FESTUDY : AN OVERVIEW
MUSIC FESTIVALS : A CHANGING
WORLD
A COLLECTIVE ENTERPRISE
 First integrated comparative study of festivals : international cooperation among nine countries (Belgium,
Finland, France, Ireland, Norway, Canada, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland) + other partners
 Method: one single questionnaire (with 2011 data) ‐ Areas: economics, artistic and cultural strategies,
policies, management, challenges
 Hypothesis: to compare to highlight peculiarities, differences, convergences, common issues
 Sample: 390 festivals in five groups of dominant genre
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A MULTIPLE DIVERSITY : AGE, DURATION, SEASONALITY
FESTIVAL AGE
FESTIVAL DURATION
SEASONALITY : 51% en JULY/AUGUST ‐ 21% JUNE/SEPTEMBER
A MULTIPLE DIVERSITY : BUDGETS, AUDIENCES
 BUDGET CHANGES WITH MUSICAL GENRES
… BUT ALSO WITHIN EACH GENRE GROUP
 AUDIENCE LEVEL RELATED TO GENRES
… BUT ALSO TO COUNTRIES
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SCIENTIFIC PURPOSE AND THE CHALLENGES OF A CHANGING WORLD
WHY ? – WHAT ? – FOR WHOM ? – HOW ?
 Festival objectives, and variety of programming?
 Main sources of inspiration when programming ?
 Audience, price strategies
 Human and financial resources
 Cooperation practices
 Key variables : Musical Genre, Budget, Age … and National Belonging
 Impact of Public Policies in terms of convergence and divergences ?
 Main issues of the Festival Changing World ?
OBJECTIVES OF FESTIVALS : A SAME VISION SHARED BY ALL THE FESTIVALS
-
Artistic objectives
Discovering new repertoire and works
49%
Celebrating or rediscovering musical heritage
Supporting emerging artists
…
Cultural objectives
Encouraging and deepening multicultural dialogue
31%
Making culture more accessible
Providing to people a setting for fun and enjoyment
…
Territorial objectives
Supporting local production
21%
Developing tourist attractability
Encouraging the economic recovery of a weakened area
…
WITH DIFFERENT INTENSITIES:




Classic : more artistic (Celebrating or rediscovering musical heritage)
Jazz&Blues and Multistyle : equalize distribution
Rock&Pop : more territorial (Supporting local production)
Wold&Trad : more cultural (Encouraging and deepening multicultural dialogue
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CONCENTRATION AND INTERBREEDINGS OF THE CHOICES
Classic
Medieval, Renaissance
music
Traditional, Folk music
Baroque music
th
Classical music (18
cent - 1950)
Opera
Contemporary classical
music
Metal, hardcore
Reggae, ska
World music
Pop, Rock
Jazz, Blues
Techno, Electro
Rap, hip-hop
JazzBlues
Multistyle
7
1
4
3
22
2
11
11
8
26
1
32
26
1
3
10
2
2
4
7
4
7
34
3
15
9
1
7
35
8
8
1
1
16
2
4
1
3
2
12
11
61
1
5
9
7
18
2
RockPop
WorldTrad
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FESTIVAL ACTIVITIES : DIVERSIFICATION AND EXTENSION
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PROGRAMMING : AVERAGE NUMBER AND (MEDIAN) BY STYLES
Classic
Jazz-Blues
MultiStyle
Rock-Pop
World-Trad
Total
Days
14 (11)
9 (6)
14 (11)
6 (4)
8 (5)
10 (7)
Concerts
30 (19)
45 (25)
82 (26)
63 (32)
39 (26)
45 (25)
Artists
348 (168)
254 (130)
2058 (600)
280 (140)
265 (150)
380 (160)
 Different durations by styles
 A concentrated offer of concerts
 An important space of diffusion for artists
SOURCES OF INSPIRATION : AN ALCHEMY WITH 3 POLES
Network
- Previous contacts or collaborations
- Discussion with other professionals
-…
Reception
- Reception of proposals from artistic groups
- Information gotten from distribution agents
-…
Research
- Attendance to regular programs
- Attendance to another festival
-…
40%
37%
23%
 Some different sensitivities by styles but especially a mix of inspiration firstly
characterized by networking. Programming is the result of exchanges among
professionals artists and audiences.
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AUDIENCES: THE SECOND MOST IMPORTANT CHALLENGE, AFTER ASSURING INCOMES
WHY?
 Audiences legitimizes the existence of festivals
 Audiences are strongly correlated to income generation (direct and indirect)
∆ 2008‐2011
 So, most festival work hard to develop audiences (both quantitatively and qualitatively): 16% increase !
THE GEOGRAPHICAL ORIGIN OF THE AUDIENCE: A PARADOX?
 Although external audience financially help legitimate festivals, the true raison d'être is to respond to
regional demand, with the best combination of local and global talent
Audience Geographical origin
Artist Geographical origin
AUDIENCES AND THE TICKET PRICE
 Box office is key in most Festival income structure
 Audience might choose among cheaper alternatives (less symbolic or with lower price‐quality perception)

