Festivals and placemaking: can places be 'over-festivalised'?

So the Edinburgh Festival and the Fringe are over for another year and some sort of normality returns to the city, at least until the Christmas Market and Hogmanay. Other places, large and small, around the world also host festivals which become important parts of their calendar. Some are huge commercial events whist others are modest locally organized community-based occasions. So let’s look at the role and importance of these events to the places concerned.

There is a large multi-disciplinary literature about the role festivals play in contributing to the social cultural and economic life of places, most often in cities, but also in smaller towns and out-of-town locations in the countryside. Clearly festivals influence place, but If we are to look at the relationship between festivals and place in the round, we also need to ask how place influences the festivals they host. As we shall see, whilst many festivals have deep roots in local cultural activities, there is the real risk that as cultural activities become more globalized festivals may become more remote from any real connection with place.

Festivals impact on place

Examples from some festival places in Scotland will illustrate the issues.

Festivals can be big business.  A recent estimate by CEBR suggests that the total economic impact, both direct and indirect, of the Edinburgh Festivals (there are 12 separately organized festivals many of which take place at the same time in August), to be of the order of £1bn, or over one third of the city’s GVA (Gross Value Added) in the month of August. An analysis of attendances at the festival events in 2019 shows a total of 1.84m attendances of whom 40% were city residents, a further 20% from elsewhere in Scotland and around 40% from other parts of the world. An estimated two thirds of the visitors to the city said they had come because of the festival.

If the economic benefits are huge, and the stimulus to culture and creativity widespread, the social impact on the city is more problematic. Whilst the analysis above shows that many local residents attend festival events it would seem some find the crowds, noise and disruption to be overwhelming.  There is a perception that events in the festivals are organized to maximize attendance, rather than reflecting the life of the city.

On a much smaller scale, Wigtown, a town of less than 1000 people, saw its annual book festival in 2020 generate over £4m for the Scottish economy, and support 57 full-time jobs in the local area and 62 in Scotland as a whole. It attracted some 10,000 people, many of whom stayed 3 nights or longer in the local area. The 10-day festival is run by a small professional team and involves over 100 volunteers. The Festival company also promotes cultural and educational activities in the region. It has organised author sessions to over 5000 children in over 70 schools and nurseries in the region, and the Hooked festival for young people which focusses on creative and professional development.

Other towns in Scotland also stage regular festivals to celebrate aspects of their locality and culture. Many, such as the Tiree Music Festival feature traditional music and brings over 2000 people to the Island – over 3 times the island population (although it had to be cancelled at the last minute in 2023 because of the weather). Perhaps the most spectacular local festival is Up Helly Aa in Shetland, a fire festival held in mid-winter which culminates in the burning of a Viking ship. The festival involves 1000 local Viking ‘guizers’ and involves the participation of much of the town, as well as attracting visitors to the island. Whilst more professionally organized and promoted in recent years, the festival remains non-profit, although generating significant economic benefits to the area.

These contrasting examples show that festivals, large and small, can make an important impact on the places and communities that host them. The direct and indirect economic benefits have been demonstrated in numerous research studies, as have gains to employment, increasing tourism in the host communities and surrounding regions, and expanding the range of cultural events.

There is less research which is focused on the more social aspects of the impact of festivals, for example on social capital building, quality of life and voluntary action. Festivals grounded in the activities of smaller places such as local crafts, food and local history and traditions can promote place identity in the minds of visitors and local people. There is more work to be done to understand the impact of ‘festivity’ on health and well-being, the growth of social connections and social cohesion in host communities and the ways in which festival places are shaped as livable spaces.

Place impact on festivals

Let’s now look at the relationship between festivals and place the other way round by concentrating on the influence of place on festival-making. Places have a particular physical form, history and character which contribute to the lived experience of residents and the meanings they attach to their surroundings. The physical built environment and social assets of a community which normally influence the opportunities for local economic activity and social interaction and exchange, also provide the backcloth against which festival organizers plan their events. Festivals will transform the available community spaces by opening up new uses and purposes for community assets and challenging the perceptions and meanings associated with places commonly held within communities.

It has been claimed that ‘arts festivals have as much to do with place as with art’. Place influence on festivals is likely to be particularly strong when festivals are more closely embedded in local communities which may be keen to showcase local talent without the need to rely on big name acts to attract attenders, and where importance is attached to local community building. 

Brownett and Evans (2020), from their detailed study of the Five Lamps Festival in Dublin show how the processes of festival making and artistic production are permeated by the social, cultural and physical dimensions of place and demonstrate the mutually inter-dependent relationship between place and festivals.

Place-based community festivals are launched for a variety of reasons which reflect the social and economic position of the community. A festival may be seen, for example, as a means to stimulate re-generation or economic development. It can be seen as a means to develop the ‘branding’ of a place to attract interest in and promote its economic and cultural activities. Local festivals may also be so-called post-traditional festivals where they emerge from an attempt to give a local opportunity to follow wider developments in contemporary culture through new work from local and non-local artists which responds to features of a particular place.

Festival-making as placemaking

In an earlier section, to illustrate the diversity of festival activity, I contrasted the large-scale city-wide festival with the small-scale festivals focused on local traditions or activities.  Placemaking is usually seen as a process rooted in communities, which is informed through community consultation and empowerment to develop socially engaged projects and the development of infrastructure and street design to boost the livability of an area. Placemaking is about facilitated access to community assets, developing public spaces in ways which encourage social interaction and potentially reduce isolation.

Festivals contribute to place and placemaking in many ways, as has been illustrated above, and it is suggested that being embedded in place is a key factor in sustaining and growing local festivals.  Studies show how festival-makers have closely involved communities to develop events which have a relevance to place. It is claimed that through careful use of space, festivals can and do contribute to sense of place and belonging. Furthermore these spaces can potentially allow for wide and more equitable participation, and provide bridges between communities which might otherwise remain disconnected. At its most optimal level, festivals may help facilitate collective transformation within communities.

These claims would see community festivals as enhancing the key objectives of placemaking and having a central role in the placemaking agenda.

However, some have warned of the dangers of ‘festivalisation’ of place and ‘carnivals for elites’ when ties between place and festivals weaken and festival-making becomes dominated by commercial interests rather than place focused. There is a real risk of big cities in particular can becoming ‘over-festivalised’ by adding social distance between arts and economics and local populations.  

References and further reading

Brownett, T and Evans, O (2020): Finding common ground: The conception of community arts festivals as spaces for placemaking, Health and Place, Vol 61, January 2020

Lynch, D and Quinn B (2022): Understanding the Influence of place on festival making and artistic production in the local urban festival context, Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, 14/3

Waterman, S (1998): Carnivals for elites? The cultural politics or arts festivals, Progress in Human Geography, 22/1