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This article explores the nature of extraordinary experiences through a netnographic analysis of the views of committed attendees at the 2005 Sidmouth Folk Festival. After uncertainty over finance and the withdrawal of the previous event management company, the festival eventually went ahead under a different, collaborative organization and on a reduced scale. The new format was vigorously debated by posters to an Internet message board, Mudcat Cafe, providing a wide-ranging and unprompted set of opinions on the criteria for a successful festival. To provide a framework for analyzing these responses, a holistic prism model was developed from the literature to bring together the main external and internal elements of the festival experience: \"Design and Programming,\" \"Physical Organization,\" \"Social Interaction,\" \"Personal Benefits,\" \"Symbolic Meanings,\" and \"Cultural Communication.\" This was used to analyze the messages and explore the way in which festival-goers evaluate their experience. The findings support the view that festivals provide a space and time away from everyday life in which intense extraordinary experiences can be created and shared. These are evaluated through a subjective response to the whole event, interpreted within the broader narrative context of the consumer's life and their values.

Dementia is a progressive disorder that affects how the brain works, and in particular the ability to remember, think and reason. It affects speech, mood, mobility, behavior and how people perceive and respond to the world around them. Contemporary approaches to understanding dementia encourage society to think about how people can live well in their communities. These approaches focus on ensuring that people with dementia see the diagnosis not as the end of their life, but rather as the beginning of a new chapter of their life. This study explores how arts events specifically tailored for people with dementia can help those with a dementia diagnosis to live well after their diagnosis. In this study, we have undertaken qualitative research in the form of semi-structured interviews with festival organisers and event managers in order to understand the value of arts festivals and events in the context of dementia care. In this paper, we present areas of best practice within the Arts and Culture sector and offer recommendations for improvement in how festival and event managers make their arts events accessible and a positive experience for those living with dementia. The key theoretical contribution of this paper is the proposition of a theoretical framework that explores dementia arts events as they relate to a palliative model on relationship-centred care for people living with dementia – the ‘Senses Framework’ – and we apply this framework from social care in an arts events context.

Dementia is a progressive disorder that affects how the brain works, and in particular the ability to remember, think, and reason. It affects speech, mood, mobility, behavior, and how people perceive and respond to the world around them. Contemporary approaches to understanding dementia encourage society to think about how people can live well in their communities. These approaches focus on ensuring that people with dementia see the diagnosis not as the end of their life, but rather as the beginning of a new chapter of their life. This study explores how arts events specifically tailored for people with dementia can help those with a dementia diagnosis to live well after their diagnosis. In this study, we have undertaken qualitative research in the form of semistructured interviews with festival organizers and event managers in order to understand the value of arts festivals and events in the context of dementia care. In this article, we present areas of best practice within the Arts and Culture sector and offer recommendations for improvement in how festival and event managers make their arts events accessible and a positive experience for those living with dementia. The key theoretical contribution of this article is the proposition of a theoretical framework that explores dementia arts events as they relate to a palliative model on relationship-centered care for people living with dementia-the \"Senses Framework\"-and we apply this framework from social care in an arts events context.

Festivals can improve the image of host communities, making them an appealing destination and boosting local economy. However, it is hard to measure their actual impact, which is a key factor to justify governments’ initiatives. This study aims to verify how accurate direct expenditure analysis can be. First, the impact of new visitors’ expenditure is calculated based on a survey. Then, consumption indicators are used to forecast the actual economic impact of the festival. Finally, both results are compared. Even though the values gathered with consumption indicators are only a lower bound of the festival’s impact, this study found that assessing expenditure intentions during the festival leads to impact estimates that can be three times higher. The theoretical contribution of this study is to identify direct expenditure analysis weaknesses and how to reduce their effects.

Event and festival management is a growing topic of interest in the field of academic research on tourism and for many destinations because of the significant benefits event tourism can bring to a host destination. This study had three objectives. First, we attempt to identify primary research subjects of past studies. Second, we look at suggested implications of past studies. Lastly, we attempt to identify the \"gaps\" in previous festival management research and suggest topics for future event management studies. Three-hundred and two articles were identified in four leading event and festival management journals: The International Journal of Event and Festival Management, Event Management, International Journal of Event Management Research, and the Journal of Convention and Event Tourism. Analysis of the identified articles notes prominent contributors to event and festival management literature, most prevalent topics of study, primary focus as seen from one of four balanced scorecard (BSC) perspectives, most dominant regions of research, and most prominent methodologies employed for event and festival management research.