Sophisticated Price strategies (Figure 54, page 110)
 Free access is a common practice, particularly in street events or to support democratization
policies
 There is a strong debate on free access consequences
 … But, it is largely used in special events (62% of festivals use it) for social reasons and to support
visibility: opening concerts, emergent activities …
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COMMUNICATION: A KEY ISSUE TO ATTRACT AUDIENCES AND KEEP FINANCIAL STAKEHOLDERS
 How can a festival elicit a sufficient degree of enthusiasm and empathy so that several thousand
festival‐goers decide to spend their time and their money to attend it?
 What kind of relationship with the press (local, national, international)? Teams, advertising …

The dominant musical genre, its target audience, and its geographical location determine both the
strategies and the style of a festival’s communication policies
 Larger festival (by audience and budget) spend around the same % in communication
 … But Sponsorship fuels more communication expenditure
THE WIDESPREAD USE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND SOCIAL MEDIA
 Digital communication technologies have transformed the public‐relations strategies: Facebook,
Twitter, Smartphone adds … But also good web pages (with on‐line ticketing, RSS feeds and interactive
forums), audio and video material developed by the festival …
 However, the use of these technologies change according to audiences age and trends, and festivals
nature (artistic genre, weight of local audiences …)
THE INCOME STRUCTURE OF THE BUDGET
 Own resources and sponsorship play a more importance role in Festivals than in permanent
cultural facilities, but governmental grants represents in average the 45% of the incomes

Rock‐Pop festivals have a greater capacity to generate own resources, not just more box office
but all kinds of activity and service revenues – Classical Festival get more public support, in a
context of diversity of governmental sustain…
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 And with large national differences:
 The amount of public money and the heterogeneity of commitments of the different levels of
government are tied to:
 The size of the country territory
 The political system
 The criteria governments use to allocate funding
THE EXPENSES STRUCTURE OF THE BUDGET
 Artistic expenses (fees and artist trips and accommodation) are the core of most festivals budget
 … But, is it the result of a high dependency on expensive big‐name performers or just a result
of how important festivals (and life performance) are for the music industry vitality?
 Technical expenses are much more relevant in Rock‐Pop than in Classical music festivals
 Administrative expenses are higher in older festivals (classical music among others), with activities
extends beyond their season dates, or with a large number of volunteers
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HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: A KEY ISSUE IN A TEMPORARY ORGANIZATION
 WHY so many key collaborators come back year after year, and why are they so actively involved?
 The experience, values, originality, attractiveness and glamour of working in a festival
 The trust and empathy transmitted by the festival directors and managers
 The selection and continuity of high quality key staff it is essential since there are very few training
possibilities prior to a festival and it is very difficult to correct last minute hiring errors
 The number of professionals who work to produce a festival is proportional to its size
 … But the majority of them only work during the festival days (83%), and the core group working all
over the year (3%) do not always work full‐time throughout the year
 The professional status of the staff (employees, free‐lance, interns, volunteers or external personal)
change a lot according to each country tradition and the festival season
 The Gender gap:
 Predominant Male: general management (63%), technical and production (76%), artistic director (68%)
 Predominant Women: public relations (58%), administration (52%)
 The artistic and administrative role of directors, and the age and number of year in the job
COOPERATION WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
 Is cooperation an essential dimension for festivals, as it is for other cultural projects?
 “Only” 56% of festivals are involved in cooperation projects. Maybe for the temporary nature
and the strong singularity of festivals and their directors (?)
 Cooperation main domains:
 Most of these joint projects are articulated at a national level (continental or international
networks are only relevant for a few events)
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THE CONTRASTING INFLUENCE OF VARIABLES
MUSICAL GENRE :




FESTIVAL AGE :
Budget – level and structure of costs
Type of employment
Duration of events
Number of concerts…
FINANCIAL LEVEL :
o Seasonality
o Communication
o Level of public funding
NATIONAL CULTURES ?
 Traditions of Volunteerism
 Modes of management
 Territorial level of financing
 Sponsorship role
 Seasonality
 Communication
NATIONAL VARIABLE :
 True peculiarities
 Major convergences
 Common challenges
INTERNATIONALES CONVERGENCES
 Central State generally weak
 Major importance of local sustain
 Modesty of festival support
 Contrasted integration to Cultural Policies
COMMON CHALLENGES
CULTURE : Festivalisation & Loss of aura
POLITICS : Involvement & Instrumentalisation
MANAGEMENT : Individual strategies & Collective action
SOCIOLOGY : Audience attracting & Public renewal
ECONOMY : Hybrid world, Darwinian evolution ?
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