Media events vs street festivals

Future of Places : Streets as public spaces & drivers of urban prosperity
Buenos Aires | 1-3 September 2014
Media Events vs Street Festivals
Reclaiming street festivities as a key to the
local sustainability of global mega-events
Dr Beatriz Garcia
Head of Research
Institute of Cultural Capital
University of Liverpool
www.iccliverpool.ac.uk | www.beatrizgarcia.net

Background
• Global mega-events have become a key aspiration for cities
trying to position themselves as ‘world capitals’.
• The Olympic Games has become a highly lucrative
enterprise, no longer sought just as a platform for elite sport,
but as a catalyst for urban transformation creating economic,
social, cultural and environmental legacies for the host city.
• However, a mega-event is first and foremost a ‘media event’,
dependent on global media imperatives to secure revenues
and worldwide dissemination.
• This has resulted in the most sophisticated framework for
media operations, involving thousands of accredited media
whose needs take precedence over other regular city-living
expectations while the main event is on.

Paper focus & structure
• Evolution of the Games staging process since 1984 until today
• Core issue:
– The large majority of a mega-event audience only
experiences it through the media.
– Recovering a festive and accessible use of the street
during a mega-event is essential to
create a sustainable and meaningful local legacy

Media events and place
The everywhere or nowhere Games
Media Stand, Sydney 2000

Media events and place
The everywhere or nowhere Games
• Montreal 1976 is considered the Games edition that almost
‘bankrupted a city’. After this, relying on public funding exclusively
was no longer considered an option.
• By 1984, Los Angeles, global media networks (broadcasters)
become the main source of income for the Games.
Selling exclusive media and sponsorship rights is at the heart of the
new Olympic financing model.
– Staggering rise in broadcasting contributions to cover the Games:
from U$290m (Los Angeles 1984) to U$ 2,569 (London 2012)
• The Olympics becomes a ‘media event’ and its staging approach
changed to cater for their needs. Key changes:
– Re-designed venues: preferential media stands; latest media technology
– Revised time-schedules: competition adapted to TV (USA) prime time
• Unintended consequences
– Progressive marginalisation of the ‘live’ city resident experience
Media Stand, Sydney 2000

Re-discovering the city:
The place-branding Games
As media investment grows, so grows their
outreach, with claims for 1 to 4 billion
audiences at peak times (eg. Ceremonies)
Barcelona 1992 opens a new chapter in
Games staging, by trying to make the ‘city’
the ultimate Games protagonist.
The objective is to use the Games to create
memorable ‘city brand images’ and/or
overcome previous stereotypes
The Diving Pool overseeing the city skyline
Barcelona 1992

www.iccliverpool.ac.uk | www.beatrTizhgea Drciivain.nge Ptool overseeing the city skyline
Barcelona 1992
Re-discovering the city:
The place-branding Games
Using the Games to trigger urban regeneration
becomes common-place
• Eg. reopening the city to the sea,
new transport infrastructure,
refurbishing iconic cultural venues
Key successes in Barcelona to place
‘the city at the heart of the Games’
- Venues distributed throughout the city
(no single Olympic Park)
- Venues overlooking the city
(the diving + skyline shot)
Ongoing concern:
• Achieving the right balance between
meaningful local representation and
internationally impacting brand images.

VIPs and security protocols
The accreditation Games
Olympic Lane for exclusive Olympic family usage
Access All Areas vehicle accreditation
Athens 2004
• The 9/11 terrorist attack on NYC opens a new
chapter in Games hosting. Security becomes
a top priority for mega-event staging.
• This, combined with growing privileges and
expectations by high-paying Games media and
private stakeholders make for an increasingly
exclusivist, ‘accredited-only’ Olympic city

VIPs and security protocols
The accreditation Games
• Athens 2004, the first post 9/11 Summer host city,
was noticeably affected, as most of their ‘open
agora’ plans had to be cancelled or downsized.
• Rather than open (or spontaneous) celebrations in
the street, the emphasis changes to enclosed
‘Sponsor plazas’ and free but, often, ticketed,
‘Live Sites’

What counts as public space
during Games time?
The new ‘holistic’ Olympic Experience framework for Candidate Cities
Source: Bidding Questionnaire for 2016 Candidate Cities, IOC, 2008

Reclaiming the street…
There is a growing (if at times, just latent) demand for
a festive atmosphere in recent Games editions
Communities want to stop the continued erosion of
public space within the Olympic city to secure
sustainable local legacies.
Olympic Tent Village
for the Homeless
Vancouver 2010

… back to the Festive Games?
Physical theatre performance in Trafalgar Square
London 2012

… back to the Festive Games?
Physical theatre performance in Trafalgar
Square
London 2012
London 2012 explored options for the ‘lived
festival’ to gain terrain by hosting the largest
‘Cultural Olympiad’ in the history of the Games.
Outdoor arts activities dominated over
enclosed theatre and concert venues
Unusual but highly recognisable spaces where
used to attract media attention, but priority was
given to the live spectator experience
To address security and over-crowding issues,
performances where often ‘unannounced’
(pop-up acts) when staged in popular sites

Opportunities to reclaim the street:
• Greater visibility given to the host city and its cultural context
(a new bidding requirement, to guarantee socio-economic
legacies)
• Louder demands for accessible public space as a result of a
growth in non-accredited and social media (citizen journalists)
• The role of the street has gained protagonism as local
communities expect, not just economic, but also cultural and
environmental benefits
• Organisers have become aware that ‘the street’ is key to
provide a distinct character to otherwise, completely
standardised event environments.
The ‘Olympic city’ will only be meaningful and sustainable
if it connects with the ‘real city’ hosting it

Thank you
Nation-wide evaluation of
the London 2012 Cultural
Olympiad legacies
available for free download
www.beatrizgarcia.net www.culturalolympics.org.uk
www.iccliverpool.ac.uk

Media events vs street festivals

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