20-38.

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SOCIAL CAPITAL

• A sample of volunteers at the XVII Manchester
  Commonwealth is explored to identify how
  experience of volunteering at a major sports
  event affects interest, participation and
  subsequent volunteering in sport, and also
  volunteering in non-sport contexts.
• While there is some evidence that volunteering at
  a major event can raise interest, participation
  and volunteering in sport generally, capitalizing
  upon this will require focusing efforts on
  particular triggers for change.
• There appears to be much stronger potential
  opportunity to generate wider social capital than
  necessarily produce changes associated with
  sport.
• Downward, P., and Ralston, R. (2006). The Sports
  Development Potential of Sports Event
  Volunteering Insights from the XVII Manchester
  Commonwealth Games. European Sport Management
  Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 4, 333-351.

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Cultural Capital

• Cultural capital can be understood in two ways
  as a stock of knowledge that enables an
  individual person to interpret or, to find
  meaning in cultural goods. This form of cultural
  capital can be acquired formally and
  deliberately (for example through formal
  education) and informally by being exposed to the
  cultural practices and artefacts of a particular
  part of society.
• Secondly, cultural capital can seen as forming
  part of the wealth of a particular group of
  people (a tribe, a nation, a city). This can
  include both tangible and intangible goods and
  refer to everyday lifestyle practices, but
  particularly to artistic expressions of that way
  of life. For example, a city like Athens or Paris
  can be said to have significant cultural capital.
  Cultural capital has economic value.
• Snowball, J., and Webb, A. (2008). Breaking into
  the conversation Cultural value and the role of
  the South African National Arts Festival from
  apartheid to democracy. International Journal of
  Cultural Policy, 14 (2) 149-164.

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Cultural Capital and Creative Cities

• Faced with the perceived consequences of
  economic, social and cultural shifts variously
  labelled 'post-modernity', 'globalization' and
  'the post-industrial revolution', an increasing
  number of urban authorities in the UK and beyond
  have adopted strategies of 're-imaging' their
  cities as 'creative cities' and/or attractive
  locations for footloose capital.
• The production of spectacular urban events has
  frequently played a central role in such
  strategies.
• Harcup, T. (2000). Re-imaging a post-industrial
  city The Leeds St Valentine's Fair as a civic
  spectacle. City, 4 (2) 215 231.

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Build Community Capacity

• The most direct link between regional events and
  festivals and community capacity was that of
  increased skill development. One particular area
  of skills development highlighted in some cases
  was that of leadership.
• Aspects of leadership were noted in the case
  studies
• analyzed
• the importance of having a local champion to lead
• the event planning or organizing committee
• The opportunity for event organizers to learn
  general leadership skills that could be used in
  other areas
• The opportunities that events gave to young
  residents to develop leadership skills

Moscardo, G. (2007). Analyzing the role of
festivals and events in regional development.
Event Management, 11 (1/2) 23-32.
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Preserve and Enhance Traditions
During the past decade Sweden has seen an
increasing number of festivals celebrating local
or historical traditions. This growing interest
in local culture and history is a nation-wide
trend, which has also been observed in other
countries. Sometimes a day or a week is
dedicated to a famous person originating from or
in other ways connected with a particular area.
All these events are similar in that they are
public and that they draw people together around
shared ideas and activities.
Ekman, A. (1999). The revival of cultural
celebrations in regional Sweden. Aspects of
tradition and transition. Sociologia Ruralis, 39
(3) 280-293.
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Develop The Arts, Sport and Healthy Living

• This paper problematises the term festival
  tourism. It conceptualises festivals as socially
  sustaining devices and argues that while they
  frequently function as tourist attractions, their
  social significance extends far beyond tourism.
• Using empirical material gathered in two case
  study arts festivals in Ireland, the paper
  demonstrates how festivals can contribute to arts
  development by inter alia creating demand for the
  arts, enhancing venue infrastructures,
  encouraging local creativity and animating local
  involvement.
• Quinn, B. (2006). Problematising festival
  tourism Arts festivals and sustainable
  development in Ireland. Journal of Sustainable
  Tourism, 14 (3) 288-306.

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MATCHING COMMUNITY AND TOURISM GOALS
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ACHIEVING CONGRUENCE BETWEEN ORGANIC AND
STRATEGIC EVENTS BY STRESSING
COMMUNITY NEEDS AND BENEFITS
Develop one or more permanent institutions that
are assured of community support.
Find local supporters for mobile events and
develop roots for them.
Connect to local stakeholders Demonstrate
benefits to community.
Plan the legacy for residents do not exceed
community capacity.
Assist local and regional events to realize their
potential.
Occasional Mega Events (seldom repeat in one
place they can leave a permanent legacy)
Local and Regional Events (by and for
residents)
Hallmark Events (permanent institutions for
residents and tourist attractions)
Foot-loose, Biddable Events Meetings,
Exhibitions, World Championships and other
one-time only events that use existing venues)
Mobile Events -follow a circuit and return
periodically to specific places)
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CONCLUSIONS

• RESEARCH PRIORITIES
• Community Values how do people and groups
  determine the worth of events to themselves (as
  consumers) and to their communities (in terms of
  political support and willingness to pay)?
• Policy what policies and strategies will work
  best to bring tourism and community perspectives
  into balance for event tourism?
• Outcomes triple-bottom-line evaluation methods
  needed for assessing community outcomes
  environmental measures needed the most

END