The Australian music festival event management (AMFEM) industry is situated in a highly competitive industry and dynamic environment. Thus, the purpose of this article is to explain if and how Motivator, Hygiene, and Professional (MHP) strategic capabilities (SCs) are positively associated with the performance of AMFEM companies. A mixed-methods research design comprising a case study of a Western Australian event management company and 12 in-depth interviews with, and a questionnaire survey of, a sample of AMFEM organizations was used to develop and test our proposed MHP model. Fifteen SCs were identified from the academic literature and qualitative research, which were used to construct and measure the variables in the MHP model. The questionnaire survey (sent by e-mail/post to 238 organizations, of which 48 responses were usable) canvassed opinions about the relationships between the MHP SCs and the performance of AMFEM organizations. It was found that all the SCs were related to AMFEM performance; however, only Motivator and Hygiene groupings of strategic capabilities were directly related to organizational performance, while grouped Professional strategic capabilities were indirectly related. Overall, the participants and respondents validated the MHP model. Therefore, managers of events organizations should develop Motivator and Hygiene SCs first and foremost for increased performance of their companies. They should also engage distinguished artists and direct careful attention to planning, customer satisfaction, and innovation in order to ensure a successful outcome. Our findings add to the festival event management literature by demonstrating the importance of Motivator, Hygiene, and additional Professional SCs for the successful performance of music festival event management organizations. All three groups were found to play important, though not equal roles.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to review the techniques involved in participant observation and to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the method as related to event research.Design methodology approach - A review of the literature examines applications of the research method and discusses the steps of the research cycle. Using the example of the Swell Sculpture Festival, participant observation is demonstrated to be a highly appropriate method to gather data on interactions and relationships through the recording of behaviour, conversation and experience in situ.Findings - Participant observation has been used to inform the development of management strategies, including management of crowd behavior, public risk and safety.Research limitations implications - The paper suggests that methods of participant observation can be used to gain a deeper understanding of social dynamics of audiences and the affective dimensions of their behaviour. It is suggested that the method is highly appropriate to the context of event environments, where the use of surveys can interrupt the flow of the event experience for audiences, or be made impossible by the structure of the event.Practical implications - The case study demonstrates the application of the methodology by event managers to gaining a better understanding of audience behaviour and expectations.Originality value - The methods of participant observation, as part of the broader qualitative research paradigm, are somewhat neglected by event researchers, despite their utility in other disciplines such as retail, education and tourism. This paper highlights the potential of the method for use in future studies of events and their audiences.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate shifts and patterns evident in event studies over the past 30 years. It aims to review events-related academic articles published between 1980 and 2010 in the top three tourism journals.Design methodology approach - By reviewing 178 event-related articles collected from the Annals of Tourism Research, the Journal of Travel Research and Tourism Management, published between 1980 and 2010, a content analysis was carried out in regard to trends in academic writings related to events.Findings - The study found that, even though the number of event studies has dramatically increased since 2000, and subject areas have become more diversified, the focus has still remained on a very limited number of topics.Originality value - The present study will increase awareness among academia and researchers about the characteristics and development of research in event studies; will increase the understating of the meaning of \"event\" in the tourism industry by reviewing event studies published in tourism journals; will be a useful reference guide for academic researchers who contribute to event studies, which is a relatively new area of research; and will extend practical knowledge of the event field.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore recent technological and methodological developments in the evaluation of audience behaviour at planned events and discuss the implications for researchers in this field, particularly the advantages of evaluating in real-time. The creation and staging of the event experience - the realm of event design - is predicated on an understanding of the psychosocial domain of the audience. By understanding the motivations, the behaviours and the predispositions that the audience brings to the event, and how event design principles and techniques can be applied to influence audience behaviour in real time, the event designer is able to more successfully create and stage the event experience to meet the aims and objectives of the event.Design methodology approach - The paper discusses international developments in the evaluation of the psychosocial domain of audiences at planned events and the range of research methodologies being used from a practitioner academic perspective. The paper will look at current research being undertaken in Sweden, Austria and Australia and identify trends internationally in this nascent field of research.Findings - The paper argues that real time data collection of audiences provides insights into the effective design and management of planned events, particularly from the event risk management perspective.Practical implications - Drawing on work being undertaken in the mass gatherings, tourism and service fields, the paper examines and synthesises these into a proposed model for the effective evaluation of the event audience.Originality value - This paper argues for an increase in - and a model for - research on audience behaviour, specifically in the real time capture and analysis of data of audiences at events as a means of developing and understanding of the effects of event design techniques applied at planned events.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to focus on the methodologies used to evaluate major events. It aims to establish the most practically-relevant methodology for analysing the economic impact of routinely-held major events and to identify the key methodological issues for future consideration.Design methodology approach - The paper draws on empirical research undertaken by the Sport Industry Research Centre using the direct expenditure approach (DEA).Findings - The DEA is the most pragmatic and cost-effective method for evaluating the economic impact of medium-sized major events. However, the approach is only as robust as the quality of data utilised to derive estimates. Key emerging methodological issues are measuring attendance, consideration of direct first-round leakage and treatment of organisational spend and event surplus deficit.Research limitations implications - The DEA limits the measurement of economic impact to first-round spending associated with an event. It is not suitable for measuring large-scale mega-events that require a more holistic and advanced method of event evaluation.Originality value - The paper considers the methods used to evaluate events in the context of balancing academic rigour with the everyday practical realities and constraints facing event organisers and researchers. It discusses existing and emerging methodological considerations and techniques for dealing with these. The paper will be of particular interest to researchers and practitioners from the event industry carrying out or commissioning economic impact studies.